And so - How do you know when you have “made it your god” or not? What yard stick do you use to make the determination that you are serving “wrong master”?
When you have enough money to buy a 30 foot speedboat that you always wanted or give this money to some charitable cause, it seems that the decision says something about whether we are serving our will or God’s Will.
Are you sure about that? Ar you sure that it is only the “religious” who are “required” to be “poor”? Oh - I don’t mean literally, for we are not all called to be “itinerant preachers”, but spiritually and with a heart that says, any wealth I have is for God and for the Glory of His Kingdom.
I believe that we are all much more like the “rich young man” than we want to admit. We all recognize the call to, “sell all we have, give to the poor, and then go follow Jesus”, but we hedge. We look at what we have financially and then we decide how to spend it and when it comes to “Charity”, when it comes to God, we ask, What is “Required”.
The question is how much must one give in order to avoid mortal sin?
I must confess my disappointment at this statement. can it be that you are not concerned with committing sin, so long as you can avoid “mortal sin”? Is your love for God so limited that you feel it acceptable to offend him, just so long as he doesn’t “kick you out” into the darkness?
We are called to Love God with our entire being, with all of our hearts, with our entire strength. Christ was beaten, humilated, crowned with thorns, mocked, stripped, and crucified for us and for our sins. How can one ask such a question as you have, and look Christ in the eye as He hangs on the Cross?
God gave His only Son, Christ Gave the last Drop of His blood, and you ask, “What must one give in order to avoid mortal sin”.
I think the question should be how much of your income is God’s Love worth? How much of your “treasure”, of your comfort, are you willing to let go of, in order to alleviate the sufferings of Christ who is hungry, thirsty, mocked, naked, in prison, and hated by the world even today.
Think of the person, or persons who mean the most to you. Those whom you love dearly; your wife, your children. Would you die for them? Do you ask what must I give them or do you rather ask what can I give them? Do you look at them and think how much they are requiring of you, or do you look at them and say how much of myself can I give them?
This is where perspecitve comes in. What is your pespective on God. A Love for whom you would give the last measure of devotion and earthy treasure, or a “Lord” whom you fear and give only what is “required”.
I’m sorry that the above is blunt and I don’t intend this to be an indictment of you personally, for I have been (and still am) just as guilty of this. Why else would Christ be suffering so today except for our lukewarm faith.
And since theologians are not sure, it makes it hard to fully determine. I mean, if one is a multi-millionaire and gives 10% to their parish and another 10% to various charities, would that meet the requirements?
Much could depend on how that remaining 80% is used. If the person lives modestly and invests that money in ways that provides honest, uplifting, work for others then it can be seen that such a person is seeking the Kingdom through the Love and welfare of his fellow man. If that person lives lavishly and conspicuously, spending freely on the things of luxury without regard to where or how they are made, then such a one is not seeking the Kingdom, and instead is seeking after selfish things of this world while his brother suffers.
A better question in my mind should be, whether a person with a lrge income needs more to live on than a person with a modest income?
This person, has the same number in his family regardless of income, so food requirements don’t change. The size of house needed doesn’t change. The number of cars needed doesn’t change. The desire to provide for college, life insurance and other things doesn’t change.
Thus - A household of a given size has certain needs, and even adding in certain other things that are “good things” to provide for the future of the children etc, such a household only “requires” a certain amount of money to live on, regardless of how much “income” there is.
So -
Ask youself again if the “multimillionaire”, avoids sin by giving 20% and keeping 80%.
It would seem like it would be only the person’s regular Confessor/Spiritual Director (assuming said C/SD was orthodox in their faith) who could give an authoritative answer to that question for said individual. You really can’t go wrong just adhering to what your C/SD says.
You are right. No one can say what is in someones heart. I certainly cannot.
The NT, we’re called to give from our joyful hearts.
But if someone is only giving out of fear of Hell, is that really from a joyful heart?
A person who is giving out of “fear of hell” has bigger issues than just what they give.
Fear of the Lord is said to be the beginning of Wisdom. – But only the Beginning…
The growth of Wisdom in our Lord replaces fear with Love.
When The Lord becomes our Love then we give with Joy to our beloved, who is our Lord.
Peace
James
