Christians Urged to "Light Up" for Poverty.
I would forgive you for assuming that Christians are being urged to smoke some substance or another, because that's exactly what I thought.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians are being invited to “light up” beacons of hope for the world's impoverished communities through a week of prayer.
"Light up" "beacons of hope", huh? Well, I'm sure all the hungry children are now full, the homeless are now sheltered and those without access to healthcare have been miraculously cured. Smoking some weed would at least provide the drug dealer with some cash.
Or not.
Nothing pisses me off more than a call to prayer in lieu of either actually doing something or admitting there's nothing you're willing to do.
Tearfund has produced resources to help Christians reflect on some of the most urgent social justice issues.
Nope, still doing nothing and acting like you're doing something. Every time I end up in the hospital, two sorts of people emerge. The one sort of person is like my sisters-in-law*, who visit me, call me, clean my house and do my grocery shopping, all while brushing aside my gratitude because this is not special behavior to them, this is just how people are supposed to act. The other sort of person sees me after I'm out of the hospital and says, "Oh, I prayed for you!" and then pauses expectantly, clearly waiting for me to express my deepest gratitude for their efforts.
I don't care who prays or not. I know one of my sisters-in-law prays for me- while she's stopping by my house to pick up clothes and toiletries to bring to the hospital for me. That's my point. Pray all you want- while you are actually doing something. Praying while doing nothing is doing nothing. Don't congratulate yourself for doing nothing and don't expect any gratitude for doing nothing.
*I got wicked lucky in the in-law department.
Prayer, it is literally the least you can do
ReplyDeleteTearfund has produced resources to help Christians reflect on some of the most urgent social justice issues.
ReplyDeleteThis just makes me giggle.
I kind of feel like Christian's are Jay's dad from The Critic.
"Now is not the time for thought, now is the time for action!"
::Sits there, does nothing. Blinks a couple times.::
Tearfund has produced resources to help Christians reflect on some of the most urgent social justice issues.
ReplyDeleteGeds finds this funny but I think this is the worst line you posted. This meant they spent money to organize a pray circle jerk. Not only did they do nothing, but they spent money that could be actually used to help people and instead used it toward doing nothing. What a fucking waste.
I have a buddy who is a fundie and is an example of how the habiit of prayer messes up your head. He just doesn't try to brainstorm/explore options because of his reliance on prayer.
ReplyDeleteNot only did they do nothing, but they spent money that could be actually used to help people and instead used it toward doing nothing. What a fucking waste.
ReplyDeleteThing is, it's not like they would have spent that money to actually solve the problem, anyway. That's just not how things work in those circles.
True story: right before Christmas a person I used to do the church thing with who I still consider to be one of the lesser evils put up a Facebook status. It was about how some group he was working with was trying to come up with many thousands of dollars for a project to help needy kids in Russia. That all seemed well and good until he explained they were trying to pay the final printing costs for Russian language picture Bibles.
The fuck is that gonna do to help a kid who doesn't have enough food? Seriously. I'd honestly rather see them spend the money to sit in a dark room and think about social justice for a while. It beats the shit out of them going and kicking people who are already down with their complete lack of perspective or understanding of privilege and need.
I know, Geds, but damn, let's just say it, religion is a detriment to helping people. Which is ironically completely against what Jesus said to do.
ReplyDeleteI know, Geds, but damn, let's just say it, religion is a detriment to helping people.
ReplyDeleteHey, now. Some Christians help. Like those good Christians who knew Jesus would be against lying to the Nazis about hidden Jews. And the good Christians who helped herd Tutsis in to local churches so the Hutu could more easily slaughter them...
[/snarkily painting everyone in Christianity with the same wide brush...]
if a person *believes* in prayer, being prayed for *might* help. i have seen studies that show it's possible prayer offers a placebo effect.
ReplyDeletei have trouble finding charities that i can actually contribute to, because the ones i WANT to contribute to [i.e. helping poor people in other countries, people who make ME look rich] are almost ALL "Christian" charities, with huge overheads. i know of a couple, and send a few dollars here and there. saved up and "bought a well" [$50 donation, all of it goes towards getting a GOOD well dug] for my parents last Giftmas.
but there are so few good charities, and soooooooooooo many that just seem to... be run so that the people running it can feel good about running it, ya know?