Charity in the Bible is presented as “love in action,” not as a means of earning salvation but as a result of having been given the gift of salvation. There are thousands of charities and, as we are financially able, we may donate to one or to many as we see fit. One caveat: for a Christian, our main purpose should be to advance the kingdom. Any other purposes, even those which are obviously positive, are secondary.
ἕκαστος
καθὼς προῄρηται τῇ καρδίᾳ, μὴ ἐκ λύπης ἢ ἐξ ἀνάγκης· ἱλαρὸν γὰρ δότην ἀγαπᾷ ὁ
Θεός 2 Corinthians 9:7,
in a literal translation into English would read something like this: Every/each
as he has decided in heart, not out of grudging or out of forced need/necessity,
cheerful indeed giver loves God. Read this verse in your own preferred
Bible translation.
Not
all charities are ethical and some border on actual fraud. Some give very
limited funds to the causes they espouse, instead using most of their money for
“administrative expenses.” Others resort to questionable practices to raise
funds. They may send you a set of address labels or some small gift to make you
feel a sense of obligation to them.
The website shown below discusses
donor’s hesitance to contribute to charities which violate the donor’s privacy
by selling their names and contact information to third parties. There are
actually companies which sell targeted mailing lists of persons known to have
donated to similar charities. For example, a person could be targeted for their
history of donating to charities dedicated to a particular political
orientation, or to a specific religious group, or to animal rescue activities,
or to anti- or pro-abortion groups, or to foster involvement in the arts, or to
literacy programs, or to homeless or injured veteran’s activities, or to advance children’s sports involvement, or to
disaster relief organizations, or to charities which are medically oriented. There
is an established charity for almost any imaginable purpose and you can safely assume
that most of them are willing to sell the contact information of their donors
and to buy targeted lists of prospective new donors. They, and hundreds of
others, will flood you with sometimes very insistent requests for
donations. On https://smartasset.com you
can also read this article, “The 50 Worst Charities in America.”
This is unethical and is
presumptuous, as if you owe your money to their particular charity. It exhibits
an extreme disrespect for their donors but is not illegal and at least some
of the donated funds go to their stated causes.
Favor Christian charities as your
first choices. Give to secular charities if you have even more to give. Research
your chosen charity’s mission statement carefully to make sure that they
actually provide the majority of their funds to their stated purpose. Some charities explicitly state that they
respect their donors and that they do not sell your personal information to
others. God loves a cheerful giver but he also expects us to use our gift of
discernment. Use your money wisely to advance the Kingdom.
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