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Mission Trips

Knowledge=power

Knowledge=power

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I have relatives who are going (for a second time) to Africa to talk about Jesus.

This is something I really despise about Christianity and Christians. They are converting people by dangling a cheerio in front of them. The people to whom they try to sell Jesus and Christianity just want the food and water. I wonder how many of them actually care or just want the aid. These people do not have the luxury of shutting the door in the bible salesman's face. They need the help. Humanitarian aid is much more pure and does not have some hidden agenda.
 
Knowledge=power said:
I have relatives who are going (for a second time) to Africa to talk about Jesus.

This is something I really despise about Christianity and Christians. They are converting people by dangling a cheerio in front of them. The people to whom they try to sell Jesus and Christianity just want the food and water. I wonder how many of them actually care or just want the aid. These people do not have the luxury of shutting the door in the bible salesman's face. They need the help. Humanitarian aid is much more pure and does not have some hidden agenda.
Click to expand...
it's like television
enduring the commercials is the price of the show
 
Knowledge=power said:
I have relatives who are going (for a second time) to Africa to talk about Jesus.

This is something I really despise about Christianity and Christians. They are converting people by dangling a cheerio in front of them. The people to whom they try to sell Jesus and Christianity just want the food and water. I wonder how many of them actually care or just want the aid. These people do not have the luxury of shutting the door in the bible salesman's face. They need the help. Humanitarian aid is much more pure and does not have some hidden agenda.
Click to expand...

If the aid was conditional upon the Africans becoming Christian, you would have a point.

Anyone who helps anyone else is imparting their values to them. Christians are upfront about it.

There is no Christian quota system...sign up x souls and get the leather attache' case, that's not how salvation works. There is no profit incentive to proselytize, so comparisons to commercials are crap.
 
ChuckBerry said:
If the aid was conditional upon the Africans becoming Christian, you would have a point.

Anyone who helps anyone else is imparting their values to them. Christians are upfront about it.

There is no Christian quota system...sign up x souls and get the leather attache' case, that's not how salvation works. There is no profit incentive to proselytize, so comparisons to commercials are crap.
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i disagree
the Christians are not distributing the goods to the native residents
they are using the goods needed by the native population as bait, to allow them an opportunity to proselytize
 
Knowledge=power said:
I have relatives who are going (for a second time) to Africa to talk about Jesus.

This is something I really despise about Christianity and Christians. They are converting people by dangling a cheerio in front of them. The people to whom they try to sell Jesus and Christianity just want the food and water. I wonder how many of them actually care or just want the aid. These people do not have the luxury of shutting the door in the bible salesman's face. They need the help. Humanitarian aid is much more pure and does not have some hidden agenda.
Click to expand...

Did you make this comment when the Muslim salesmen began moving into Africa or do you confine your hate to the Christians?
 
Knowledge=power said:
I have relatives who are going (for a second time) to Africa to talk about Jesus.

This is something I really despise about Christianity and Christians. They are converting people by dangling a cheerio in front of them. The people to whom they try to sell Jesus and Christianity just want the food and water. I wonder how many of them actually care or just want the aid. These people do not have the luxury of shutting the door in the bible salesman's face. They need the help. Humanitarian aid is much more pure and does not have some hidden agenda.
Click to expand...

I like Justa's answer the best. ;)

They do more than just "preach Jesus" during these missions. They're genuinely helpful to these communities. The people who volunteer to do mission work are angels.
 
Knowledge=power said:
I have relatives who are going (for a second time) to Africa to talk about Jesus.

This is something I really despise about Christianity and Christians. They are converting people by dangling a cheerio in front of them. The people to whom they try to sell Jesus and Christianity just want the food and water. I wonder how many of them actually care or just want the aid. These people do not have the luxury of shutting the door in the bible salesman's face. They need the help. Humanitarian aid is much more pure and does not have some hidden agenda.
Click to expand...

A Christian understands that God has created humans in His image both physically AND spiritually. It makes no sense to a Christian to treat a human as only one or the other.
 
Or hey, they're trying to be true to their values by doing good deeds. Yay, let's fault people for doing good things for others because they happen to be religious. It makes sense!
 
Knowledge=power said:
I have relatives who are going (for a second time) to Africa to talk about Jesus.

This is something I really despise about Christianity and Christians. They are converting people by dangling a cheerio in front of them. The people to whom they try to sell Jesus and Christianity just want the food and water. I wonder how many of them actually care or just want the aid. These people do not have the luxury of shutting the door in the bible salesman's face. They need the help. Humanitarian aid is much more pure and does not have some hidden agenda.
Click to expand...

Feed the body and the soul. I've been on a mission trip to Haiti. We brought food, water, clothes, medicine and built homes and churches for them. We also had a Bible school where I taught as a teacher with a translator. At the Bible school kids also got food and supplies to bring to school. The mission I went with was a compound that is active and takes volunteer groups who help out. They provide the children with an education and food, they help prop up much of the needy families in the area and they are really the only form of aid that these people get. We never denied anyone aid because they didn't want to convert. We didn't go around knocking on huts with Bible tracts asking if they would like to convert. We provide aid and help in the name of Jesus as Jesus did. From a Christian perspective there are people out there that are starving to death without proper medical care that are lost and will die and go to hell. If you treat only the physical needs while offering nothing to help the spiritual then you've only treated half of the problem.
 
