Do you ever feel guilty giving to a charity that's non-Christian? We get solicitations from our local fire department, the ambulance service, cancer society, heart association and so on. I guess I worry that if I send money to a secular group that I'm wasting money that could have gone to a missionary or to get Bibles for China or something. We give missions money at church every week and we try to give to Open Doors each month so it's not that we're not giving to those things I just feel like I could do better.
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Secular charities do as much good, if not more, as religious charities. And I think that giving money towards the curing of cancer or heart disease is a lot more important than giving Bibles to people in China.
Curing cancer saves lives. Giving Bibles to people just gives them another book to use as a doorstop.
I can't believe I'm as shocked as I am by this quote. Curing cancer is obviously not as important as recruiting more fundies - but she came out and actually said it.
The very vindictive part of me kinda wishes that her house burns down and she suffers severe smoke inhalation, and that the fire and ambulance crews tell her to fuck off and do some industrial-strength praying.
I'm still too much of a soft-touch to wish she gets cancer - but I bet if she did, cancer charities wouldn't seem so Godless anymore.
Hmm, and still most of the christians dare to claim that they are more generous and give more money to charity than evil atheists and pagans ever?
You know, as christians only tend to give to those organisations with intention to only spread their message to other people (help the "omnipotent" god of theirs) instead of secular charities that try to help the people.
As in: Why should anyone have that life saving surgery when there are still people out there who aren't (our brand of) christians!
Yes, that´s the danger with those secular organizations,
;)
Isn't there a phrase in the Gospels that's something like: 'Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Me"?
He didn't seem to think it should be for Christian charities. There were no Christian charities when he is reputed to have walked on the planet.
This reminds me of some woman on Foc. on the Family preening about how she came across a young woman with a baby. Her boyfriend threw her out and she didn't have anywhere to go. What did Preening Woman do? She gave the mother and baby a pocket bible so she could grow rich on the Word. I'm assuming there was no offer to take her to a shelter for women (probably because it doesn't have crosses emblazoned all over the place) or buy her a meal and some formula, etc.
Darn right! Jesus would never have given spit to some non-Christian in need. Would he ever have dinner with some tax collectors or sinners? If some Roman got his ear chopped off, would he put it back on? Heck no! He said "if you're not with me, you're against me" - no , wait, that was Dick Cheney, I think. Well, he's a Christian, too.
Of course, it's not like ambulance service, fire department, cancer society and heart association are doing better and more important jobs than missionary's and bibles for China.
Yeah, fuck all those people who could die in you own town due to lack of funding. So long as you pay for people to hop around the world, trying to lure as many people into the fold as you can...that's all that counts. If you feel guilty for giving to help find a cure for cancer, simply because it doesn't have a religious connotation to it...I pity you. I really, really do.
Wasting money? Yup, Bibles for China is MUCH more important than firehoses or ambulances or cancer treatments. After all, those will be used in the evil secular world, while the Bibles will... erm... become kindling or something.
If the people of China want Bibles, they will make their own copies. After all, they are very good at copying things over there.
As I understand it is supposed to be Christian to help your fellow man, so ALL charities are Christian actions.
@The Lazy One
Curing cancer saves lives. Giving Bibles to people just gives them another book to use as a doorstop."
I know that there are many, if not most, that think like this as my extended family does consider just giving to their church is "saving the world."
Personally, I used to give to the advocacy group that helped me get a few restraining orders and now I'm practically walking around with a sign that says "Donate to Planned Parenthood - the only REAL healthcare I can get." Because it is - the free clinics here are scary, dirty, and staffed with healthcare workers that should have been thrown out of med school. (A 6 week migraine is not "something to work through" for a med I didn't even think was necessary.) PP, from the receptionist to the nurses and midwives, are all super caring wonderful people who treat me no differently because I don't have insurance or income. When I finally get a job I'm "tithing" to PP for as long as I've got the cash.
PS I find it really funny a life long born and bred catholic has now given to PP twice because of my story. ;) Go me! Blondie on the other hand - Go AWAY!
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. Supporting groups that promote the well being of society is the highest evil.
It's much more important to support forcing people to follow your religion than it is to love your neighbor!
