[Haiti] Because Bibles are more important than food/shelter

[Serafina]

Thanks for asking...

Convoy of Hope, a major disaster relief organization
Haitian Bible Society
Dominican Republic Bible Society
BGCT
Bridgebuilders
SCORE Intl.
YWAM missionary
IMB missionary
A team of Christian physicians from Illinois
Other smaller teams that churches are mobilizing for long-term needs, headed by nurses.

These groups are doing everything from beans, rice, water, fuel and medical supplies to skilled labor--doctors, nurses, water purification teams, etc.

So, a bunch of christian groups wanted some bibles?

How does this proove that they NEED those things, or that the Haitans in general want/need them?

Now, if they are not clogging up the supply channels, they are at least not a bad thing - but isn't it convenient that they just happen to be sent at a time where people are desolate?

[General Trelane (Retired)]

Like donating cash to one of the groups that's already there and doing stuff.

Just so. I would advise checking the history of aid organizations before donating; the Red Cross is one of the organizations that I do trust. For fellow Canuckleheads, our federal government is matching private donations for Haiti until Feb 12, so there is even more incentive to help out.

[UnderAGreySky]

No No No!

We do NOT need more bibles in Haiti!

What we need are Ministers of Scientology!

[Mariano]

The audio Bibles are a blessing.

FYI: I wrote a favorable mention of them and a refutation of atheist condemnations of them here:
Audio Bibles and Atheist Hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, atheists internet wide are taking umbrage at this while not bothering to note that FCBY is teamed up with another org and are supplying food for the body and soul.

For the past few years atheists worldwide have literally wasted enormous amounts of money during times of recession, war and poverty not in helping anyone in any material need but in order to purchase bus ads and billboards attempting to demonstrated just how clever they consider themselves to be; and now they want to become the charity police—please!

[Dalton]

The audio Bibles are a blessing.

Are they edible? Do they provide nutrition or sustenance? Or is it more wasteful spending from opportunistic special-interest groups more interested in converting people than feeding them? How much more food could have been brought if these audio bibles weren't taking up space? How much power do these audiobibles use?

Do me a favor. Go down to Haiti with a few audiobibles and see how many people die when you try to feed their spirits and not their stomachs.

These people need tangible help, not spiritual guidance. You piece of shit.

[Darth Wong]

The audio Bibles are a blessing.

FYI: I wrote a favorable mention of them and a refutation of atheist condemnations of them here:
Audio Bibles and Atheist Hypocrisy.

Atheists aren't spending money to go to Haiti and convert people from Christianity to atheism.

Meanwhile, atheists internet wide are taking umbrage at this while not bothering to note that FCBY is teamed up with another org and are supplying food for the body and soul.

How does this change anything? If I do something useless and "team up" with someone who's doing something useful, that doesn't change the fact that I'm doing something useless. This other organization would be doing just as much good without your Bibles.

For the past few years atheists worldwide have literally wasted enormous amounts of money during times of recession, war and poverty not in helping anyone in any material need but in order to purchase bus ads and billboards attempting to demonstrated just how clever they consider themselves to be; and now they want to become the charity police—please!

"Literally wasted enormous amounts of money" on ads and billboards? Please, by all means, show your sources and quantify this amount of money.

Of course, I'm asking these questions rhetorically. I seriously doubt you will respond.

[General Zod]

The audio Bibles are a blessing.

FYI: I wrote a favorable mention of them and a refutation of atheist condemnations of them here:
Audio Bibles and Atheist Hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, atheists internet wide are taking umbrage at this while not bothering to note that FCBY is teamed up with another org and are supplying food for the body and soul.

For the past few years atheists worldwide have literally wasted enormous amounts of money during times of recession, war and poverty not in helping anyone in any material need but in order to purchase bus ads and billboards attempting to demonstrated just how clever they consider themselves to be; and now they want to become the charity police—please!

Because sending normal Bibles that cost $90 less and will last more than 6 months wouldn't have been a better choice or anything? I mean they can at least be used as kindling fuel if need be. As opposed to those audio bibles that won't do anything but be a nuisance when they have to dispose of them and all the lead their components likely contain.

