Are you really a cheerful giver?
A recent letter in the Fence Post opens with a Bible quote: “God loves a cheerful giver” and ends with this: “Please be a cheerful taxpayer.”
The writer doesn’t seem to understand that Americans are not “givers” when it comes to paying taxes; rather it’s the government that is a “taker.”
Since this writer opened with a reference from the Bible, please allow me to pick some wisdom from the Good Book myself. There is also something in there about selling all you have, giving it to the poor and following Jesus. It says nothing about the government “taking” from you and redistributing it to whomever it so chooses, except for that part about “giving to Caesar,” but even that was “taken.”
If and when the writer sells all she has and gives it to the poor, regardless of what the feds are doing, and remains happy, then I guess I could believe that she is indeed a “cheerful giver.”
John Babush
Big Rock