messenjaH responds to me:
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Try to remember: It has something to do with taking the other person's opinions into account and realizing that just because you think something doesn't mean it is true.
Exactly! Now only if you practice what you preach...
I do.
You will notice that I don't go around preaching to others who haven't asked for my opinion. When I give of my time and effort, I do it specifically to provide the assistance and not to shoehorn it into an opportunity to preach to people.
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Incorrect. The student is there willingly. The student seeks out the teacher in order to learn something. The teacher does not exploit the suffering of the student: Listen to my spiel or you don't get any food.
Who asked you to "teach"?
Missionaries give food, clothes and medicine willingly,
In exchange for a captive audience to preach to.
So the people are given the choice between starvation/sickness or kowtowing to the "saviors."
It's called exploitation.
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they don't FORCE anyone to do anything.
Oh, indeed. They can continue to starve if they want.
As Eddie Izzard said in his routine, "So my choice is 'or death'?"
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They ask the recievers of goods, who are in need if they will listen once they are taken care of.
(*chuckle*)
You really are naive, aren't you?
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You seem to think that missionaries make a deal of 'I give you food and you let me give you belief(s)'.
Bingo! You don't really think the missionaries don't do anything to prevent people from leaving, do you?
Oh, I'm not saying they shackle them to the tables. But just because you don't tie them down doesn't mean you aren't forcing the issue.
I'm currently reading
Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett. It is set in the Agatean Empire, which is essentially Japan. The main character is told that all swords have been outlawed...and yet perfect order is maintained. "They've got something worse than whips." Complete subjugation and loyalty of the populace and no need to physically force anybody to do anything.
Coercion does not mean something out of
A Clockwork Orange.
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Your assuming things you know nothing of.
And you know this because of what, precisely?
Since you seem to know so much about my personal history, why don't you tell us what experience I have personally had with missionaries. Come on, this should be easy. You know so much about me.
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God asked me to "teach".
Then teach god.
When Joe Binky asks you to teach him, then you can teach Joe Binky.
God telling you to teach Joe Binky doesn't count since god has no authority over Joe Binky. When you are to teach Joe Binky, Joe will let you know. Until then, keep working on your syllabus.
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Mine takes your opinion into account. You don't even know of my existence unless you decide to be aware of it. You don't learn what my opinion is until you decide to be aware of it.
So does mine.
Incorrect.
"Here's a bowl of soup and have you heard the good news of our savior, Jesus Christ?"
Um...the person didn't come there for the good news. The person came there for the soup. What does Jesus Christ have to do with a bowl of soup?
When I go and provide food to the poor, I simply say, "Here you go." That's all I'm there to do: Provide food. If someone in the line thinks that he'd like to know what my personal opinions are about the supernatural (and why he would want to do that, I don't know), then I tell him that I'll be able to get back to him after I have finished with my shift.
So no, your position does not take the other person's opinion into account. If it did, rather than you asking them if they would like to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, you would ask them, "So tell me about your god."
Have you never heard of advertising? Tell me, which is the most altruistic act:
1) Providing support for an endeavor where every twelve-and-a-half minutes you interrupt the program to inform all the participants that you are the one supporting the endeavor.
2) Providing support for an endeavor where at the beginning and ending of the program, but not during the program, you inform all the participants that you are the one supporting the endeavor.
3) Providing support for an endeavor but never telling any of the participants that you are the one supporting the endeavor.
I'm reminded of a passage from the Bible about doing your good deeds in secret so as not to be like the Pharisees who crow about their actions so that they can gain glory from men.
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I listen to what everyone has to say,
Irrelevant.
The question is not if you listen. The question is whether or not you speak up when you weren't asked.
Obviously, if someone asks you for your opinion, then by all means give it.
But if nobody asks you for your opinion, what makes you think it is appropriate for you to give it unbidden?
And on a related note, what makes you think that it is appropriate for your unbidden statement to be assumptions that they are in need of saving rather than asking them if they are in any sort of trouble?
You still haven't answered my question. This makes at least four times I have directly asked it of you. Is there a particular reason why you refuse to answer? I am not asking it for my health. I really want to know:
Suppose you were at the gym doing laps in the pool and somebody keeps pelting you with life preservers, trying to "save" you.
Is that someone being kind or is that someone being a pain in the ass?
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And more importantly, my opinion doesn't declare that you are in a "lousy existence," are "worthless," or that you are going to "die and that's it."
If you are an atheist it does.
Excuse me? Since when did atheism mean "lousy existence"? When did atheism mean life is "worthless"? And when did atheism equate to a lack of spirituality? One does not need to belive in god in order to believe in a soul.
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Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!
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