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Hey everybody…a big debate has sprouted up here in China and has brought with it some very thought-provoking questions I wanted to pass along. This past few weeks all news and even our blogs have focused heavily on the earthquake disaster that has plagued this country. It’s hard not to be focused on it. Because of this there has been heavy pressure from every angle to donate money. The government, company leaders, and school officials are requiring their employees to donate to the relief cause. Here’s the catch: unlike the west, donations can’t be made anonymously.

Think about that for a second. If donations can’t be made anonymously, the dynamic of giving completely changes. On the up-side, one good thing that happens is that everybody donates. Our school put up a list on the internet of all its employees (including us) and how much we donated – everybody knew this when they donated. The whole city of Karamay will see how much the foreign teachers donated and many might make judgments based on their knowledge of how much money we make. Some companies required their employees to give because they didn’t want their company to be shown as the one to give the least. In a sense, giving became a competition (turning everything into a competition is a disease in this country). Unfortunately when this happens, giving is no longer a response to a need but rather a necessity to keep oneself from public shame.

Thankfully we feel confident in what we gave, even though I shamefully have to admit that I might not have been so willing to give what we did had it been anonymous. But therein lies the debate. Since giving is public for all people, including celebrities, the internet is buzzing with citizens who don’t think the movie and pop stars in China gave enough in light of their salaries. For days the main TV stations have shown gatherings where big wig government officials and businessmen came to the front and put their donations in a big box on stage. They got up on stage, flashed their face for the camera, and put their bag labeled with the money amount into the box. As I looked at their faces I wondered how many would have donated such amounts if all was anonymous. Again, I shamefully admit that my donations would be different.
This presents two questions in my mind. First: Should giving be public or private? I think the answer to this question is pretty obvious because giving, if not done from a sincere heart, becomes a tax, not a gift; however, the idea still requires some thought. The second question is a bit more personal. Think about a time in which you last gave, whether that was for Hurricane Katrina or last Sunday’s tithe. If everybody saw how much you donated, would it have been any different? Keeping in mind that 10% was never an exact mandate in the Word, does public scrutiny hold more power over us and our money than the knowledge that we live what we believe through how we serve and care for others? It’s a powerful question, and the implications of my own personal answer have required me to begin to fix how I approach giving.

What about you?