refugees in sweden are magically """"comatose"""" when informed of deportation

[SeventhSandwich]

the thing about this is the same problem as with capitalism: those with the power and money to do a selfless act are most likely not going to, considering that you almost need to exploit or disadvantage others in order to get there

I don't doubt Bill Gates has done seedy stuff in his life, and there's some valid criticisms that his organization invests money in companies that perpetuate some of the issues he's trying to solve. But based on the amount of aid he's given, I think it would be nearly impossible that his business history and investments have killed more people than he's saved. That would have to be pretty absurd. Like "Microsoft using child sweatshops and releasing malaria mosquitoes" absurd lol.

[Ad Bot]

[Planr]

No atheist computer nerd has ever risen from the dead. Christianity is the only real solution to life's problems, because those who live for Christ are secure for eternal life. Jesus was and always will be the greatest Altruist. What he did for every human being that will ever live is far better for them and greater than any other form of assistance anyone can provide.

That's really all there is to it.

[SeventhSandwich]

No atheist computer nerd has ever risen from the dead. Christianity is the only solution to life's problems.

It's really, provably not. Which do you think helps an African with malaria more? Doctors and medicine paid-for by the B&MGF? Or a team of inexperienced teenagers, with absolutely no relevant skills whatsoever, taking pictures with his villagers' kids and maybe building a school, then leaving a month later to hang all the pictures up on a mission board?

[Insert Name Here²]

-religion-

Please don't go on a tangent on how "christianity is the best and people who believe otherwise is wrong and sinners!" It's extremely ridiculous and will just de-rail the current discussion

[IkeTheGeneric]

No atheist computer nerd has ever risen from the dead.

That's not true, I came back from the dead once. It was great and , there was lights and dancing and there was a lotta chutzpah in the air... came back gay though, that's a thing that happened.

[Drydess]

No atheist computer nerd has ever risen from the dead. Christianity is the only real solution to life's problems, because those who live for Christ are secure for eternal life. Jesus was and always will be the greatest Altruist. What he did for every human being that will ever live is far better for them and greater than any other form of assistance anyone can provide.

That's really all there is to it.

listen, there's a limit to respecting people's religion for christianity just as there is islam. if you think you can pray away your problems and they'll just magically disappear, you're either lazy or deluded. you've got to do something, if praying lets those above you give you strength or ideas then by all means, but praying never worked for the boubonic plague, why would it work now

you can be a genuinely good person and not be a religious person. obviously following christian values doesn't make you christian, but are you still smiled upon? yea

[beachbum111111]

Please don't go on a tangent on how "christianity is the best and people who believe otherwise is wrong and sinners!" It's extremely ridiculous and will just de-rail the current discussion

Sounds like something a sodomite would say.

You're going to hell INH

[Insert Name Here²]

Sounds like something a sodomite would say.

You're going to hell INH

aw stuff

[Planr]

It's really, provably not. Which do you think helps an African with malaria more? Doctors and medicine paid-for by the B&MGF? Or a team of inexperienced teenagers, with absolutely no relevant skills whatsoever, taking pictures with his villagers' kids and maybe building a school, then leaving a month later to hang all the pictures up on a mission board?

Healing a child with malaria is good, but having eternity in perspective helps show what really matters. An african kid with malaria has one major thing in common with a healthy kid without malaria: they will both die. Christians are firstly concerned with helping share with lost people how to experience life after death; making this temporary life more comfortable is secondary.

Sharing the gospel with lost people is always the first priority of a Christian. Oftentimes that conversation starts through helping out the lost person with their problems, be it hunger or drug addiction. The help and compassion a Christian is meant to show to others is done so in order to point them to Jesus, who shows all of us mercy even though we all deserve none.

More than healing illness and sickness, Christians want people to live forever.

My church has an active and ongoing mission field in Haiti. We help provide clean drinking water, schooling, and medical assistance to many people living there. But the most important thing we teach the people is that Jesus Christ is the only one who can grant them eternal life, which is something everyone needs far more than temporary comforts in this world of continual sin and death.

listen, there's a limit to respecting people's religion for christianity just as there is islam. if you think you can pray away your problems and they'll just magically disappear, you're either lazy or deluded. you've got to do something, if praying lets those above you give you strength or ideas then by all means, but praying never worked for the boubonic plague, why would it work now

you can be a genuinely good person and not be a religious person. obviously following christian values doesn't make you christian, but are you still smiled upon? yea

Believe me, nobody thinks faith healing is more silly than I do. God gave us with medicine for a reason. I do believe in prayer and miracles, but people who refuse to first use medicine are handicapped.