Yeah, i bet those fire fighters and cancer researchers are just wasting your money of worthless crap, not like the missionary's who teach people to pray and rely on the flawless knowledge and omni-benevolence of an imaginary friend.
CHARITIES STOP THE KILLING! KILLING IS TEH BEST! I AND MY COCK SHALL KILL THE CHARTIES! AND KILL THE CHARITABLE!
YOU, blondie, YOU COCKLESS SHITTER! I IS GOING TO BURY YOU TO DEATH IN THE SHITPIT! YOU IS GIVE TO CHARITIES BUT CHARITIES SHOULD ALL BE KILLED!
Hey it's your money. Piss it away on whatever you want.
You should be feeling guilty though, for all the environmental waste for printing bibles that no one wants, or for the harm that comes to missionaries for insulting other nation's cultures. That's what your money's going to.
Yeah, sending a Babble to China will really help next time someone's house is burning down.
And what's the point of that - does it kill Communists or something?
Deut 10:18; 15:7,11; Matthew 25:31-46
I have a lot more where that came from. In fact, the whole Book of James would cure you of this self-indulgent "guilt" and set you straight about the need to give to 'secular' charities like the fire department or cancer research - as if fire and cancer are respecters of persons.
This reminds me of some woman on Foc. on the Family preening about how she came across a young woman with a baby. Her boyfriend threw her out and she didn't have anywhere to go. What did Preening Woman do? She gave the mother and baby a pocket bible so she could grow rich on the Word.
That smug bitch needs to "grow rich on the Word" herself.
JAMES 2:15-17
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Better to have your house burn down because the fire department didn't have enough funds than to let those godless Chinese go without Bibles "or something".
Those people with cancer were sinful and had it coming anyway, right?
> I guess I worry that if I send money to a secular group that I'm wasting money that could have gone to a missionary or to get Bibles for China or something.
Yeah, why invest in, say, a hypothetical secular charity that designs and builds computers for developing areas. (It's hypothetical now, because OLPC is basically f***ed by their own incompetence.) With computers, people could educate themselves and find their way around the censors and adopt democratic ideals.
No, buy them more Bibles! Yeah, somewhere in that book is probably buried the little nugget of information that says that people shouldn't oppress other people. Maybe. Who knows. You'll need to send in a preacher to explain where exactly it says that, and make him involve some discretion before he's arrested for bringing up western ideals too overtly.
Oh yeah, and like giving poor people in China bibles is very fucking helpful.
If you want to help people in China, give money to organizations that are actually providing aid and not Bibles, which do not feed, clothe, medicate, or do anything practical for anybody.
I have no problem with religious charities that actually, you know, provide charity. Religious "charities" that do nothing but spread their religion are terrible.
I'm just going to assume that whoever wrote this is either screwing with us, or they are suffering from a severe metal illness.
Because, you know, supporting the civil servants that keep our civilization running is nowhere near as important as making sure that some random kid in China has a Bible that he can't read because he's too busy starving to death.
That's some serious "Christian Love" right there, blondie.
I guess I worry that if I send money to a secular group that I'm wasting money that could have gone to a missionary or to get Bibles for China or something.
Curing cancer or saving people from fires is more important than giving out coffe table books.
The fact that you think printing books, no matter what book, is in any way, for even a single second, more important than saving even one life, is a huge fucking sign that there's something really wrong with you.
Even your fundie ass should get that.
Bibles for China, more important than the cancer society.
Bibles for China, more helpful than the fire department.
Bible for China, more pertinent than ambulance drivers.
Bibles for China, don't forget your donation.
I'd rather give to a secular charity that feeds hungry children than a Christian charity that uses that money to build a church in an African village that teaches these children to pray their hunger away.
Secular charities have one goal: helping people. Christian charities also have but one goal: forcing God on the vulnerable.
And you would be the first one whining that the fire department didn't get to your house in time to save it, or that the Heart Association hadn't found a cure for Cardiomyopathy, and that there wasn't an ambulance to cart you worthless uncharitable ass to the hospital, you raving hypocrite!
