Question for Theists: The Proble with Thanking God

[Rhondazvous]

lkingpinl - - that's wonderful.  My family and I will be doing something very similar.  We need more folks to follow your example.  You know, it just struck me - - the theists that I respect in real life . . . I respect them because they behave like that.  They don't preach.  They don't judge.  They just ARE Christians who spend their time reaching out and helping others.     (I'm blue today.  Not because I'm sad.  Because I want our baseball team to win their playoff game tomorrow!)      

Thanks Fuzzy, but I feel it's the only way to be.  That's why I've said it many times, my favorite quote is "preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words."  Far too many Christians are judgmental and have superiority complexes.  We are all the same, and I feel we have an obligation to help those where and whenever we can and be humble.  My kids learned far more about being thankful by being subjected to depravity and doing something to address it.  We do the same at Christmas.  Kids get a small thing, but we spend a lot of time volunteering and doing toys for tots stuff.  It's far more rewarding.

[Rhondazvous]

lkingpinl - - that's wonderful.  My family and I will be doing something very similar.  We need more folks to follow your example.  You know, it just struck me - - the theists that I respect in real life . . . I respect them because they behave like that.  They don't preach.  They don't judge.  They just ARE Christians who spend their time reaching out and helping others.     (I'm blue today.  Not because I'm sad.  Because I want our baseball team to win their playoff game tomorrow!)      

Thanks Fuzzy, but I feel it's the only way to be.  That's why I've said it many times, my favorite quote is "preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words."  Far too many Christians are judgmental and have superiority complexes.  We are all the same, and I feel we have an obligation to help those where and whenever we can and be humble.  My kids learned far more about being thankful by being subjected to depravity and doing something to address it.  We do the same at Christmas.  Kids get a small thing, but we spend a lot of time volunteering and doing toys for tots stuff.  It's far more rewarding.

[brewer]

I can only speak for my community but the xtians here feed thousands over the thanksgiving and xmas holiday season and not just through the church. So do the non xtians. The problem is that after the holidays are over the giving stops. Money, food, clothing, it all seems to be forgotten when the season is done. But that doesn't stop the need. Our shelters stay packed until at least April. By that time the banks (food, cloths......) are bare bones.

Giving around the holidays is nice. Giving the year round is better. Giving thanks to a fairy tale is stupid! Not giving when you have the means is reprehensible!

It's OK to be charitable but the effort should be directed toward one's own family members.  The problem with charitable organizations is that they take the pressure off of the government to provide for the citizens.  Instead the politicians are free to spend tax money on their favorite projects and buddies.  If people were really serious about helping out the poor and disadvantaged they wouldn't give a penny to any charitable organization.  By continuing to do so they allow the government and businesses to continue to screw over everyone.  

If you want to help someone then directly help your extended family members who are in need.  You have a lot of them.

Sorry but I think that sentiment (and maybe you) are fucked up.

[Cecelia]

Everyone knows God doesn't like the Africans because they don't believe in him. If they'd only pray about it, they'd know he exists, and he would help them! (That's what a Christian told me anyway)

[drfuzzy]

This thread reminded me of an incident here two years ago:  The Kansas City Rescue Mission, which had, in previous years, accepted help from the Kansas City Atheist Coalition, threw us out.  Said we didn't fit with their message.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyath...nksgiving/

Thankfully, the public was outraged.  Many church groups called KCAC.  We were able to feed a lot more people than we would have been able to at the Rescue Mission.

[Rhondazvous]

Yep, precisely.  That's why Gandhi said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.  Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

I don't like gandhi as a person, but I do like some of the things he said. And on that note

https://youtu.be/WpYeekQkAdc

Christians aren't really different from the Jesus we read about in the Bible if you go by what the Bible really says. They're only different from the stereotype of gentle loving Jesus. To see such a Jesus, you have to either not read the Bible or read it but ignore anything that doesn't fit the stereotype. I did that for decades.

KingPhil, you ignore things about Jesus that don't fit the stereotype. Do you really think you can have an evangelical impact on people who do not ignore these things? We think you are a wonderful person, but that in no wise translates into thinking your god is wonderful.

[Rhondazvous]

It's OK to be charitable but the effort should be directed toward one's own family members.  The problem with charitable organizations is that they take the pressure off of the government to provide for the citizens.  Instead the politicians are free to spend tax money on their favorite projects and buddies.  If people were really serious about helping out the poor and disadvantaged they wouldn't give a penny to any charitable organization.  By continuing to do so they allow the government and businesses to continue to screw over everyone.  

If you want to help someone then directly help your extended family members who are in need.  You have a lot of them.

Sorry but I think that sentiment (and maybe you) are fucked up.

And while it may seem cold on the surface, I kind of agree with mh. I wouldn't go down on record as a card-carrying conservative republican, but I don't believe in helping people who aren't at least willing to help themselves. A poor man is a man who can't afford to start his own business but can afford to buy ring tones.

The problem with charity is that it focuses on the problem. It exists because of the problem, therefore in order for the charitable organization to continue, the problem must continue.

Government is not going to do anything to eliminate poverty. It needs the poor as folder for the prison and military complexes. Why you think whenever the government declares war on a problem, it gets worse. Like Chris Rock ssid, the money is in the treatment not the cure.

[Rhondazvous]

Everyone knows God doesn't like the Africans because they don't believe in him.  If they'd only pray about it, they'd know he exists, and he would help them! (That's what a Christian told me anyway)

Never stopping to consider how childish that is—to not like somebody because they don't believe in you. This god just never got past the playground, did he.

[Kingpin]

I don't like gandhi as a person, but I do like some of the things he said. And on that note

https://youtu.be/WpYeekQkAdc

Christians aren't really different from the Jesus we read about in the Bible if you go by what the Bible really says. They're only different from the stereotype of gentle loving Jesus. To see such a Jesus, you have to either not read the Bible or read it but ignore anything that doesn't fit the stereotype. I did that for decades.

KingPhil, you ignore things about Jesus that don't fit the stereotype. Do you really think you can have an evangelical impact on people who do not ignore these things? We think you are a wonderful person, but that in no wise translates into thinking your god is wonderful.

Rhonda I'm not sure how you read my response as me saying how great God is. I'm simply responding to how I feel we should be thankful as a society. You are taking my belief in Christianity and somehow twisting what I say in to an attempt to proselytize people. Hardly. I'm not an evangelical street corner preacher. I live my life by my beliefs, how you view that is little concern to me as I'm out to live my life for me, my family and to care for all I encounter. I was in no way attempting to show how great God is because I do great things. I don't think I do great things. I do what I feel I need to in order to help make things better for those around me.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

It's OK to be charitable but the effort should be directed toward one's own family members.  The problem with charitable organizations is that they take the pressure off of the government to provide for the citizens.  Instead the politicians are free to spend tax money on their favorite projects and buddies.  If people were really serious about helping out the poor and disadvantaged they wouldn't give a penny to any charitable organization.  By continuing to do so they allow the government and businesses to continue to screw over everyone.  

If you want to help someone then directly help your extended family members who are in need.  You have a lot of them.

Sorry but I think that sentiment (and maybe you) are fucked up.

So why do you want to stiff your needy relatives?

Have you forgotten that charity begins at home?

1 Timothy 5:8 = https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se...CV;NET;CEV

1 Timothy 5:16 = https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se...CV;NET;CEV