The Church has published a new daily giving calendar for the month of December to encourage members to do good works every day, thereby sharing the light of Christ. Some of these efforts include posting to social media to share what is being done.
Matthew 6:5-6: 5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Is using social and other forms of media to share charitable works inherently wrong? Does it undermine the good being done? Or is that complaint making good the enemy of great?
From some of the complaints about the campaign, here are a few things I read that people saw about this effort that they didn’t love:
- Using charitable acts to virtue signal to each other (fellow church members) rather than done from the heart.
- Deliberately lauding the “Christlike” qualities of individuals they know who are abusive or controlling (which in and of itself may be a way to appease and manipulate an abuser I suppose).
- Using charitable acts to “market” the Church (which costs people who join money in the form of tithing).
- Using thankfulness to others to suck up to local leaders or others from whom one might wish to gain favor.
- Using social media to “humble brag” to make yourself look good. (I believe the Matthew caution could literally be “don’t humble brag.”)
- Doing good deeds as a way of demonstrating loyalty and obedience to the Church rather than from the heart.
- Only doing charity in the one month a year when everybody does it so we may not be doing what is most necessary.
On the other hand, these are the byproducts of publishing good works. That’s the nature of the beast. The billboards that advertise role models for their good works as a public service announcement are designed to inspire others to do good works as well by admiring the actions of those people. Since we don’t know the individual publishing the billboards, it makes us wonder who’s behind it, and what they want, but it feels like a general public good. That changes a bit when it’s done by individuals at the direction of another organization.
I was recently reading about how in an individualistic society like ours, social media often creates anxiety by measuring our individual contribution in likes. In more communitarian cultures (e.g. Asia), there is a greater impact to self esteem because taking praise or measuring one’s own perception or reputation are not valued, but praising others is. Having lived in Asia, this was something I found very difficult to comprehend, and particularly to manage in business, but returning from Asia, I see the value of it, and the poison that our individualism sometimes is. In the workplace in Asia, if someone screwed up, it was nearly impossible to find out who did it and hold them accountable. Instead you might have several people offering to take blame when you knew it wasn’t them. Likewise, when someone did something outstanding, they did not like to take credit. They found it embarrassing and there was a lot of social pressure not to stand out from the crowd. The team should take credit or blame.
These cultural traits were completely different from all the American and Australian offices I managed. It’s not that those people were braggarts in most cases, but they saw each worker as an individual primarily, not as a team member. Assignments would change, and reviews would pit people’s performance against each other. These different cultural views changed how people perceived outcomes, mistakes and breakthroughs.
The individualism culture in which we live alters how we perceive it when someone praises another, and when someone talks about their own acts of charity.
Even though that may be the case with the #lighttheworld campaign (even that it is a “campaign” points to what feels a little off about it), but it’s likely still a net positive if it encourages people to do more good, and to become more charitable than they might do without it. But like any human action, it is subject to being tainted by those gray human (and organizational) motives: desire for praise, a wish to gain social capital, wanting to be seen as an insider, and the desire for the Church to grow.
What do you think?
- Too contrived and self-congratulatory?
- Brings the right focus to the season?
- Totally depends on the person and their motives?
Discuss.
Wheat & Tares 
Interesting framing this from an Asian culture POV!
I saw people come out of the woodwork who hadn’t posted on social media in years flock to FB/IG to post about their Christlike spouse, parents, or children. It was almost verbatim: An example to me of Christlike service is my _________. They are always______ and _____. I hope to be more like them.
*It’s weird to post only when your church tells you what/when to post.
*I don’t want to criticize my fellow members for posting when I know to them it felt like a measure of their obedience.
*Simple suggestions would markedly improve the genuineness of the campaign, such as, “Do something to light the world every day, here are some suggestions.” (Though admittedly not be as cohesive since the whole church wouldn’t be doing the same thing.)
*Again, the whole social media highlight felt random and check-list-forced, and in general lacked much depth of feeling. I’ve been reading the small instances to my children from @TinyKindness on IG, and I can’t help but wish the church’s social media framing were more along these lines.
I like reminders of Christlike people. However, I grew up outside Utah, so I am sure my nonmember friends are a little baffled by the sudden rash of public thanking. To me it reads that they are only interested in telling you about their church, not a genuine “social media” friendship.
When I was reading all of the social media posts yesterday, my initial thought was it was very self-congratulatory and in-group exclusively. All of the posts were about only other members of the church, often husbands/wives, best friends in the ward, etc. It made me uncomfortable because we tend to be so socially closed off to non-members generally that it just seemed like showing off or something. I don’t exactly have the right words that I want, but it made me feel weird and uncomfortable for sure. Thank you for the post. It gives me more to think about with this whole thing.
Is using social and other forms of media to share charitable works inherently wrong? No.
Does it undermine the good being done? No. But the “likes” of their peers is the only reward they’ll get.
To paraphrase the Sermon on the Mount…
When thou doest thine alms, do not post it all over social media, as the hypocrites do that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Rather, take heed to to your good deeds privately (otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven) and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
I hate it.
I’ve always been struck by the seeming incongruity of your quoted verses with those just a chapter earlier: “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Same speaker (Jesus); same Sermon. So which is it? Do my good works in secret, as in Chapter 6, or do them openly so others can see them and glorify my Father in Heaven, as per Chapter 5? I’ll admit after studying this issue probably too long that I don’t know, but given the context in which they were given (hypocritical Pharisees) I suspect it has a lot to do with intent. Am I doing this good thing out in the open so people will see me and think I’m great, or am I doing it to incentivize people to turn to the Lord or to do charitable works themselves?
