The Bilt Mastercard is Spiritually Significant
Why don't we act fully by the will of God?
The way I usually pose this question when I visit a church is, in Luke 12:33, Jesus commands that His followers sell what they have and give alms. His constant insistence people take care of the needy, even saying that how we treat the least among us is how we treat Him, is a central idea in His teaching. I would ask, is that type of thing done here? Do people here sell all they have to help the needy here? And if no (and it's always been no so far), why not?
I see people race to assume why I ask. It does get people's hackles up, and usually my phrasing is only that blunt when the church service itself is such a bore I don't mind risking their welcome. But so far nobody has correctly intuited, at a mere word, why I'm asking. It is not to attack anyone for being a hypocrite. It's because I know how hard it is to do this in the modern age, and want to help the people who try.
One memorable occassion involved a church service so mind-boggingly boring I did in fact use almost exactly the wording and tone above. Just, is this done here? And the mother of the pastor answered (that's the person I asked -- I try not to ask a totally random person, but also not an explicit church leader).
She said no, it's not something they do. I asked why not, and she said because people have bills. I said I understood, but every bill I pay was on my credit card, which means I can just pay off the credit card every paycheck, and then give the rest away -- except, of course, rent, which was awkward. At the time they'd automatically deduct from my checking account, so I had to make sure that the amount was there when they did, but this was mostly an accounting issue, and I considered this several-days long running balance essentially the same as not laying up a treasure on earth. She found this somewhat impractical, reiterated it's not something they do, refused to give a hint it was something that interested her at all, and I excused myself to leave politely. She was a kind and honest person, so far as I could detect -- but not who I was looking to spend my Sundays with.
But then I heard there's a credit card you can pay rent with, and if the landlord doesn't want to accept it (even with merchant fees waived) they'll send a check on your behalf.
This led me to do absolutely nothing until I heard someone smart say that the company was just losing money on this, quite a bit actually, and they'd probably shut it down soon. Then I saw a promotion in my banking app on my phone, applied, and was approved for a credit limit larger than any combined cost of any lease I've ever signed.
This is such a devastating rebuttal to these churchgoers that I am convinced the angels in Heaven are looking out for me. First, America sets up an involuntary pension program that will pay out more than I've ever spent, and supplies free old age healthcare so I don't need to worry about that either? Perfect! I need not lay up a treasure for those things. Now even rent making regular Luke 12:33 observance difficult is eliminated. Most luxuries of modern life in America are ludicrous. But these religious commands are of great value to me. And that they're not even impractical? It's hard to overstate the importance here. There are people, unwilling to endorse "I disobey the commands of the Bible because I don't want to do them, whether it is practical or not" who, seeing these things, will actually let their hearts be transformed by the will of Jesus. They will be made into His word made flesh, at least a little bit more.
I wonder if they have referral codes I can give people at the churches I visit.