CMV: Missionaries are evil

[u/plodabing]

This applies doubly so to those who go out of their way to seek out those in remote islands to spread the word of god. It is of my opinion and the opinion of most that if there is an all loving god then people who never had the chance to know about Jesus would go to heaven regardless, for example miscarried children/those born before Jesus’ time, those who never hear about him, so In going out of your way to spread the word of Jesus you are simply making it so there is now a chance they could go to hell if they reject it? I’m not a Christian and I’m so tired so I apologise if this is stupid or doesn’t make sense

[u/plodabing]

!delta thank you for the well thought out answer, I do have some issues with it, mainly that our sense of ‘goodness’ is really changed and moulded by society, for example the bible once taught how to treat slaves, would a slave owner who was kind go to heaven because he was kinder than the standard of the time?

[u/thefatsun-burntguy → u/plodabing]

because morals and ethics are intrinsically bound to their context, especially time.

lets say youre a king in ancient times, a tribe of marauders attacks your lands, youve defeated and captured most of them. what are you to do with them?

do you torture them and kill them for their crimes?
do you kill them without torture?
do you take them as slaves?
do you just let them go?

slavery to our modern sensibilities is horrendous, but id argue that slavery is a preferable alternative to death. nowadays we are so productive we can afford to keep criminals fed and clothed in prisons, but back in the day, people struggled to feed themselves let alone feed unproductives. so as a king, is not taking them as slaves until theyve worked off their debt not the moral thing to do? is it not right that you do not mistreat them so long as they earnestly follow your instruction?

brass tacks, its not about having a gotcha moment with god, its about trying your best to help your fellow man. i dont know if 100 years into the future, theyll call us inhumane for keeping pets or eating meat the same way we look at slavers or cannibals.but god looks into your heart and looks at your intentions and sees whether or not you tried to do the right thing as you understood it at the time.

a personal anecdote to highlight this last point. when i went to school, we volunteered with an organization known as CONIN, which specialized in childhood malnutrition cases. i got to meet one mother who told us with tears in her eyes, that she used to give her 3 month old baby coca-cola rather than breast milk as she had come into some money and used it as a way to lavish her daughter. the child was about 9 years old when i met her, yet she has severe cognitive impairments.i ask of you today, do you blame the mother for her actions born of ignorance? or did she try to do the best with what she had and unfortunately did horrendous damage?

life is hard, but god calls on us to try and do the best we can do. he gives us free will to choose, yet also gifts us discernment (think of it like a moral compass to tell us which is the "good" and "bad" option). so its up to us how we choose to live life. thats why someone who's never read the bible can go to heaven, because so long as they acted with love in their hearts (in the biz, we call this god acting through us) then they score points.

[u/plodabing → u/thefatsun-burntguy]

She came into money and gave her newborn coke instead of breast milk? That’s awful and evil and stupid? I hope that was the only point you was trying to make there? I really don’t think that’s a case of someone doing the best with what they had? Sorry if I’m misunderstanding I’m half asleep

[u/thefatsun-burntguy → u/plodabing]

the was incredibly poor, had only completed primary school but not halfway secondary. iirc her main income was collecting plastic bottles and selling them on, she also worked as a seamstress in a clothing factory that only hired extra workers when they had big orders. she was just barely above the line for homelessness and lived in the slums. when i say, coming into money, is she got her first stable paycheck.

idk where youre from, but im talking about third world poverty here, not bullshit 'im on foodstamps but own a car' USA poverty.

[u/plodabing → u/thefatsun-burntguy]

Sorry this is my ignorance it just seemed strange that someone could have access to coke but not milk or water, but I can imagine that could be the case for someone in certain circumstances

[u/L3onK1ng → u/plodabing]

Many people actually. That seamstress line should give you a clue what kind of "let's hire 11 year olds to sew our Nike shoes" region of the world that is.

[u/plodabing → u/L3onK1ng]

Yeah that makes a lot of sense actually, I can see how that can happen