Trent, would you be willing email some of these links to me? Thank you :)

#14 H.O.R.: There is no obligation incurred by the passing of a basket. If we worry that people watching will think we’re stingy, isn’t that merely another way of keeping up with the Joneses?

#89 Tordr: Perhaps he feels that, as bad as it is, there’s always someone who has it worse? My own experience being more generous than I thought I could be is that it enriched my life too, in ways both tangible and intangible. I generally keep a tight fist wrapped around my money, but I dare say there is a time for chucking conventional wisdom to the wind.

But please, please consider not putting a faith-based slant on your posts or advice. There are others out there doing that already. I find this blog useful but would soon become uncomfortable with it if it became any more “WWJD.” Thanks very much for listening.

I enjoyed reading a thoughtful post about tolerance and listening.

However the real function of faith-based money management is written of in the Bible, including such themes as debt (“the borrower is the slave of the lender”) and giving to the poor. It isn’t so much about praying for money.

But no matter how well we do at following those directives, there will still be famine, disease and hunger in the world. None of that means the effort is silly. What it does mean is that even if our best efforts fail, we can still have hope.

I loved this post, I wish everyone could feel this way.

“I prayed today to have my job give me a raise and my finances to turn around!”
It doesn’t matter he/she gets this raise or not. It has nothing to do with praying, religion or a God. If praying or being spiritual about money WORKED, there would be no famine, no diseases and no hunger.

I’m not really interested in arguing this or debating it. What I am saying makes absolutely perfect sense to those who can open their mind for 8 seconds and think about it. Imagine being 9, starving and have tapeworm – not being 42 white and well off. Your opinion may change.

This is actually a very interesting theological point to think about and discuss. C.S. Lewis’s book “The Problem of Pain” addresses it very well. It’s a book I read a long time ago that really made me think, and I intend to re-read it soon.

In fact, all of C.S. Lewis’s nonfiction and memoir works are incredibly powerful and thought-provoking. I’d challenge anyone who is actually thoughtful about the existence and nature of a God to read them at the same time as reading strong arguments for atheism like Sam Harris’s “The End of Faith.”

I admire that you included other faiths in this post, as it seems so many PF bloggers talk solely about Christianity.

I am much more an atheist than a Christian, and my feeling is that religion and money do not mix. As a previous commenter wrote, the churches are often grand buildings paid by the church goers, and there are religions out there that think more of money to the church, than the economic well-being of the church goers.

In particular I was reading one blog (now taken down) written by a devote Christian and he was giving away 10% of his income (tithing) before any other bill was paid. This was a person in his 40′s, lots of kids, credit card debt which he was working to eliminate and no savings for retirement. Me and many commenter’s where trying to suggest/tell him to pay of the debt first then give away money, but he would rather loose his house than stop tithing.

So this is just my views on religion and economy.

I’d like to discuss the theological aspects of what we’re both saying, but this is not the forum for it. If you’d like to do so, please contact me at kevin@outofyourrut.net. Thanks!

I fail to understand why a blog about personal finance is to be critiqued for it’s adheance or lack thereof to a set of religious precepts? Am I missing something here or do folks just feel the need to go around castigating everyone who doesn’t do what they want? How Christian or holy is that?!!!

P.S. I understand why you put in the stuff @ the Amish child it obviously muddied the waters.

Some of the apparent conflict in your comment is that non-believers don’t fully comprehend the concept of “salvation”. In the case of Christianity, salvation is other-worldly, referring to the spiritual saving of the believer for eternal existence with God.

That’s the very definition of faith, believing what you do not see. Most people have such faith in areas other than religion–think about the unbacked currency sitting in your wallet as an example.

Christianity does not in any way promise salvation in the worldly sense. I’m not aware that any faith does. The idea of a world without suffering is actually Utopianism.

The job of the Christian is to seek a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, bring other people into that relationship, with the alleviation of suffering as an effort that flows out of that relationship, not as a stand alone effort. Christianity’s primary purpose isn’t to address the human condition.

If that sounds hypocritical–and I’ll admit that if you’re a non-believer that might seem to be the case at some level–it’s also worth pointing out that no secular efforts have succeeded in alleviating suffering either.

As a matter of reality, the world hasn’t done a very good job of alleviating suffering through secular channels either, despite many public pronouncements and programs making the claim. Against that backdrop, faith at least offers hope to the downtrodden in a world that cannot save them. Would it be better to deny them that hope?

People should basically be nice to each other…agreed…

But what ails our fractured society in general is certainly not an overabundance of commitment to religious principles.

Open your mind far enough and it will fall on the sidewalk.

So by all means let’s be civilized to one another. But the idea that faith is a private personal matter is a highly debatable point – as to its truth, and as to its desirability.

I’m not trying to be offensive, I am just trying to add in a bit of common sense.

You’re welcome to believe whatever you want to believe, but before you toss religion into anything you do – THINK about what you’re doing/saying and consider how realistic it is.