From The Friendly Atheist:
“A TikToker is exposing churches that refuse to help a hungry baby”
“For the past week, TikToker Nikalie Monroe has been running a fascinating social experiment to find out if religious groups are actually willing to live out their stated values.
She recently told her followers about how SNAP benefits were set to expire because of Republican cruelty, leaving a lot of people without vital resources to feed their families. (That video received under 1,000 views.)
Then, instead of just explaining the problem, Monroe tried a different tactic: She started calling local houses of worship while pretending to be a new mother who couldn’t afford formula for her baby.
Would they help her out?”
Club Schadenfreude 
at a guess, half of them told her to repent and pray to Jesus. The rest either just ignored her or criticized her for having the baby at all. (just guessing, Im turning into a cynic in my old age)
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Interesting (true, real life) story…
A lady walked into a Catholic Church office and asked for money. Common occurrence there about 10 times a day, minimum. People rode a bus from downtown because they knew they would be given cash. They did need an ID and the handout was recorded. Still, many people took advantage, which was the point of the recorded handout.
This particular parish did not have a food pantry or a clothes-closet but sent their donations to a central location in San Antonio where parishioners also volunteered.
Anyway, the lady walks in and asks for cash. While chatting with the receptionist/secretary (had to wait for the bookkeeper), she said that she had asked for money at her church, but they told her that since she had not given the church any money, they would not give her any. (Evangelical Christian logic at work, LOL).
When asked what church that was, she responded that she was a member of John Hagee’s mega church in San Antonio. They would not even help one of their own. Good Lawdy!
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pretty much what the church I used to go to has been known to say when people ask for help.
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As a former Christian I found that the “Christian church” was very much not united. When I was a kid I remember there were two churches down my road no further than 200 metres away from each other – they never had anything to do with each other. In my experience churches treated all the other churches that weren’t in the same denomination as wrong.
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I grew up within walking distance of a baptist church but we always had to go to the presbyterian church a few miles away and never set foot into the baptist one. and oh the anti-catholic nonsense I saw and experienced.
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Ha, where I was Catholicism and Mormons were basically treated like separate (heathen) religions.
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yep. I can remember when the Donny and Marie Osmond show was on back in the 70s and people were confused by Mormon stuff. and I may have mentioned this before, but my aunt was set to marry a catholic guy and her father stopped it.
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You can’t just call up churches and ask them to give you stuff. People try to scam churches, and the churches know that. Often churches will have programs specifically designed to help their communities, or they will give financial aid to members of their congregation who are in need. The church is not just a money jar that everyone can reach their hand into whenever they want. The church would not survive if they operated like that.
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So, you’d rather reject people on the chance you wll get “scammed” rather than help. You don’t trust your god very much, do you?
Curious how your bible says that this god will provide as long as you trust it. Is it lying?
“22 He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?[d] 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;[e] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” Luke 12
“34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37 Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40 And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[g] you did it to me.” 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” 44 Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” 45 Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’” Matthew 25
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It is necessary when reading the words of Jesus to understand that he often speaks in hyperbole. There is a spiritual principle he is teaching there, namely that if you do your best, you can generally rely on God to take care of your needs. But you’ve got to do your best. In this case, that would mean handling church funds judiciously rather than foolishly.
In addition, many sadly do their best and are still in need. Christ’s words are not an absolute promise, they are pointing out a general spiritual principle. So, “Trust in God, and tie up your camels.”
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Curious how you chrsitains can’t agree on what this god means. So I guess we can assume that since resurrecting from the dead is ridiculous, that must be hyperbole.
there is literally no indication of hyperbole in these verses.
Unsurprisngly, your bible never says that god helps those who help themselves. It says the exact opposite. But that never quite works out for Christains and their god fails them every time. It’s quite the convenience how you add to your bible, isn’t it?
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strange how you remove your posts when you don’t get the response you want and your claims fail. Your “why should christians follow the evidence wherever it leads” and “why christians should trust…”, “Questions Everyone Should Ask Google AI About the Bible” posts are now missing. and yet you did this “Thinking In The Darkness liked your comment on Should Christians follow the evidence wherever it leads?”
“Thank you so much for watching the video Vel! I found your comments very interesting, you certainly are devoted to your cause. For some of the supposed lacks of evidence, you have to take into account that he’s speaking publicly, and can’t provide a bibliography for everything he says. Dr. Keener is a major scholar, and when he’s talking about the price of silver for a slave, for example, it’s understood that he’s done his homework.
You remain resolutely unconvinced, despite the presentation, but I hope you will think about the evidence he shared. Thank you again for watching and discussing Vel, it was nice to hear from you. ”
and my response to that comment of yours, from your own post that is now missing. If I can find this, one has to wonder if you think your god doesn’t notice how you act.
Keener wrote a book on miracles and had no evidence for bibliography for them either. So your excuses fail miserably as usual. Unsurprisngly, when asked he offeres no evidence.
You assume he’s done his homework, that’s all. This is why christians fail so hard when showing hey have evidence for their claims. You blindly believe other christians and that is a very bad idea. I have found one cannot trust a christian to have merely read the bible, much less what they claim about it, including you.
Yes, a presentation with no evdience is baselesss assertions, nothing more; I am not convinced. Would you blindly accept a muslim speaker who offered no evidence for their claims? And do be honest, you believe jesus is watching.
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“Hyperbole”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? “Hyperbole”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? “Hyperbole”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? “Hyperbole”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? “Hyperbole”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? “Hyperbole”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?
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Heh 🙂 Curious how things magically become “hyperbole” if the christian doesn’t want to to what is literally said.
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I believe she was thinking of Donald Trump.
So, Christians think Matt 19:21, Luke 12:33, 14:13-14, and the “parable” of Matt 25:35-48 are (or were) hyperbole? Good to know.
I ask, “Thinking in the Darkness” (gives the Pensive Skeptic pause for a chuckle) to name the churches or religious organizations that have ceased to exist because they reached out to others and gave them money. But then again, if some Churches and all religions were to cease to exist that would be one huge secular blessing. But idiots and assholes will never go away. Sorry. 🙂
Isn’t it ironic that when we ask them to tell us what good there is in religion, they almost always tell us how they reach out to help the needy, something that can be done, of course, by secular charities.
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Heh. This poor gal “thinking in the darkness” has been entirely taking down her blog posts when I dare comment on them. I wonder if she doesn’t realize she can just remove the comments.
If she’s that afraid, I’m sure she will never actually give any examples for her claims.
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Paranoia strikes deep. 🙂
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heh. the muppets did that too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIYS1nomk3Q
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