Sinful to buy yourself treats instead of helping the needy?

[Melodeonist]

I highly doubt it’s sinful. I work in a local supermarket and I know that if people don’t buy enough of a product it expires and it’s useless. The only options then is have the workers or the owners eat it, or dump it down the drain.

Why would it be sinful to enjoy your life? Obviously gluttony is bad, but enjoying your life doesn’t mean gluttony.

Who says you can’t help the poor and enjoy your life? You can volunteer or donate money as well as buy stuff for yourself to enjoy.

Some places , such as thrift stores, usually give the money to help the poor/needy when you buy things. On top of that, you are reusing items that would have went to the dump otherwise.

 

[goout]

Helping the poor is a Christian duty.
It’s difficult, but the world would be a much better place if we consumed less and gave more.

That being said, it is not a sin to enjoy ice cream. But maybe it is a sin to live a lifestyle that focuses on consumption and hoarding possessions.

How many of us spend more in restaurants than we give to the poor? Mea culpa. How many of us spend more on pets than we give to the poor?

Mother Theresa said that for love to be authentic it must hurt the giver. That is hard to hear.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

Helping the poor is a Christian duty.
It’s difficult, but the world would be a much better place if we consumed less and gave more.

That being said, it is not a sin to enjoy ice cream. But maybe it is a sin to live a lifestyle that focuses on consumption and hoarding possessions.

How many of us spend more in restaurants than we give to the poor? Mea culpa. How many of us spend more on pets than we give to the poor?

Mother Theresa said that for love to be authentic it must hurt the giver. That is hard to hear.

You can buy prepared foods or you can buy raw ingredients and spend the time to prepare. OR you can eat in a restaurant … where you save time and energy and clean-up … and also provide employment for others.

 

[goout]

You can buy prepared foods or you can buy raw ingredients and spend the time to prepare. OR you can eat in a restaurant … where you save time and energy and clean-up … and also provide employment for others.

True.
In my case eating in a restaurant regularly is wasteful. I do not make a lot of money.

If my time were more valuable monetarily, then eating in a restaurant to save time and energy would be a good thing, since I could produce more and give more.

It’s not possible to make blanket moral judgments. It’s an evaluation for everyone to make.
I suspect most of us in the prosperous nations are wasteful. When I eat out, I always eat too much and have the second beer. So…that’s my thing to fast on when possible.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

True.
In my case eating in a restaurant regularly is wasteful. I do not make a lot of money.

If my time were more valuable monetarily, then eating in a restaurant to save time and energy would be a good thing, since I could produce more and give more.

It’s not possible to make blanket moral judgments. It’s an evaluation for everyone to make.
I suspect most of us in the prosperous nations are wasteful. When I eat out, I always eat too much and have the second beer. So…that’s my thing to fast on when possible.

We save a LOT of money by eating out and bringing home half of the meal in a take-out container. And we almost never buy alcohol in a restaurant.

We can stretch a take-out portion for two additional meals.

After pricing the ingredients, we found that the cost of the ingredients make cooking at home more expensive than a moderate restaurant meal. Unless you just grill a hamburger with nothing added.

 

[mommy_k]

Charity begins at home…

A way to look at it too, is when you purchase a treat or something else such as a cake…

You provide a job for the farmer who grows the wheat. You provide a job for the delivery truck driver…you provide a job for the company worker that works on the factory who makes the wheat into flour, you provide a job for the bakery workers who make the cake and sell it… the list goes on and on.

We can also donate a portion of our salary to our church, and to the missions over seas…we can donate bought items to our food pantry. If you have a generous heart, it is not a sin to enjoy treats and other material things within reason

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Theo520]

I’m guilty of buying treats and then not turning on the porch light for the needy.
I then store the treats in my freezer, keeps em fresh.

Happy Halloween!