I’m with Dot. I had to ignore IG yesterday as I couldn’t handle the spouse-promotion. It felt like Mother’s Day/Father’s Day, which are two other days I avoid IG. If the campaign made me think of someone, think of the difference in sending them a private note rather than posting them on social media. It reminds me of people that bear their testimony and mention how much they love their family, but this public meeting is the first the family has ever heard about it. Some messages are just better received in private.
Jimbob: FWIW, I’ve always taken the “let your light so shine” to just be about going about doing good. No need to pat yourself on the back; no need to post a selfie of you wearing a hairnet scooping peas at the local food shelter. Just doing the good deed itself lights the world. The advertising isn’t necessary.
I share the queasiness of others in relation to this, but concluded that there is a net gain to civility and more positive public discourse in a time of so much incivility and conflict. I also appreciated the suggestions – I wouldn’t have thought about a lot of them. Church culture is a weird one, but I’ve not noticed anyone doing this stuff in a public forum yet and it won’t happen in our family.
I have seen several cases of each spouse nominating the other as the most Christ-like person they know. I have to admit that this might help improve their marriage, but I don’t know if I consider it “charitable work.”
I can see some of the good and also clearly see the negative that comes from this, but it may just be where I am at emotionally trying to not be triggered that I am very much, “whatever”. Not worth me praising it nor poking a stick at it.
It’s hard to know what is in everyone’s hearts, or what motivates them to say or do things. People are complex. It’s easy to be critical of others and blind to our own issues.
I am glad that the “giving machines” that are in various places are actually helping people somewhere by facilitating donations that purchase services locally (meals, counseling, books, etc.) and help people in far away places (pigs, chickens, water purifiers, etc.). Am I sometimes bothered by the “publicity” nature of some of these “LightTheWorld” activities? Sure. Does the good outweigh the bad? Probably.
I guess ultimately I can only control what I say, think and do, and I can only attempt to know what is in my own heart. I hope that my own concern for the many needs that are out there will be year-round and not limited to the Christmas season.
Contrived. Gimmicky. I worry the institution’s PR department is steering too much ship
During General Conference I didn’t enjoy the publicizing of wheelchair donations to children. In this case, the cost to produce the placebo media segment was likely greater than the cost of wheelchairs donated.
Would have been more genuine to hear it from another source.
Generally I think this light the world campaign is positive and that the good outweighs the bad. While I saw a number of spouses highlighting each other I also saw several examples of true service. One woman highlighted another woman who spent most of her life serving men with HIV / AIDS and who was quite inspiring. I wouldn’t have known about her otherwise. Another woman in our stake used it as an opportunity to raise money for asylum seekers, which i thought was an interesting twist.
No question there is opportunity for humble bragging but I suppose I see enough goodwill in the LDS church that I’m willing to give the flawed campaign the benefit of the doubt – eg that they are trying to make the world a better place, if only for a month.
Not my cup of (herbal) tea, but just as distasteful as 90% of social media posts in general.
This comes back to the problem of teaching obedience, instead of becoming christlike by loving our fellow men. Which would include moral judgement. And all year round quiet service. Obedience sub contracts moral judgement to leaders. So you have limited moral judgement of your own, and can support discrimination against gays and women, and vote for leaders who also have no moral judgement.
A few years ago we had a house flood. The water went down on a friday. On the Saturday hundred of thousands of people who were not affected by the flood turned up with high pressure cleaners, and just shovels and brooms to help clean up. 2 weeks later the mormons got their helping hands organised, after the initial clean up was done. Very few members joined the spontaneous helpers. They waited to be told, and to perform their good works in yellow helping hands vests.
I really think a lot of members who think the gospel is about obedience, are going to turned away at the pearly gates as I don’t know you. Yes judgemental.
This campaign seems like one giant « brag » fest.
My sister wrote about her verbally and emotionally abusive husband and how christlike he was. I haven’t asked her why she did that, but it seems like not really the intent of the campaign. I think the principles behind it are good, but it broke my heart to see this from her. Because he isn’t Christlike – or he isn’t when he belittles her and their children. He is a fun guy that will go out of his way to help his neighbor build his garage and repair their roof, but goes home and goes home and fights with my sister till she runs away to my mother’s house with the kids because he is scaring them. Or he is also the guy that helps my mom fix her fence that blew down in the storm, but refuses to fix the overflowing toilet at his house or help with simple household chores.
I love the concept of Light the World and the giving machines. I haven’t downloaded the calendar, because it feels a little too lock-step to me, but I’m trying to be involved in some kind of ‘lighting’ or giving each day. I’m sure our leaders expect us to use our own brains to come up with ideas. I do think the calendar and giving machines are a nice activity to do in families with young children. Merry Christmas to all!
There are several reasons to advertise good deeds. One is to bring attention to ourselves. Another is for fundraising. Certainly fundraising can be important. Sometimes our vision exceeds our financial means. In the case where leaders are trying to bring attention to the Church, they may feel it is important for PR and improving missionary activities. Others may contribute because they want to atone for some past problems.
But I don’t see a big difference in giving quietly and expecting a payoff in the next world and giving for self aggrandizement in the this world. Why can’t we be humanitarians because it is the right thing to do? Motives be damned, let’s make the world a better place, And not just because it’s Christmas time.
Just about all of the Light the World posts that pop up on my social media feed are self-aggrandizing and virtue signalling, or at least appear that way. Sure, the campaign was done with good intentions–to share our own examples of doing good and thereby encourage others to do good. But that approach is inherently problematic, as it is driven by selfish motives (how we appear to others and keeping up with the Joneses). There may be a tangible net positive result in the short-term, but our hearts are not truly converted to the principle of charity if we only care about how it affects our image. I think this is why Christ exhorts us to do our good deeds in secret.