Charity starts at home ?

kjmpde

We often hear that expression but why?

There was a very aggressive man yesterday who made a comment about hating ( not just disliking) someone from my home town . So given a choice of giving charity to him versus another person from another area or country - I would prefer the latter.
I don't know where the expression Charity begins at home came from but is it relevant in the current climate ?

To me the expression relates to charity, not your actual home.

AI: "Compassion for the needy: Jesus consistently showed tender compassion for the poor, the sick, and the afflicted, ministering to their physical and spiritual needs.

Teaching and serving: His ministry was filled with selfless acts of teaching the gospel and "doing good" for those around him.

Feeding the hungry: In a notable miracle, Jesus multiplied loaves and fish to feed thousands, showing his willingness to provide for people's basic needs."

Charity is reason to why we tithe at Church, donate at Church, and leave whatever we have, after death, to the Church to distribute charitably. IMO.

Bluebelle the saying is an admonishment to those who are generous in their charity (love) for other people, other causes, exactly what you describe but do not include their family and those near them in that overwhelming charity(love)

How I loathe that saying, charity should begin wherever it’s needed irrespective of colour, creed, gender or anything else both in love and money and in respect

Lathyrus3

I think it means charity in the original sense of love and kindliness.

As in “ now abide the these three, faith hope and charity”
Which in modern version of the Bible reads as faith, hope and love.

Thank you: This speaks to the non religious as well, I think.

Its Corinthians 13:1 on compassionate love: here is most of it:

1 If I speak in the tongues a of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love

...so yes, in it's original meaning it is very relevant today,
kjmpde

Sorry Wierdo. I went away to find the quote!

This is from Browne.
From his Religio Medici
Sir Thomas Browne "charity begins at home" as an observation of what he calls "the voice of the world."

He saw it to be worldly, narrow and self-serving and ultimately not very charitable!

I've just looked for the original quote:

​^"Charity begins at home, is the voice of the world; yet is every man his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner."^

​Browne has a view that true charity is universal love (agape) that extends beyond one's immediate family and community to all of humanity.

Our charitable duties DO NOT end with our own household/local community.

The Buddhist's mediation on compassionate love gives a good picture to me of what the phrase means.

First you meditate on bringing compassion to yourself, then to someone close, then to someone neutral, then to someone you don't like, then the greatest challenge, to someone actively negative or destructive.

I always struggle with the last one, just try to understand what could have made them that way.

''Charity begins at home'' was popularised by English writer Sir Thomas Browne in his 1642 work, Religio Medici. The phrase reflects a long-standing concept found in biblical and ancient texts, emphasising that compassion and generosity should first be directed toward one's immediate family and close community before extending to the wider world.

It means kindness and love for others starts at home ie with you.

Like

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.

I think it means charity in the original sense of love and kindliness.

As in “ now abide the these three, faith hope and charity”
Which in modern version of the Bible reads as faith, hope and love.

Correct MOnica 1 Timothy 5.8.

I always thought it was a rebuke to those who parade their charitable work/donations in the community, but behaved badly and uncharitably towards their family.

I always thought “charity begins at home” meant in your own home/family.