According to the borgenproject.org, the U. S. spends $30 billion on foreign aid to serve the poor each year. Yet, churches and synagogues in America spend more than that in overseas humanitarian aid. Total private American philanthropic aid sent overseas is estimated to be about $39 billion, according to Karl Zinsmeister of the Philanthropy Roundtable.
“Philanthropy” comes from two Greek words: “love” (phileo) and “mankind” (anthropos) so that “philanthropy” is the love of mankind – giving our time and resources to help others.
I donate about three hours each week to the Heart to Heart Hospice organization. According to my supervisor, 44 volunteers donate their time to Heart to Heart, with a cumulative donation this year of 1,195 hours. At $8.50 an hour, we have saved the hospice organization over $10,000 just in the first four months of this year!
According to statistics compiled by the Gallup World Poll (2006-2011), when we compare American generosity with European generosity, we see not only is America generally more generous, but our generosity is significantly tied to attending worship!
When asked, “Have you given to a charity?” or “Have you helped a stranger?”, here are some responses:
Country Number of cases All Attend worship Don’t attend
United States 5,238 47% 55% 39%
United Kingdom 5,244 47% 58% 44%
Switzerland 2,003 37% 44% 34%
Sweden 5,005 29% 41% 27%
Italy 5,023 25% 29% 21%
France 5,232 16% 25% 14%
So, why are Christians “philanthropists”?
BECAUSE THE BIBLE TEACHES US TO BE COMPASSIONATE
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Take the Jews, for example – the first organized religion by God (Deuteronomy 15:4-8). In fact, the word “poor” is found 143 times in the Bible! From beginning to end, the Bible teaches us to help the poor. In the great “Sermon on the Mount,” Matthew 6:2-4, Jesus assumes that His followers will help the poor.
BECAUSE THE BIBLE TEACHES US TO BE SELFLESS:
It is true that we don’t always live up to our own ideals, much less Jesus’ ideals for us, but at least we constantly hear the call to think less of ourselves and more of others.
In Ephesians 4:28, 32, Paul tells us the practical impact of living a selfless life: “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. …Be kind to one another, tender-hearted.”
Now, yes, it is true that non-Christians and non-Jews can be selfless. But, Christians have the highest standard and the highest motivation and the greatest example of “selflessness” there is – that is the person of Jesus Christ.
WE ARE PHILANTHROPISTS BECAUSE JESUS INSPIRES US!
Take a look at 2 Corinthians 8:9-10: “ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it.” The context of 2 Corinthians 8 is giving to help those who are in need. But Paul sets this discussion in the overall context of Jesus, who was rich but became poor for our sakes. The Bible does not require us to become poor. But it does teach us to use our riches wisely and part of that wisdom is helping those who need help.
So interested and concerned was Jesus about helping the less-fortunate that, although He really preached to everyone, His preaching is also identified as: “preaching the gospel to the poor; proclaiming release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; setting free those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18-19; quoting from Isaiah 61:1ff).
Yes, there are non-Christians who are nice without having Jesus in their lives but they do not have the highest, best, most intellectually consistent reason to be nice. Christians do. Yes, Islam had/has its great physicians and made contributions to modern medicine. But, Islam chose to follow a military hero. Christians follow a self-sacrificing Savior. That makes all the difference!
In 2010, the National Philanthropic Trust reported that Americans donated $211 billion to charities. If no one were religious, the percentage of Americans giving to secular causes would drop from about 78% to 60%. What would not get done if it weren’t for the love of Christ motivating people to give?
When it comes to volunteering our time, the Corporation for National and Community Service estimated that in 2009, Americans put in 8.1 billion volunteer hours! If no one went to church and we stopped volunteering, what would go undone?
America needs the Bible for a generous citizenship.
–Paul Holland