 

[Qoeleth]

When there is war in other countries and others need help, is it not sinful to buy yourself alcohol, soft drinks, candy, cigarettes, movie tickets, Disney reservations, birthday cakes, etc. as a treat, instead of giving that money to help them? Are we not “One Body in Christ”? “When one suffers, all suffer” the Catechism says (cf. CCC 953). For Christians to throw parties for themselves while other Christians need medical and educational supplies, etc., is that not sinful? Is such behavior not a recapitulation of the Good Samaritan parable’s priest and Levite who “passed by on the other side”? (cf. Luke 10:29-37; Christians share in the common priesthood and are one family in Christ)

Jesus says,

My pastor told me it was not a sin for people to buy themselves drinks (soft drinks, alcohol) instead of helping people in Syria. The reason he gave was that if all of society were to do that, the people working at alcohol factories would be put out of work. He said it was not a simple problem. He said it was only sinful if it was an addiction. This discussion occurred in Japanese and he is busy, so I feel unable to discuss it with him further. I would have said, though, that in time of war, it makes sense for us to change jobs temporarily to help end the war: It would be good for the alcohol factories to shut down temporarily and those workers work instead to deliver humanitarian aid, for example. Again, “when one suffers, all suffer”: If we are not suffering with the Christians in Syria and Iraq, and more generally with others in need, are we really One Body with them?

It seems to me that what I have said here is correct, and that he is wrong to say it’s not a sin. It seems to me that it used to be okay to “not participate” in the plight of others internationally because we simply were unable to do so, but now that we have news and the means to help, it appears to me we have the moral imperative to do so. What are your thoughts? Have I erred in judgment? Am I mistaking some moral principle? If you disagree with me, then how is it not a sin? Why is it okay? How is it not self-centered and like the Rich Man who wouldn’t even give scraps (like the cost of beer or specialty coffee) to those in need (cf. Luke 16:19-21)? (Again, thanks to the Internet and recent globalization, those in need are effectively near us now.)

Yes- it’s kind of a ‘sinful thing’. All human beings are inclined to tarnished, and even the conditions of life itself, because of the Fall of Adam and Eve. There are a many sinful things (failures in charity, pride, envy, sloth, lust etc). which happen to all, even if there is no intention. So it is ‘sinful’, yes. It is part of our sinful condition that anyone suffers and is in need (i.e. it is a consequence of an ontological Falleness.)

It is not necessarily something which is personally culpable, unless the person was consciously struck by the thought at the time- “This person here is is in need- But #$@! him, I’ll but a treat for myself instead!”

 

[Bluebright]

I don’t think it, in itself is sinful, but I do think we have to come around to a decision individually (with God of course) and what others do isn’t really some thing to be used as a yardstick. Firstly I would suggest prayer to discern the answer for yourself, what others do is not really anything more than a suggestion. Great saints have their calling and you have yours, it may not be the same. Chances are if you are feeling uncomfortable with ‘the treats’ you are getting that has meaning for you and you need to address that in prayer. If you are meaning your discomfort is with what others do, then I’d try to focus on inner life as there is little you can or should do about other people’s choices with regard to charity. But for yourself if you feel you should give more, then pray and think really hard about it and God will show you the way He wants you to go. I do understand your predicament, it is very difficult to see the suffering of others and to even think of our own pleasure even in a small way.
I think your priest means well getting you to think of secondary issues as the world is a very delicate web of actions all connected together. I don’t think he’s telling you not to care, just reminding you that you aren’t in control of it all and to take your place which is just a small part of it all and do what you can and have faith for the rest. I think he was trying to reassure you that it’s ok to be happy and to take joy from the world even if there is suffering. Take’s my take anyway. God bless

 

[Mosestheblack]

Not every now and then, no. But if it expands and grows to a point where you are becoming increasingly self-centered and would pass by a starving man on the street without even batting an eye is where it needs to stop. You can treat yourself, so long as you don’t treat ONLY yourself.