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digsbe said:
Feed the body and the soul. I've been on a mission trip to Haiti. We brought food, water, clothes, medicine and built homes and churches for them. From a Christian perspective there are people out there that are starving to death without proper medical care that are lost and will die and go to hell. If you treat only the physical needs while offering nothing to help the spiritual then you've only treated half of the problem.
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Do I take it to mean that your God will send people to hell who haven't heard about Jesus Christ and accepted him as their savior?
 
justabubba said:
i disagree
the Christians are not distributing the goods to the native residents
they are using the goods needed by the native population as bait, to allow them an opportunity to proselytize
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Are the Africans required to attend a church service/listen to a lecture before receiving food aid?
 
MaggieD said:
Do I take it to mean that your God will send people to hell who haven't heard about Jesus Christ and accepted him as their savior?
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My personal beliefs are that all those who are presented with the Gospel and chose to reject it will go to hell for eternity. I think there is grace for those who never heard and for children who die before they can make an informed decision. I do know that in Christianity it is God's will that every nation on earth know the Gospel and God says that He will not bring about the final judgement until the Gospel has been spread to all nations. God is the judge and as far as what I get from the Bible I know that it is His will to spread the truth, but it is also up to Him to decide how to judge those that died without knowing.
 
As an atheist, I do and always will only donate to secular charities. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate the help Christians charities give. Just don't expect me to contribute in the name of a religion I disagree with.
 
Ray410 said:
Did you make this comment when the Muslim salesmen began moving into Africa or do you confine your hate to the Christians?
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Hate is a strong word. And no, I don't confine my dislike to Christian Missionaries. Anyone who goes to a third-world country to spread the word and entice the people to believe by bringing aid is dishonest in my opinion.

Try going to a successful, well established country to spread a religion and see how far you get. They also tell the people who they are trying to convert that if they don't abandon their paganistic ways and accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior that they will burn for all eternity in hell. So it's enticing with food and terrorizing them into believing using the threat of hell.
 
Juiposa said:
As an atheist, I do and always will only donate to secular charities. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate the help Christians charities give. Just don't expect me to contribute in the name of a religion I disagree with.
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Exactly how I feel. Being a humanitarian and going to Africa simply to help because you want to, and not to please a God or spread a message about that God is much more philanthropic than doing it with an agenda.
 
digsbe said:
My personal beliefs are that all those who are presented with the Gospel and chose to reject it will go to hell for eternity. I think there is grace for those who never heard and for children who die before they can make an informed decision. I do know that in Christianity it is God's will that every nation on earth know the Gospel and God says that He will not bring about the final judgement until the Gospel has been spread to all nations. God is the judge and as far as what I get from the Bible I know that it is His will to spread the truth, but it is also up to Him to decide how to judge those that died without knowing.
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Would you abandon Christianity for another religion if some people came to your door and told you if you did not do so you would drown for eternity in a sea of acid?

Why is he relying on human beings to spread the word? He's God right? He could spread it to everyone in a second if he wanted to... right?
 
digsbe said:
Feed the body and the soul. I've been on a mission trip to Haiti. We brought food, water, clothes, medicine and built homes and churches for them. We also had a Bible school where I taught as a teacher with a translator. At the Bible school kids also got food and supplies to bring to school. The mission I went with was a compound that is active and takes volunteer groups who help out. They provide the children with an education and food, they help prop up much of the needy families in the area and they are really the only form of aid that these people get. We never denied anyone aid because they didn't want to convert. We didn't go around knocking on huts with Bible tracts asking if they would like to convert. We provide aid and help in the name of Jesus as Jesus did. From a Christian perspective there are people out there that are starving to death without proper medical care that are lost and will die and go to hell. If you treat only the physical needs while offering nothing to help the spiritual then you've only treated half of the problem.
Click to expand...
how do you assess who has spiritual needs and how do you determine exactly what those spiritual needs might be? i am guessing you instead assume everyone needs a does of the spiritual 'medicine' that you have to offer
 
JayDubya said:
Or hey, they're trying to be true to their values by doing good deeds. Yay, let's fault people for doing good things for others because they happen to be religious. It makes sense!
Click to expand...

no one is being critical of the good deeds
only the religious fee they extract for having performed them
 
Knowledge=power said:
Hate is a strong word. And no, I don't confine my dislike to Christian Missionaries. Anyone who goes to a third-world country to spread the word and entice the people to believe by bringing aid is dishonest in my opinion.

Try going to a successful, well established country to spread a religion and see how far you get. They also tell the people who they are trying to convert that if they don't abandon their paganistic ways and accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior that they will burn for all eternity in hell. So it's enticing with food and terrorizing them into believing using the threat of hell.
Click to expand...
makes me recall romney's mission where he served his nation that way rather than go to vietnam
he had a great time in france
but zero recruits to the faith
 
ChuckBerry said:
Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.
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A passage can be found like that in all of the monotheistic religion's texts. Basically it is saying Christians are better than everyone else. It is elitist and offensive.
 
Knowledge=power said:
The missionaries do not go simply to give aid. They go to give aid in exchange for the people's conversion.
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I've asked twice already in this thread about that. No one has provided any proof that any aid recipient has to sit through a church service, lecture, nor sign any conversion paperwork prior to receiving aid, or that it is indeed a condition of receiving aid at all.
 
ChuckBerry said:
I've asked twice already in this thread about that. No one has provided any proof that any aid recipient has to sit through a church service, lecture, nor sign any conversion paperwork prior to receiving aid, or that it is indeed a condition of receiving aid at all.
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Chuck, it's self-explanatory. If they went and did not say a word about their faith, it would be simply humanitarian. Obviously the words 'have to' imply a forced attention, which is not the case. However, the aid they provide is intended to be persuasive. It is incentive for sitting through their preachings. I doubt highly that the missionaries would continue to go to these places if the target audience was taking the aid and not hearing them out.
 
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