[beachbum111111]

Believe me, nobody thinks faith healing is more silly than I do. God gave us with medicine for a reason. I do believe in miracles, but people who refuse to first use medicine are handicapped.

Medicine is a jewish invention meant to keep down the white kool kids klubhristian man

[SeventhSandwich]

Healing a child with malaria is good, but having eternity in perspective helps show what really matters. An african kid with malaria has one major thing in common with a healthy kid without malaria: they will both die. Christians are firstly concerned with helping share with lost people how to experience life after death; making this temporary life more comfortable is secondary.

Have you considered the fact that if the church actually effectively distributed resources to treat malaria in Africa, the villagers might associate that kindness with religion and convert? I think a person dying from malaria is probably thinking much more about how much pain they're in than any sort of theology. Probably not the right time to start preaching.

Sharing the gospel with lost people is always the first priority of a Christian. Oftentimes that conversation starts through helping out the lost person with their problems, be it hunger or drug addiction. The help and compassion a Christian is meant to show to others is done so in order to point them to Jesus, who shows all of us mercy even though we all deserve none. Christians want people to live forever.

So is that before or after you berate them for panhandling?

My church has an active and ongoing mission field in Haiti. We help provide clean drinking water, schooling, and medical assistance to many people living there. But the most important thing we teach the people is that Jesus Christ is the only one who can grant them eternal life, which is something everyone needs far more than temporary comforts in this world of continual sin and death.

"We" as in members of the church specifically? Fun fact, but the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has calculated that, when properly distributed, it usually only costs $1000 to save a life in a developing nation. Meaning every plane full of untrained, largely-useless teenage volunteers is money that could have been spent saving like 30 people from dying. This is the cost of ignoring research and effective altruism.

[Nonnel]

No atheist computer nerd has ever risen from the dead. Christianity is the only real solution to life's problems, because those who live for Christ are secure for eternal life. Jesus was and always will be the greatest Altruist. What he did for every human being that will ever live is far better for them and greater than any other form of assistance anyone can provide.

That's really all there is to it.

Dude

[Planr]

"We" as in members of the church specifically? Fun fact, but the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has calculated that, when properly distributed, it usually only costs $1000 to save a life in a developing nation. Meaning every plane full of untrained, largely-useless teenage volunteers is money that could have been spent saving like 30 people from dying. This is the cost of ignoring research and effective altruism.

My older brother has gone on one of the mission trips himself. Our planes are not filled with "untrained useless teenage volunteers". We do have many teenagers who go, but most of the volunteers are skilled adults. They are trained in CPR and basic medicine. They are also trained to help assist in constructing homes for the families in Haiti.

Money is not an issue for us, our church recieves into the hundreds of millions of dollars in donations every year.

You can read more about our haiti mission here, along with the finances at play:
https://mohhaiti.org/

[SeventhSandwich]

Our planes are not filled with "untrained useless teenage volunteers". We do have many teenagers who go, but most of the volunteers are skilled adults. They are trained in CPR and basic medicine. They are also trained to help assist in constructing homes for the families in Haiti.

Another fun fact: people who live in developing nations are not mentally-undeveloped children incapable of basic tasks. They can haul wood. They can use a nail gun. They can dig a foundation.  They can be taught CPR/medicine just as easily as any missionary. The mission volunteers are not necessary for any other reason besides money.

The lack of homes and schools in Haiti has nothing to do with a lack of teenage Christians willing to build it. They don't have the money to hire laborers and buy materials, meaning the simplest (and cheapest) option is just to give them money and make sure it's spent to build a home.

[Planr]

The mission volunteers help coordinate the efforts we lead in constructing the homes. These are not shanty houses we are constructing here. They are actual engineering projects that island natives cannot simply do all by themselves, that's part of why we're there. And yes the Haitians do use their own manpower to assist.

The bulk of volunteers who go are not paid to do so. They go entirely on their own desire to help.