If there's one thing I detest about American Christian culture, it's mission trips. Evangelism disguised as charity for people who don't know any better. Am I wrong?
My uncle does work in Africa as a missionary. He puts a lot of wells so those people can have water. I'm sure he evangelizes, but what does it matter when he provides those people with something they need?
I'm just saying, those without basic necessities are very thankful for the "blessed" people to come and help them out. They'll listen to what the missionaries talk about as well. Oh well. There is no malicious intent, and sure, some probably do it so others can think more highly of them, but some do it because they have that sort of compassion to help others out.
No they don't....those fuckers. He wouldn't be there if there wasn't for the church. When he'll go there without a church behind him, and just help people without ulterior motives, i'll respect that.
One thing that would make me skeptical is if they are going all the way to bumfuck to help but they give zero fucks about the people needing help living nearby them.
Baptists around here are always going to Latin American countries for mission trips because they get double credit for converting heathen Catholics.
I'm an atheist and have no problem with it. Helping people who are starving or who don't have water is magnitudes greater of a good thing than proselytizing is a bad thing. And as far as I know, none of these organizations would ever reduce service provided to people who refuse to accept their beliefs. They're better people than I am, I'm too wrapped up in my own things to help people on that scale.
Stop defending him so much, he's an ignorant duffus who spreads more ignorance and hate. The time they preach garbage could be used teaching and educating people.
Africans dying of thirst = the women your uncle = Herman Cain You need your water, don't you? Get on your knees...
Career missionaries are pretty different from mission trips imo. There are so many people on FB and whatnot that raise tons of $$$ so that they can do some short mission program because they feel God is calling them to. It's totally a waste of money. Hell, even if I was still a Christian I would not be giving self-righteous cultural noobs money they didn't earn to feed their illusion that some institutional trip was actually God's idea.
I went on a mission trip once when I was about 14. There was actually no evangelizing and we were just helping repair people's homes. I listened to Opeth the whole time.
my (catholic) high school did mission trips to Nicaragua, and it was mostly about clean water. I don't think Latin America needs any help being more Catholic anyway.
I can agree with this. My uncle has enough money that he pays for whatever is needed himself (I'm not trying to boast about him, sorry if it comes across that way). He doesn't sit there and talk about how it's his God-given mission. He will usually be modest about it when asked, and he says he does it because he wants to bless people. I feel that is different than thinking "It's my God-given mission yay jesus!" The way he does it is very respectful and inspirational. I gave money once to a girl 4 years ago to go to Uganda. I saw pictures of what she did there, and it was pure evangelism (hanging out, churching it up, whatever). I compare that to my uncle who has a map that literally pinpoints where has placed wells and where a new well would be good for the next year, and how he is meticulous about what supplies will be going to them. You said it best: self-righteous cultural noobs. I defriended some of them because they got annoying with their status updates and I've moved on from that group of self-righteous christians. anyways
Missionaries/evangelicals don't do good shit out of some altruistic goodness, they do it to get into heaven. They frown on altruism, especially secular altruism.
Except evangelicals tend to be hardcore faggots on other issues, which cancels out whatever good they do. I on the other hand do no harm (and no good). So in the end we come out even.
I really wish atheists did this shit so I could get in on it. I'd totally go help build tents for Indonesians or whatever the fuck.
I think it's great if they want to help. It's certainly more than I have done. The only time I would not be so keen on it would be if the message was harmful. Like the pope telling Africans that condoms increase the chance of aids.
Yeah. From your point of view, it's evangelism disguised as charity. From the Christian point of view, it's evangelism and charity. Or rather, it's charity through evangelism and evangelism through charity--they're intertwined. If God is a reality and knowing God leads to your best possible life, then I can't see a better way to love or help someone than to share that information with them.
I never claimed such a thing--not in this thread. I said: "If God is a reality and knowing God leads to your best possible life, then I can't see a better way to love or help someone than to share that information with them." I didn't say whether that was true or false. I just said, if X is the case, then Y follows.
fair enough, but then making such potentially life-changing decisions upon the lives of others shouldn't rest upon a hypothetical idea
Yeah, you also have to consider the scenario where you are wrong, which means that you are peddling ideas that are detrimental to the progress of mankind.
Mission trips for those that are "religious" = disaster. Mission trips for those that have "relationship with the God of the Bible" = love and mercy. Mission trips and other do good activities according to a satanist: Do we want satan or do we want the God of the Bible?
I just watched the whole series of this. Pretty fascinating. It actually does a pretty good job of making Christianity ridiculous, ironically.
Of course. I'm simply bringing it up to put things in perspective. If you met someone who (a) believed in God and (b) chose to minister to the poor because of that belief, I don't really think you can criticize them for (b). (You are justified to question their original premise (a), of course.) It would be the same if someone decided to help another person because they believe that kindness to others is 'right.' That belief is the premise to their action; it cannot really be justified under extreme skepticism. Similarly, what NikTh said ("Yeah, you also have to consider the scenario where you are wrong, which means that you are peddling ideas that are detrimental to the progress of mankind") assumes that the progress of mankind is important and is something we should strive for. How are you supposed to convince someone that doesn't believe in the progress of mankind? It's like criticizing a terrorist for being a Muslim terrorist. (I'm just talking about the violent, fundamentalist breed of Islam here, so forgive me if I've offended you.) He is not a terrorist because he chooses to be one for no reason; he is a terrorist because his beliefs require him to be one. To criticize his choice to be a terrorist is to waste time.
You wouldn't be able to because that person would have to be immensely stupid so as to be incapable of seeing how progress would be beneficial (not to mention such a person would be highly immoral from both secular and religious standpoints if he/she is incapable of seeing how bettering the lives of people worldwide would be a good thing).
