In a totally anecdotal way, and completely incidental to the topic at hand, our missionaries in China report an explosion of growth among Christian House Churches, and ... um.... 'English teachers' who may or may not be working in N Korea... are asking for another 40,000 Bibles for that country!
Announcement
Collapse
Civics 101 Guidelines
Want to argue about politics? Healthcare reform? Taxes? Governments? You've come to the right place!
Try to keep it civil though. The rules still apply here.
Try to keep it civil though. The rules still apply here.
See more
See less
Religious Diversity May Be Making America Less Religious
Collapse
X
-
Never really made my mind up about those folks taking bibles into some times third world countries and educating people. Never had a problem with the education bit, it's just the coming with a bible price tag I always was unsure of.
It's not even the bible itself (obviously), I'd feel the same way about a Torah or Koran.
Education is good on its own merits, and clearly worth spreading. I don't see why that should come with a religious price tag however. So yes- not made my mind up yet.
Comment
-
Originally posted by EvoUK View PostNever really made my mind up about those folks taking bibles into some times third world countries and educating people. Never had a problem with the education bit, it's just the coming with a bible price tag I always was unsure of.The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.
Comment
-
Originally posted by EvoUK View PostNever really made my mind up about those folks taking bibles into some times third world countries and educating people. Never had a problem with the education bit, it's just the coming with a bible price tag I always was unsure of.
It's not even the bible itself (obviously), I'd feel the same way about a Torah or Koran.
Education is good on its own merits, and clearly worth spreading. I don't see why that should come with a religious price tag however. So yes- not made my mind up yet.
Or maybe letting the people who are willing to sacrifice just to help people in a world totally alien to their own share the reason they are willing to do so might not be so much of a price as a treasure."He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot
"Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman
My Personal Blog
My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)
Quill Sword
Comment
-
With regard to the OP, I think it's likely that people who religious are going to get a lot of their friends from church / their religious groups, so going to have less religious diversity among their friends than those who aren't religious, so I think the causation works the opposite way to what the OP is suggesting in that instance.
However, I think this is instructive:
Originally posted by The Thinker View Post[ATTACH=CONFIG]18069[/ATTACH]
Also anyone wanting to convince another person "my religious view is the correct one, you should convert to it" in the modern world has to explain to the person why that religion is right, and why the five other local religions that seem equally plausible, are wrong. Whereas, historically, when there was only one religion on offer in each area, they weren't competing against each other for plausibility."I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
"Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
"[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein
Comment
-
Originally posted by Jaecp View PostIf they just need something to read, buy em copies of Harry Potter or something. The issue raised is the coercive nature of the work. The help portrayed as altruistic, but it's not solely that.Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom
Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
sigpic
I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist
Comment
-
Originally posted by Jaecp View PostIf they just need something to read, buy em copies of Harry Potter or something.The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.
Comment
-
Originally posted by Teallaura View PostSo what price tag would you put on it? Some socially irrelevant secular junk from a nation they have zero in common with? Trying to use Origin of the Species as a reader? Making some poor kind in India memorize from Politics Among Nations? (Fairly sure that last one violates the Geneva convention - and I LIKE Morganthau!)
Or maybe letting the people who are willing to sacrifice just to help people in a world totally alien to their own share the reason they are willing to do so might not be so much of a price as a treasure.
There's lots of classical literature to provide to teach reading.
Comment
-
Originally posted by EvoUK View PostNo- just teach maths, English/language, science and any other subjects of use to gain a good education and skills needed. I see no reason to include the Bible/Torah/Koran etc any more than I expect someone to preach atheism (whatever that would mean).
There's lots of classical literature to provide to teach reading.
But the reality is, education is never spread for its own sake. The university system - what we know as education - all began because Christians began to believe that it was important to know and be able to read Scripture. Christians still believe that and that it is important to give the Good News to all who will hear it. That's our mission - not teaching the three R's because we've nothing better to do. So, getting the proverbial boots on the ground to actually do the educating means getting people willing to fill those boots and others willing to pay for them to be filled. The secular world is perfectly capable of doing the same exact job but they don't because they have no motivation other than altruism to do so. Atheists perfectly willing to grouse forums aren't by and large willing to fill or provide for those boots to teach in the outermost reaches of Nowhere - Christians, because of their ideology, are. What you call the price tag is in fact the goad."He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot
"Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman
My Personal Blog
My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)
Quill Sword
Comment
Related Threads
Collapse
Topics | Statistics | Last Post | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Started by little_monkey, Yesterday, 04:19 PM
|
16 responses
116 views
0 likes
|
Last Post
by One Bad Pig
Today, 11:55 AM
|
||
Started by whag, 03-26-2024, 04:38 PM
|
53 responses
318 views
0 likes
|
Last Post
by Mountain Man
Today, 11:32 AM
|
||
Started by rogue06, 03-26-2024, 11:45 AM
|
25 responses
111 views
0 likes
|
Last Post
by rogue06
Today, 08:36 AM
|
||
Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-26-2024, 09:21 AM
|
33 responses
196 views
0 likes
|
Last Post
by Roy
Today, 07:43 AM
|
||
Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-26-2024, 08:34 AM
|
84 responses
360 views
0 likes
|
Last Post
by JimL
Today, 11:08 AM
|
Comment