Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
Growing up, my mom (a preschool teacher in a baptist preschool) used to always tell us these two things in regard to shaping our actions (either verbally or physically) :
1. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. This, obviously, has little to do with this blog (however we should all know how important it is to watch the tongue). (Mom, that was a forced effort to show you I can spell it right. Wait - let me spell check to make SURE it is right! haha)
2. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. I suppose as karma goes, this is about as close to it as you can get in the Christian religion.
For all my life, I've tried to do the right thing. This is not to say that I ALWAYS do the right thing, I'm just saying that I try. We are all sinners, I am no different. Sometimes my judgment is off - sometimes I'm mad, sometimes I'm hormonal, sometimes the devil takes over my thoughts. Either way, I've done my fair share of bad-deeds.
To gear this blog towards my last post, let me explain specifically to what I am referring... In the past when I've found money, I've always tried to return it to its owner OR give it to charity (if I could not find the owner). Several times, people have questioned my intention with this ritual (i.e. it's not your problem they gave you too much cash back - just keep it!) but ALWAYS I give it back.
Karma would say that one day, this favor would be returned to me. Thing is, though, to believe in karma is to believe in reincarnation (i.e. maybe the favor would not be returned in my life, but in one of my future lives). The Christian faith does not support the concept of reincarnation: Therefore, as a Christian, I do NOT believe in reincarnation. Subsequently, I cannot believe in karma.
"It's not your problem they gave you too much cash back - just keep it!"
One time as a passenger in a car, I ran into a store to pick up an item for someone else (the driver). The driver gave me one bill (cash), I didn't look at it, I just assumed it was a $20. The total was like $7 or so, and upon receiving my change of $3, I said "I gave you a $20!". The cashier disagreed, but eventually gave me an extra $10 in change. When I got to the car, I quickly asked the driver how much money she gave me - she said $10. So after declaring that I made a fool of myself, I declared that I had to return the extra change. She said "It's not your problem they gave you too much cash back - just keep it!" I felt differently - it was my problem. I returned the $10 anyway, apologizing profusely at my error. They were very grateful I was being honest... but really, could it be done any other way?
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