Is it More Blessed to Give Than to Receive?

If I have a nice piece of cake, I can enjoy it myself. The Church says it is better to give it away to somebody else. And especially if they are very hungry and I am not so hungry. If I enjoy the cake then I am a sinner. But in either case I sin in the sense I refuse to give anything.

I enjoy something. I need it. Somebody else needs it too. But I do not share and enjoy it myself. How can I be accused of wrong? Why should I not enjoy? If it is wrong for me to give it away then it is wrong for the other to take it. Or am I saying other people matter and I don't?

So why should I give?

If the reason is that others will turn against me if I please me and not them then I am letting myself be bullied and they are blackmailers.

If the reason is that givers are happier than non-givers I am letting myself be bullied by my own programming.

If the reason is that it is virtuous to give then I am getting nowhere. I am back where I started.

All this shows that people who are called altruistic and holy have an underlying hatred of themselves and others underneath the sweetness and the light.

The damage done can be bad. But it is made worse by believing that a perfect God wants me to degrade myself this way.