Maimonedes' Eight Degrees of Charity

I've been mulling over some thoughts/questions about charity in light of both TNL at the Gothic events.

I ran into this article, Mark Zuckerberg's charity pledge draws uncharitable sniping, that discuss this recent spat of very public charity being done by some of the richest people in America, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. Even though the question it asks, "Is it best to do so anonymously or to set a public example for others?", is interesting, the most interesting info that came out of it was mentioning Maimonedes's Eight Degrees of Charity.

The eight degrees of Charity go from highest/best to lowest/worst.

1. Helping someone by giving them a present, a loan, a partnership or a job so that they no longer need charity.


2. Giving to the poor where you don't know who you are giving to and the poor don't know who are giving to them. Maimonedes makes the point that if you are using an intermediary to administer the charity, make sure they are faithful, wise, and a good leader.


3. Giving to the poor where you know who you are giving to but they don't know who gave to them.


4. Giving to the poor where you don't know who you are giving to, but they know who gave to them.


5. Giving to a poor person before they ask.


6. Giving to a poor person after they ask.


7. Giving to a poor person gladly and with a smile.


8. Giving to a poor person unwillingly.

So, it seems like the TNL at the Gothic events have been category 2 type charity. However, there is also some elements of category 1 in there since both charity:water and Free the Girls have some elements of creating jobs for impoverished people as well.

Stories of Hearing from God

My church, The Next Level Church, is starting a new series is starting a new series called, "God Speaks". Or at least, that is what I think it will be called.

As part of the series, some people from the congregation were asked to provide their thoughts and experiences on hearing from God or God talking to them.

So over the next several weeks I'll write some posts on the following topics that are reflections on experiences that I have heard hearing from God.

1. Hearing from God in ways we don't expect
2. God talking through circumstance/coincidence
3. God talking through the Bible
3. The audacity of thinking we'll hear from God when we don't spend time with Him

I am definitely no expert on hearing from God. In fact, I am pretty poor at it. Alot of my Christian life I have been very lazy costing by on knowledge gained from years spent in church. My faith has been very cerebral and more about how much knowledge I have gained. Over the last year, I am journeying through the process of trying to interact with God more personally, attacking my sin more strongly, and trying to actually spend time with Him.

These posts will be another way for me to process through the ways that I've heard from God in the past, and hopefully learn how I can interact better with Him in the future.

"Well, that's what Jesus said"

As told on "This American Life #188 Kid Logic"

"It all began on Christmas 2 years ago when my daughter was 4 years old. It was the first time that she had ever asked what did this holiday mean. I explained to her that this was celebrating the birth of Jesus. And she wanted to know more about that and we went out and bought a kids Bible. And had these readings at night. She loved them and wanted to know everything about Jesus. So we read alot about his birth and about his teaching. She would ask constantly what that phrase was. And I would explain to her that it was 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. And we would talk about those old words and what that all meant.

Then one day we were driving past a big church and out front was an enormous crucifix.

She said, 'Who is that?'.

I guess I never really told that part of the story.

So I had to kind of tell her 'Well that's Jesus, and I forgot to tell you the ending. He ran afoul of the Roman government. This message that he had was so radical and unnerving to the prevailing authorites at the time that they had to kill him. They came to the conclusion that he would have to die. That message was too troubling.'

It was about a month later after that Christmas. We had gone through the whole story of what Christmas meant. It was mid-January and her preschool celebrates the same holidays as the local schools. So Martin Luther King Day was off. So I knocked off work that day and I decided we'd play and I'd take her out to lunch. And we were siiting in there and right on the table where we happened to plop down was the Arts section of the local newspaper. There big as life was a huge drawing by a 10 year old kid from the local schools of Martin Luther King.

She said, 'Who's that?'

I said, 'Well as it happens that's Martin Luther King. And he's why you aren't in school today. Because we are celebrating his birthday. This is the day we celebrate his life.'

She said, 'So who is he?'

I said, 'He was a preacher'

She looks at me and says, 'For Jesus?'

And I said, "Yeah actually he was. But there was another thing that he was famous for. Which is that he had a message'.

You are trying to say this to a 4 year old. This is the first time they ever hear anything. So you are just very careful about how you phrase everything.

So I said, 'Yeah he was a preacher and he had a message.'

And she said, 'What was his message?'

I said, 'Well he said that you should treat everybody the same no matter what they look like.'

She thought about that for a minute. And she said, 'Well, that's what Jesus said'.

And I said, 'Yeah I guess it is. I never thought about it that way. That is sort of like "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".'

She thought about for a minute and looked up to me and said, 'Did they kill him too?'

Seeing Jesus Through a Porn Star

Part 1 of Series : The Truth is Out There

One of the stories that I have come across recently that makes a differience is a series of posts by Natala.

It is a story of when she was in college and ended up making friends with a porn star. It is hard to summarize the story without doing it an injustice. There is something about Natala's raw, honest style that makes the story very powerful and impactful.

There is some graphic language and content and it will take some time to read. However, I believe it is worth every minute of reading.

Porn Star - Part 1
Porn Star - Part 2 (Bathroom Photo's and Plato)
Porn Star - Part 3 (Emergeny Room Nights)
Porn Star - Part 4 (500 Dollars)
Porn Star - Part 5 (White Pill)
Porn Star - Part 6 (The E-mail)
Porn Star - Part 7 (And I Know He Watches Over Me)
Porn Star - Part 8 (Seeing Jesus Through A Porn Star)

"in the end, this girl,
the porn star,
the crack addict
the alcoholic
the h.i.v. patient
the slut
the druggie
the one who sold herself
the one that the church told me to stay away from...

this porn star... showed me the beauty and presence of god, more than i had ever known." - Part 8

Read this series to see how Natala was shown the beauty of God by someone that society says is worthless.

P.S. Read the series all the way through from the beginning for the best effect.

The Truth Is Out There

So much of the Internet is a waste of time.

I waste a lot more time then I should randomly surfing websites, reading blogs, playing games etc.

Every once and a while you find something worthwhile or educational. Then, even less frequently, you come across something that effectively challenges you to be a better person.

We are creating a series called "The Truth is Out There", in order to connect you with those life-changing stories.

Part 1: Seeing Jesus Through a Porn Star - A story of beauty in what society deems worthless.