September 30, 2007
Is God bad at Math?
I was just reading the comments from Forbes 400 Richest Americans and Jason Dean brought up a good point about giving:
Warren Buffett gave very little (relatively speaking, of course) to charity until his recent huge gift to the Gates Foundation. His rationale was that he could grow his money more effectively if he held on to it, thus making for a larger (eventual) gift. He was right. So in a way, it could be argued that Bill Gates is making a mistake by giving so much to charity at this stage in his life. Perhaps his wealth could be better served creating more jobs and more wealth through investment, compounding his massive wealth, for an eventual mammoth gift at an older age, like Buffett.
Mathematically, I agree completely - If you have $10,000 now, you could give it or you could invest it for 30 years (at 11%) and have over $250,000 to give.
I read that Benjamin Franklin did something similar by creating trusts that kept his money invested for decades after he died to keep growing. So rather than giving away the million he had when he died, he let it grow for another 50 or so years. Then at a specified point, Ben had instructed in his trust that libraries be built with the money. You can assume that his million would have grown to tens of millions, thus being far more effective.
Scripturally, I think I find a contradiction in Proverbs 3:27-28…
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,” when you have it with you.
and Deuteronomy 18:4 (and many other similar verses) points out:
“You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep.
I think I can say with confidence that the Bible does NOT endorse the “save it all up then give” method. This is a little bit of a struggle for me, because the mathematical portion of my brain can see the enormous benefit.
I really enjoy and have a whole lot of fun giving. It is such a liberating experience and I would miss out on most of it if I waited until I was rich and old. Maybe that is why the Bible encourages us to do it now. Or could it be that God is just bad at math?
What do you think - give now, or give later?
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Filed under Biblical Perspective on Money by bob
Comments on Is God bad at Math? »
plonkee @ 5:28 am
There are many different ways of investing and getting a return on your investment. It might be a good idea to make a lot of money and then give, but you can get a better non-monetary return on your money if you give now.
For example, if I give and it saves one life now, what will the person with that life do - they may save many lives, provide prosperity to their area etc, etc. As with monetary returns, not all end up being positive.
Karl @ 5:45 am
Re: the quote from Proverbs — it says, ” to whom it is due.” Money freely given to charity is not a financial or spiritual liability one must pay off, but a gift. If God wants a cheerful giver, then you should be free (with good counsel and according to conscience) to give anytime and in any amount you want.
Second, God wants us to tithe, give, etc so we can become Givers, as He is. Thus, the injunction to give now rather than to wait; we tend to wait out of selish desire and not out of the altruism that says, “But I’ll give more later” — most of us know we’re deceiving ourselves if we take that approach.
Lynnae @ Being Frugal @ 7:20 am
I think giving now is important. Giving often puts us in a mindset of being generous and appreciative, rather than selfish and bitter about what we don’t have.
I also think that my brain is far too small to understand exactly how God works. It’s like the whole tithing thing. My brain says we can’t afford to tithe, yet when we do, somehow we always have the money for what we need. I don’t understand God’s math, but I trust Him enough just to go with it and let Him worry about the details.
crossn81 @ 7:46 am
I think plonkee is right on target. We have no idea how God might multiply the gift in the life of someone else. What if Franklin had built the libraries during his lifetime and because of them in 30 years someone else was a multi-millionaire who had the ability to give more than what Franklin’s trusts could give?
On the converse, if I know that my church (or some organization) is thinking about a capital campaign or something in the future, I could invest the money short-term to maximize the gains and the amount I could donate.
Randy Peterman @ 8:20 am
Acts 2:45 and Romans 12:13 teach several things in their simple admonition to ‘give to those in need.’ The simple concept of giving to those in need in the church has several aspects that you should consider:
1) You need to know people to find out where their needs are
2) They need to know you well enough to reveal their needs
More importantly than this Philippians 4:19 indicates several aspects of giving that blow your giving mathematical equation out of the water
First you need to consider that God provides the need, He provides the fulfillment of the need and that He also provides the agent to deliver the fulfillment. Sometimes the one who has the fulfillment is the deliverer of the fulfillment as well. In all of these aspects He is glorified because He is the provider.
His ownership of all wealth on the earth means that while you could be part of the fulfillment later (plus some), doesn’t mean that He isn’t going to use someone else whom He has provided for then.
ted @ 9:31 am
You’ve simply tried to compare the “miracle” of compounding and the stock market (”mans money system”), with the Word of the Living God. That is shallow and will only go so far… depending on your mind set, you’ll be easily polarized one direction or the other.
Consider Abraham’s obedience and what God said about it in Gen 18:19 and Gen 22:12. “For I know Him”, “for now I know”…
Does God “know” (or you for that matter), what you will do with your income? Can God count on you obeying his word and giving a tithe of _all_ of it? Does God know that you desire to bless the poor? Does God know that you will respond to a need when presented with it?
You want to be blessed? Position yourself. Make the choices, take the stand, and get ready. Become a person that people (and God) can count on to do certain things, every time, all the time.
And then see what happens. Abraham was wildly blessed. He gave away all sorts of things (tithe to Melchizedek, spoils from war, better land to Lot to avoid strife, etc). Read Gen 18:19 again… “For I know him that he will …., that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
That New Testament’s about you. Are you known? May God bring those things he’s promised to believers on you? Obedience in the area of money and finances is one of the smallest and simplest areas to obey.
Bob @ 11:15 am
@Plonkee and everyone else
Good point about how different lives will affect other lives, etc, etc… I think this is how God sees it. Like Ted mentioned it is foolish to compare the power of compound interest to God’s thoughts and methods - His thoughts are so much higher than ours and I have faith that He knows what He is doing when He tells us to do it now rather than later…
Joey Sparks @ 9:27 pm
God can do more with $25,000 now than man can do with $250,000 later.