quote:

Originally posted by toughshorty:
I hate missionaries. I don't think they are orientated at helping the sick and such, I think they are colonialist and all they really want to do is destroy cultures that have existed long before christianity in the name of "helping the poor africans who can't help themselves" I think that it's great to help other nations. But you should go there to aid them to become independent on their own terms. Not exactly like the west.

Stop the "Church Trips"!!!

discuss...

Yes, absolutely. Damn them for helping the less fortunate!

Unfortunately, "most of the missionaries I've met" and blanket assertions about missionaries in general don't actually prove anything about missionaries. In fact, they only serve to reveal that you can't be bothered at all to do a bit of research into the groups you are so valiantly trashing. Not to be redundant in echoing what practically everyone else has said, but you can't honestly think that missionaries are colonialist pigs who could care less about the indigenous populations they visit? Wait, no, I know the answer to that.

Well, let's consider this. The "beautiful culture" that these missionaries are "ruining" is often a war-torn, famine-plagued, starving corner of the globe that all the great benevolence of the rest of the world seems to have forgotten. Historically, Christian missionaries have "ruined" cultural practices such as human sacrifice, and, even as late as 1780 in India, widow-burning (Source: Wikipedia).

To deny that these missionaries have not been instrumental in clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, as well as bringing such concepts as sustainable farming, basic hygiene and sanitation, and modern technology to impoverished areas of the globe is to deny historical fact. Or would allowing people to live and make an honest living be too colonialist?

The glorious idea of "independence on their own terms" in Africa often means arming up to go kill some other subculture that you have a problem with. Do the Hutus and the Tutsis come to mind? The problem is that we already screwed up by colonizing the place in the 1700-1800s. The answer isn't to just say, "Oh, they can do this on their own." Because all empirical evidence would suggest the contrary. And I don't frankly care if it's the Southern Baptist Convention, Episcopal Relief and Development, the Satanist League of America, the U.N., or the U.S. that's getting aid over there, as long as aid is getting over there.

If abuses such as conditional aid are occurring (and they have in rare circumstances), then that is atrocious and should stop. But missionary work at large often does not imply evangelism. And quite frankly if you think you're going to convert people en masse from an ethnic belief system they have held for ages and destroy their culture by having a rally and handing out some rice, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you'd be interested in buying...

When my chemistry teacher was in grade school during WWII, this German missionary came to her school to teach them songs about Jesus and so on. They really loved her.

Then, they found out she was actually a Nazi spy. She was caught in New York while trying to return to Germany with information about a nuclear plant. She got the electric chair.

quote:

seriously, I despise missionaries. I think they are scum who ruin everything in an attempt to do good. If you want to do something good, don't do it thru your church!!!

ok, i'm guession you've only met the bible beaters, and let me say, i'm sorry.

you've used the term "missionary" and attached some hard acusations to the word without meeting every missionary.

true story: i went to New Orleanse on a mission trip just a few weeks ago. I DIDN'T DO ANY PREACHING. i gutted houses, picked up trash, and handed out suplies in the lower 9th.

i'm and Anglo-Catholic, so i'm a lot different than the more caresmatic christians who only want to shove the bible down people's throats. St. Francis of Assisi once said, "preach the gospel alsway; when neccisary, use words" thats what i try to live my life by: showing (not telling) the love of Christ to everyone--no stings attached. i try to help people both through the church and on my own--whenever i see that help is needed. i dont always succeed in this, but i try.

anyways, i'm sorry that that's the only kind of missionary you've seen. and i agree with you. but dont stop the "church trips" if they're really helping people.

Most of the missionaries I have met are very close to what ts described - they're only about religion and "spreading God's word". I had a friend who just went for the good of it, not so much because he was religious, and came back VERY different (his concept of faith).

and now you've heard it on YN

hmm...I don't know that I have ever heard it used except in old movies and books...

I couldn't think of a better word.

I've said it in real life, it's a fairly useful term

Clpo, did you just use the term "womanfolk" in a real world situation??? *laughing*

I guess I could say that I agree to an extent. I have my views and beliefs but that doesn't mean I should go pushing them on to others. That's not the wat to get things done. Try a little compassion.

I'll agree if you change "steak knife" to "shotgun"

I talked with a couple of Mormons once. They scared me. They had that gleam in your eye that makes you want to lock up your womenfolk and reach for the steak knife.

The way I see it, nearly every religion claims to be the right one, so I can't be blamed for not knowing which really is. That keeps me sane. And missionary-free.

Hey, question for you...how many missionaries have you met?
How can you possibly think that you can judge every single missionary based on broad information about a select few from history? Do you even have any specific instances of missionaries destroying beautiful cultures? Do you have any specific stories about missionaries at all? My church denomination is the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which sends out more missionaries around the world than any other denomination. I've heard stories about missionaries, heard talks about missions and their purpose and means, and nothing that you've said about missionaries applies to them, even generally. Watch the movie End of the Spear, the true story of a missionary to Ecuador, Nate Saint. He and five others were killed by a tribe as soon as they met them. The six missionaries had a gun to shoot off and scare the men away if they became violent. They refused to use it to kill the men, and were killed instead. After that their wives and children went to live with the tribe so that they would hear about God, and saved their lives with medical knowledge when an outbreak spread through the village. They fully knew what had happened to their husbands and fathers, and still chose to live with them, risking their own lives, and to nurse them back to health. That's what missions is all about - loving the people you go to live among and serving them.

The problem is your assumption that it is "the truth" By presenting this as "the absolute truth" And by backing this up with the implied power of your god with things like food and medicine you are ruining a beautiful culture.

Sure, you don't say, do this or you will starve. It's not what you do, so much as what you imply. It's not your group of missionaries but the idea of missionaries as a whole. They go to "spread the truth" to the poor unknowing africans.

That imperialist, colonialist mentality is what is wrong with missionaries. They go somewhere to put in place what they think is what should be right and spread the "truth."

I will attempt an analogy, A child is the best artist in his class, he is brilliant for a kindergardener, but you know, this means that he is sort of crappy by the rest of the world standards. Now, the kids parents are brilliant scientists, they want this child to grow up to be a scientist. So they take away all of his paints and crayons and tells him to go play with a chemistry set...

Now, who's right in this situation??? the parent who wants their kid to grow up and study this highly successful, or the kid that just wants to paint and is good at it???

I don't know all the answers, and clearly, there will always be a debate, but I side with the kid.

So what we preach the word, people find the throuth in said word and convert again it's their choice some of the storngest christian commmunitys on earth are in africa

ok the problem... is that they are working in the name of god to save soles. Thus inevitably changing the cultures and the religions. IF the christians had been charitable b/c they think that charity is important in and of itself that would be different. But when it becomes about conversion it pisses me off.

It's easy to be cynical and dislike missionaries, but the truth is, Christian charities have done a ton for the world. They represent one of the largest charitable organizations on earth. They don't intend to colonialize, which is why you don't see any sort of Christian migration into Africa. This isn't the Crusades, either. It is simply a bunch of people devoting their lives to spreading the Word of God. Good for them.

No we don't want to destroy culture (that was the spanish) just save their souls

NOO!!! you are saying, look at this piece of food or meds or whatevs you have, look it's from the west, look we are good. Listen about our god. Ok, abandon your culture and join ares.

ONE OF US!!! ONE OF US!!!

seriously, I despise missionaries. I think they are scum who ruin everything in an attempt to do good. If you want to do something good, don't do it thru your church!!!

Hey now we are helping those people spiritually as well as physically. and no one is being forced to convert. all we can do is preach the word and if some one chooses to convert that is their decision not some one else's