[The Spartan]

Yep, it's the atheists and not Christians sinking money into useless, sanctimonious displays:
Giant crosses around Houston.
Giant cross in Kerrville.
That's just two examples.

There's another just outside of San Antonio. How much money was wasted on these holier-than-thou-art displays that could have been directed to school supplies or clothes for children? Or food for the needy? Etc.

There's another church in the Woodlands that advertises on TV (among others) called Fellowship of the Woodlands. How much does that cost? On their commercials they show elaborate stage setups behind the preacher. Presumably they have something to do with the sermon, but do they really need them when that money could be spent on, well, just about anything else?

[Serafina]

A few excerpts from the shitheads fundies morons bible-advocates site:

…man does not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of the LORD does man live
—Deuteronomy 8:3

A bible-quote - who would have expected that?
Now, of course, humans needs more than just food in the long run.
But other things are way more entertaining than bibles - and all the entertainment in the world is useless if you are starving.

Convoy of Hope, a disaster relief organization and ministry partner of Faith Comes By Hearing, feeds the hungry and provides pure drinking water to people in need across the United States and around the world. To date, the organization has provided help to 28 million people in 112 countries and 45 states…

Convoy of Hope mobilizes thousands of volunteers each year to deliver food and supplies, and to offer hope to people who are poor and suffering.
Convoy of Hope has people on the ground ready to receive containers of food, clothing and supplies being sent to Haiti…

Faith Comes By Hearing is coming alongside their disaster relief services to provide solar-powered Audio Bibles that will minister emotional and spiritual healing to this impoverished nation…

Soo...they DO waste effort on these bibles. After all, they are not edible, do not provide warmth, shelter or anything immedeatly necessary.

Look, by our logic, we should ship books and movies over there, because that's what those people need.
By your logic, atheists (which you falsely perceive as an religion - atheism is the absence of religion, so it can not be a religion) should ship "atheist scripture" (which does not really exist) over there - but we do not.

Jon Wilke, Faith Comes By Hearing spokesperson [stated]
Now, imagine standing in a line waiting for aid and hearing Jesus say (in the Beatitudes) 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.' Imagine hearing about how Jesus had no place to lay his head. These verses in God's Word can demonstrate that God understands their situation and has not forgotten them.[1]

Yeah, sure, they can be uplifting - but that is about all they can do, and it's not a lot of help if you are starving.
Why do Christians not understand that material help is more important than spiritual help.
(Just like Mother Theresa, who fraudlently spent money on proselytize/comforting people instead of providing them with medication).

The ministry offers free downloadable MP3 Bibles, free downloadable Bibles, Bible podcasts and various other formats such as Bible on CD, “BibleSticks,” “KIDZ BibleStick,” etc.

You know, i am pretty sure they have no internet over there right now

Certainly, atheists, being absolute materialists, do not see how human beings are anything but bio-organisms and require nothing but bio-organic fuel, housing, etc. Yet, the Christian view is holistic and thus, organizations such as Faith Comes By Hearing seek to provide both; food for the body and food for the soul.

Hm, i guess that's why atheists only care about nourishing themself and never have fun or anything else
Look, you dipshit: We DO understand that moral help is important.
But not only are bibles an inferior way to do so (not because of their content, but because 99% of them is not applicable to the situation), but they are also clogging up necessary supplies.

Look at the following, simplified situation: Someone got hit by a car. Do you call 911 and perform first aid, or do you cire bible verses.
Furthermore, even if he is not in need of immediate medical attention and you already called 911, do you tell him "hang on, think of your family etc." or do you quote random verses from the bible? Which one is better?

Now, what of atheistic hypocrisy?

The fact is that for at least the last couple of years atheists worldwide have been literally wasting hundreds upon hundreds of thousands upon thousands of dollars in donated money not in order to help anyone in need during times of recession, war, poverty, etc. but in order to purchase anti-theistic and pro-atheism bus ads and billboards in order to attempt to demonstrate just how clever they consider themselves to be.

I trust you can provide us with evidence that those atheists used collected money (and, specifically, money not collected specifically for these ads) instead of their own money.
Because, as far as i recall, everyone is free to spend his own money as one likes.