Right because what people need the most is to be preached at about Jesus. Who cares if everything burns down, and everyone is sick and dying of cancer and heart disease? People can just pray the fire away and pray the disease away. And if that doesnt work as long as they are taught the way theyll go to heaven anyways.
News flash, sweetheart. Spending money on evangelizing IS wasting it. And it's also extremely disrespectful. But I'm guessing you don't know too much about respect, since you feel vile giving money to anything that doesn't abide by YOUR wishes.
"I guess I worry that if I send money to a secular group that I'm wasting money that could have gone to a missionary or to get Bibles for China or something"
So knowing that wearing 2 kinds of thread & eating shellfish is wrong is much more important to humanity then a well equipped Red Cross unit that saves lives. Oh wait, you're into saving "souls" instead.
Oopsies
Sooo... what seems to be more important here? Curing cancer, stopping heart disease, supporting local fire & EMS services, or sending bibles to places where they don't want them?
Oh, god forbid your charitable donations might be used to help someone not of your faith. I mean after all, the bible does say that you should only help your fellow christians and everyone else can just fuck off. It's not as if jesus ever willingly helped a non christian... Oh wait, he did.
I never feel guilty about not giving money to religious organizations. I donate to real causes that achieve tangible results to try and end cancer, heart disease, and the likes, along with organizations, like Doctors Without Borders and Habitat For Humanity, that actually assist the poor in developing countries, rather than fill their heads with superstitious shit.
I seem to remember this part of the New Testament where Jesus said that the second great commandment is "Love thy neighbor as thyself." When pressed about who is one's neighbor and how to act neighborly, he told a parable about a man falling into a ditch and a good Samaritan who came along and... preached at him then threw him a Bible?
Wait, no, that's not how the story goes... never mind...
Why can't these people follow what they claim to hold so dear?
Here's a Christian refrain that people seem to miss: A man had fallen, and he asked his countrymen to help, but they passed him on the other side.
After a time, a Samaritan came by, and he helped the stricken man.
Samaritans are not understood as having been VERY Non-jewish, largely due to this tale being used out of context.
So here's some context. Good Christians are supposed to help others. If a secular org. is helpful, it simply is.
Re: Bibles for China
Sigh... this is why I hate religious people. They honestly believe sending Bibles to China is a better use of money than local fire departments or the heart association... it's not even the evil that's done in the name of their god, because ultimately people will do evil for all sorts of reasons, and god just makes a convenient excuse. But when your god and your religion screw up your priorities this badly, you're effectively dampening the **NATURAL** (not god-given) human drive to love one another and support each other.
Bibles for China is preferred to the ambulance service or work on a cure for cancer, eh?
Seriously, you people are so fucked up I'm amazed you know which hole to eat with and which one to shit with.
"Do you ever feel guilty giving to a charity that's non-Christian?"
Speaking as an Atheist...:
(*Looks at HSBC* bank statement received just today; notices monthly £20 Direct Debit deductions from account paid to Oxfam, as ordered several years ago *)
...no. Next question.
*- And that's as in Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Why do they need Bibles over there, other than to use as toilet paper...?!
Sweet gob. These lunatics only care about whether or not you convert to their religion. They don't actually care about your well-being, about whether you have something to eat, or shelter. I wonder if this nut has even read the Bible, especially the parts where Jesus says to care for the poor and needy.
I give to charities that are certified, i.e. I know that all the money donated will reach the people in need. I don't care whether they are religious or non-religious. I'm still a member of (aka taxpayer for) the Swedish Church (it came automatically when I was born as we had a state church then), because I think they do a lot of good in society.
Given that China has lent money to the US, China can buy the Bibles it needs for itself.
Do you ever feel guilty giving to a charity that's religious? We get solicitations from our local religious groups and so on. I guess I worry that if I send money to a religious group that I'm wasting money sending copies of bronze-age books written by superstitious goat herders to china that could have gone to a local fire department, cancer society, heart association, or something.
That's what you meant to say, isn't it?
Yes, why donate money to charities that actually do something useful? Who needs medicine for cancer and heart disease, ambulance, and fire fighters when you could have bibles? I'm sure those work great for curing terminal illnesses and putting out fires.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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