Judge not . . . unless.

Jamie Anne Richardson of Wylie thinks people waste their money. I agree. Many probably do. But I disagree with Jamie on another point which I'll get to later.

Jamie says that Allen School District taxpayers wasted their money on the $60 million high school stadium they built. Jamie says that presidential candidates waste money on advertising. Jamie says that Texans waste money on the lottery. Jamie says that people waste money donating to their churches, because the churches don't spend the bulk of the money on others. What would happen, she asks, if the churches didn't have buildings but used all that money on people instead.

Jamie says she's not a pot calling the kettle black. She says, "Judge not other's wasteful spending until you look at your own." She says she does that. Since I don't know Jamie, I did a little internet research, and I am not posting anything that anyone else couldn't find. It's surprising what an open book Jamie's life is. I wouldn't be comfortable with that much personal information about me floating around out there in cyberspace. Anyway, here's what I found:

Jamie's 3000 square foot house is on the Collin County Appraisal District roll at a value of $186,167. Does she really need 3000 square feet for her three children? Growing up, my five-member family resided in a house that was less than 1200 square feet. Couldn't Jamie live in a smaller, less expensive home and give the difference to the poor? Or to that food pantry that she's berated others about because they let the shelves get bare? And just think -- the utility bills wouldn't be as much in a house half the size of hers. She could add that savings to her gifts to the poor, too. Jamie has an iPhone. Wouldn't just a regular phone do the trick? I'll just bet she has some sort of "unlimited" phone/data plan for it, and we all know that's not cheap. One day, Jamie had a pumpkin spice latte in the morning and a Coke Zero for lunch and a glass of wine in the evening. Those are pretty high dollar drinks. What's wrong with water? As she suggested to others about the above-mentioned food pantry -- why don't you give up that mocha you hardly even taste and give the money to the food pantry? Jamie's kids have video games and Netflix. More wasteful spending, Jamie! Kids will do just fine without that stuff. Jamie has a treadmill. Wouldn't walking in the neighborhood do the trick? Jamie took a trip to Alaska this summer. Wow! Bet that cost a bit! She's also been to Jamaica. My definition of wasting money? Getting a tattoo like Jamie's. Maybe Jamie should judge her own wasteful habits as harshly as she judges others.

Do I have a right to tell Jamie what to do with her money? No, I certainly don't. Neither does Jamie have the right to tell Allen ISD what to do with its money (unless she's in that district, in which case she had the opportunity to vote on that big stadium -- the "yea's" won). And she doesn't have a right to tell the presidential candidates how to spend their money. And if I want to go buy $1000 worth of lottery scratch-offs, it's none of her business. The only church Jamie has a right to question about its expenditures is her own. Even if Jamie is judging herself first, she doesn't have a right to judge what other people do with their money except for two reasons -- number one: they owe her money -- number two: they're drawing welfare of some sort. If that's not the case, Jamie, you should butt out.

Just a thought -- do you suppose Jamie is trying to rationalize a failure to tithe?

"Beyond the church offering." The Dallas Morning News; September 22, 2012; p. 19A.