So I finally get to go to Japan...this sucks!

[mrstickball]

sapphi_snake said:

rocketpig said:

sapphi_snake said:

mrstickball said:

JC could answer it a bit more exactly, but the answer is 'kinda'.

A missions trip primarily involves giving aid to people in a country that have a lack of it. For example, a lot of missions trips may be to help build an orphanage, or school, or take a group of doctors/nurses to a country that has a lack of medical care.

In addition to the aid, they try to share the message of Jesus with the people as well. Of course, they render aid/help regardless of belief, and will not discriminate against those that don't agree with them.

Most American churches support this kind of activity. The church I go to sponsors a local nurse to travel to Mozambique for 6 months out of the year to help with their medical care. They support 4 other missionaries, but that is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

In other words it's all a conversion ploy to prey on the poor people of third world countries.

It's more than you're doing. I really doubt starving children care if they're handed a Bible and taught about Jesus Christ just so long as they get some fucking food to go along with it (or an education, medical care, etc etc etc).

They're not doing it for such great reasons, and they can't claim moral superiority for that.

Sapphi,

Given the fact you have nothing to do with Christianity, I don't understand how you can claim to know why we do it, then condemn us for it despite likely never being in a church (much less a protestant, ministry-focused church). Helping others is a deeply personal part of the Christian faith. You can condemn all you want, but the fact is, people like Joe are helping others while you are at home doing nothing. By your age, I was spending a day a week or more helping deliver tonnes of food to my local food pantry to help the poor. You can say that I did it because it was a ploy, but the fact is, people were getting fed. Comparatively, by your own admission, you've fed no one. You've clothed no one. You haven't helped the homeless. Even if my faith was false, I still made the world a better place than you did by helping distribute food to those that needed it.

I would suggest that before you condemn Christians for thier ploys, you get out there, do exactly what they are doing in terms of helping the poor, then come and tell us that we're being awful for mentioning Jesus to them. I think that you'll find out that when your helping the poor, you will share your worldview with them, because you want to help them get out of the situation they are in, and to help them out of poverty by whatever means neccessary.

But until you do that, I don't think you need to come in these threads, throw out your hate speech, and then expect everyone to be OK with you deriding their work.