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

[sapphi_snake]

mrstickball said:

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.

I used to be a Christian, and I've been in a Church before (never been in a protestant one though, because I was told they were dubious and dangerous).

People getting fed is a tool, not the purpose of what you're doing. I will criticise that. I can criticise that all I want, because me actually having done "something" won't change whether or not I'm right abotu my assessment.

If I'd be helping the poor I wouldn't see why I'd have to tell them that I'm an atheist, or that they should be atheists also. I've always believed that it's rude to try to convert people to any relgious faith (or to atheism), and I've always had a distaste for anyone who does such a thing (I was disgusted with CHristians who did taht even when I was a Christian myself).

And handouts don't work in getting peopel to better their lives. Untill the Governments of those countries don't improve, until their economy doesn't take off, until they don't get better access to education, people over there will be poor. Handouts isn't the answer.