Well, my dear atheists friends; first repent of your own astonishingly wasteful back-patting boasting and then, perhaps, eventually, get around to criticizing those who are feeding, housing the needy body and soul—those who have been doing it for millennia upon millennia by the way.

Hey, you dipshit:
Modern psychology, therapistic methods, pedagogy etc. are vastly more successfull at helping people living their lives than religion. Both can be temporarily uplifting, but that is pretty much a matter of the person doing the talking. But our methods are vastly better in the long run and at provinding actual advice.

[PeZook]

For the past few years atheists worldwide have literally wasted enormous amounts of money during times of recession, war and poverty not in helping anyone in any material need but in order to purchase bus ads and billboards attempting to demonstrated just how clever they consider themselves to be; and now they want to become the charity police—please!

You know, it would sound a lot better if America wasn't known for its megachurches, prosperity gospel and entire TV stations dedicated to nothing but preaching The Word to people. What's the standard at which I am allowed to criticize a charity without being a hypocrite? If I bought and ate a candy bar yesterday instead of giving it to the poor, am I hypocritical or not?

Certainly, atheists, being absolute materialists, do not see how human beings are anything but bio-organisms and require nothing but bio-organic fuel, housing, etc. Yet, the Christian view is holistic and thus, organizations such as Faith Comes By Hearing seek to provide both; food for the body and food for the soul.

Yeah, believing that people who have nothing to eat should be fed before anything else = degrading humans to biological machines with no needs other than food and shelter.

That's a nice strawman, I'm sure it was easy to knock down.

[Zixinus]

Hey, Mariano

Here's a thought: why is not that the Vedas were put into an audiobook that is sent to disaster relief? After all, they are beautiful and spiritual books (supposedly) that actually out-date the Bible. In them, are very deep and complex spiritual thoughts that shaped the philosophy of an entire civilization and giving contemplative concepts about the universe, as well as life and death.

Why not send those?

Oh, that's right, the Vedas are not Western and you (Mariano) were not raised according to the Vedas or the Brahms that explain them. Therefore, they are just as meaningless drivel as the Bible is to atheists.

Atheists are wasting money on billboards and bus stickers (one of the cheapest forms of advertisement), according to you ... while Christians are wasting money keeping entire TV channels open for their advocates to speak 24/7, making Jesus statues and giant crosses and worst of all, sending audio books out of an overly expensive audio player (I am sure that the hardware is Made in (spartafreedom!) America) that uses non-conventional batteries to boot.

Of course, from what I understand various forms of Christian doctrine, human suffering is preferred and acceptable situation, as non-physical salvation is far more important than human suffering. The fact that people need food, drinking water, shelter and medicine is a sideline for a true Christian, because its much more important for them that they die worshipping Jesus than someone gets some 5$ water-purification tablets so they won't die of thirst. Proving once again that Christianity is inheritly sadistic and indifferent to the actual well-being of people.

See how easy it is to criticise a whole group of people as you imagine them rather than they are? I wouldn't be surprised that Jesus himself said something about withholding judgement, but then again, I wouldn't be surprised if that part flied by you.

For one, if you actually bothered to look around the forum instead of just thinking that you can convert everyone with a single comment and link, you would have noticed forum members posting links to charities and encouraging each other to send money to the disaster effort. But no, fancy high-tech toys and ridicolously high-quality bibles for Christians by Christians is what's needed.

[Eleas]

I find it interesting that although we consider Vice City a comedy, its most vicious attempt at parodying a televangelist... still falls woefully short of reality.

"You see, the Alaskans are lunatics, plain and simple; they eat whales, and snow, and they sleep in the freezer. Who wants to eat snow everyday? Oh, I tried to help; I sent a helicopter with copies of my book, but they burned them in a pile for heat. If the people of Alaska choose to live there, let them, but don't come crying when you're tired of eating penguin and it snows 18 feet a day."

Because the problem with this isn't just that it could have been actual useful items. Everything sent has to be coordinated, distributed, given its spot in the queue, and factored in. Not only that, but the fact that they team up with another, actually humanitarian initiative means that initiative will be less effective as a result.

This little stunt isn't just throwing a donation away, it's detrimental to the situation as a whole.


EDIT: Massive re-edit of what began inanely; sorry, everyone.