 

[Convert_in_99]

Charity begins at home…

A way to look at it too, is when you purchase a treat or something else such as a cake…

You provide a job for the farmer who grows the wheat. You provide a job for the delivery truck driver…you provide a job for the company worker that works on the factory who makes the wheat into flour, you provide a job for the bakery workers who make the cake and sell it… the list goes on and on.

We can also donate a portion of our salary to our church, and to the missions over seas…we can donate bought items to our food pantry. If you have a generous heart, it is not a sin to enjoy treats and other material things within reason

Just my 2 cents.

This!

 

[Rosebud77]

I highly doubt it’s sinful.** I work in a local supermarket and I know that if people don’t buy enough of a product it expires and it’s useless. The only options then is have the workers or the owners eat it, or dump it down the drain.**

Why would it be sinful to enjoy your life? Obviously gluttony is bad, but enjoying your life doesn’t mean gluttony.

Who says you can’t help the poor and enjoy your life? You can volunteer or donate money as well as buy stuff for yourself to enjoy.

Some places , such as thrift stores, usually give the money to help the poor/needy when you buy things. On top of that, you are reusing items that would have went to the dump otherwise.

Well, here it goes on the reduced counter or to a food bank before it gets useless, Then folk without much money can enjoy it!

I shop at reduced counters and thrift shops and that way can send more away.

 

[Rosebud77]

And an often honorable choice.

Does it constitute “sin” to not make that choice?

I do not know and I would as I have said never ever pass that opinion on anyone, FOR ME buying what I do not need, eating out , and other ideas, would be wrong . I can eat more cheaply and better here. Far more so. and thus give more.

Also makes a rare treat much more meaningful! I was visiting last week and they fed me. Wonderful treat!

I was blessed although it did not seem so at the time to literally have to leave almost all I owned behind.

Now it is all in proportion. I have what I NEED and no more.

 

[Rosebud77]

When I give up all my money, then … will I have to live in a cardboard box?

At that point do I become a charity case?

How, at that point, do I help poor people?

There are literally billions of needy people. What is the best way of my helping them?

Oh DEAR!

 

[Rosebud77]

How then do I help the poor?

I have the education, the licenses and certifications and relevant experience and abilities … If I live in a cardboard box, how do I bring clean drinking water to the poor?

How do I grow food and grind wheat and catch fish to feed the poor?

Some of the apostles owned fishing boats and nets. Would I give those up, as well?

Oh DEAR!

 

[Rosebud77]

Helping the poor is a Christian duty.
It’s difficult, but the world would be a much better place if we consumed less and gave more.

That being said, it is not a sin to enjoy ice cream. But maybe it is a sin to live a lifestyle that focuses on consumption and hoarding possessions.

How many of us spend more in restaurants than we give to the poor? Mea culpa. How many of us spend more on pets than we give to the poor?

Mother Theresa said that for love to be authentic it must hurt the giver. That is hard to hear.

If giving hurts then something is very wrong. Giving is a grace always.
Always hated that phrase.
Real love does not hurt; it heals. It soothes, If fulfils.

 

[Rosebud77]

Charity begins at home…

A way to look at it too, is when you purchase a treat or something else such as a cake…

You provide a job for the farmer who grows the wheat. You provide a job for the delivery truck driver…you provide a job for the company worker that works on the factory who makes the wheat into flour, you provide a job for the bakery workers who make the cake and sell it… the list goes on and on.

We can also donate a portion of our salary to our church, and to the missions over seas…we can donate bought items to our food pantry. If you have a generous heart, it is not a sin to enjoy treats and other material things within reason

Just my 2 cents.

Pondered this a while… but something slightly awry. Same applies for essentials eg bread. I would never need to justify a treat in this way

 

[PseuTonym]

Same applies for essentials eg bread.

If yeast is not an essential nutrient, then we might be able to put unleavened bread in our list of essentials, but ordinary bread would have to be a luxury item.