Have christian missionaries done any actual good?

Question

http://geocities.com/paulntobin/mission.html

I'm disgusted by your disregard for the culture of these people. you think everyone is evil except you and yet how many people did they destroy? how many lives did the natives ruin? in contrast to how many lives and cultures the christians eradicated. if god created everything then god created the natives AND their cultures. GET OUT OF THEIR LIVES! you should be feeding the poor and not forcing your religion on them.

Read about Mr. Jones and the Bih people of Vietnam on the link i provided.

and don't give me the "they're not real christians" b.s. because that is how missionaries have always worked. in order to accept christ you have to deny your old life. thus the destruction of the ancient ways of the people is inevitable.

so what tangible good HAVE they accomplished?

NEPTUNE, the missionaries brought disease and medicine. things would have been fine if they had not brought either. especially (read the page that the link goes to) since a lot of what they did was force labour from the natives. and christians did NOT stop the people from killing eachother lol... the tribal people were not viscious savages like the missinaries tell you. many of them were farmers. in fact, can you give me the name of even one tribe "saved" by christianity that was viscious and murderous? off the top of your head? read the page guys, at least i give references.

Here's the thing, yes it's a skeptics view, so biased against christianity. but the points are historical. the only other option would be a christians view. which would be biased. anyone in between wouldn't care enough to research it. the fact is this: in order to make these people convert they had to deceive and trick and sometimes execute tribal natives.

i'm NOT MAKING THIS UP!

it is proveable, much moreso than any of the old testament. it is despicable these atrocities in the name of your saviour.

Answer 1

After the tsunami in 2004, there were at least _12_ confirmed instances where godbots said to starving people, "Convert to christianity or we won't give you food and water!" Those people who didn't convert got nothing; that's not charity, it's blackmail.

The christianazis would rather see a muslim or hindu kid die because the child's parents refuse to let their religion be insulted. I'd be tempted to say "How unchristian of them", but in actuality, that's exactly how most christians behave. And then they wonder why muslims hate them.

Just imagine if, after hurricane Katrina, groups from wealthy muslim nations went to New Orleans and started helping the poor (the whorehouse - oops, whitehouse - certainly wasn't helping). Now imagine if some of those muslims started proselytizing their religious crap, "take allah into your life and we'll give you food and water!" I wonder what the Yanks would have done; they probably would have murdered them.

If Yanks wouldn't like that, then just imagine how the hindus, buddhists, and muslims around the Indian Ocean felt when the christianazis came to blackmail them. Many US-based filth groups - oops, faith - openly said the disaster was an "opportunity" to sell their hate literature; they didn't see them as human beings who needed to be helped. That's as low on an ethical scale as the Nazis using Kristalnacht as justification for starting the death camps.

The slimebag fascist christianazis call it the "10/40 window" (most of the world's population live between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator, and most are not christians).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10/40_Window
http://www.gmi.org/products/1040_g.htm

The next time there is a hurricane in the US, I hope muslims DO go to the affected states, and proselytize under the false pretense of "giving aid".


Additional:

I see a lot of godbots who claim their religious oppressions - oops, missions - were "helping" people. If you really were trying to help, you would NEVER mention your religion.

True charity is given without expecting anything in return. In this case, that means you don't talk about religion any you don't try to pervert - oops, convert - anyone to your cult.

I bet every single one of you who went on "missions" spewed your drivel where it wasn't welcome instead of keeping it to yourselves.

I've been teaching English in various Asian countries for more than four years and I never discuss religion *unless* all the students in the class happen to be atheists. Otherwise, it's not a class topic. (In Korea, such rare classes of all-atheist kids talked about how their christian schoolteachers beat them for not praying. They enjoyed classes with western teachers because we never talked about religion, not even those who were christians.)


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Answer 2

Yeah once I started studying anthropology I got so sickened by things like that. So much culture has been lost. That's why I think so many Latin American countries are super smart. They incorporated many of their own beliefs into Christianity. I admire civilizations that thought of doing that, but it's sad they had to comprimise their beliefs at all, and so much was lost still.

It makes me sick to think these people only helped others so they would convert and live their lives the way the missionaries wanted them too. They basically had to sell their lives to the missionaries who wouldn't help them if they didn't. If I were in the position of the tribal people I'd have rather died than sell my soul.

I know there are a lot of good intentioned missionaries today but the conversion is still going on, and if you think about why so much of the world is Christian it's because of those evil missionaries from the past. No wonder our world has so little culture today.

Bravo to China and Japan for resisting and keeping their beautiful cultures and beliefs. They don't just go around killing people, do they? That's what that one guy said people would do without Christianity. China is leading the world economically. Japan is leading it technologically. And both countries educate their children properly, unlike the US. I wish I had had the good fortune to be educated in one of those countries.

Answer 3

How can anyone hear the good news of reconciliation / peace with God if no one preaches to them?

That is what Jesus Christ Missionaries do. Is obey Jesus Christ and teach the Good News to all creation. That is a tangible good thing to do, and people are getting saved (inherit ever lasting life) everywhere. People are restored to Father God and say by to false gods. What is wrong with that.

Also, the age of Christ won't happen until the Word of God is published & preached around the world.


No one can force anyone to confess Jesus Christ Lord & Savior and believe in their heart the Atonement for sins and the Resurrection from the dead. Faith in God can't be forced, can't be paid for, can't be bribed, can't be earned by works. Faith in God and His redeeming message can only be shared & offered. The person has to receive the love of God in their heart through heart faith in the Resurrection & confessing with their mouth...


Checked out the web site. The only destructive thing about the Message of Gods redeeming Grace is that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and that we might have life more abundantly. So, the devils getting hurt. So? That web site is the of a scared devil. Someones being a devils messenger.

Answer 4

Yes,they have.Several families I know are missionaries.One family are working in South America,in an area where many in the village are afflicted with AIDS.Thay are helping with water supplies,building houses,schools,hospitals,providing medical care,and being friends with the villagers.They participate in their cultural activities,and they tell the villagers about Jesus.But they never,ever force people to believe or withhold care if they don't.If you think letting people die without providing care,letting the children grow up for a few years and then die,and letting more people get sick from filthy contaminated water is preferable than missionaries,you are sadly mistaken.I can name quite a few other missionaries I know,like a family who live in Ethiopia.They are learning the local language,and building wells.Some others that I know worked in Papua New Guinea for nearly 15 years,doing all manner of work.There were cannibals,and the area was rife with murder and disease.Is that the type of 'ancient tradition' you want to preserve?
You need to learn about what missionaries are really doing,rather than getting information from a biased website.You sitting there at your computer,calling these people's work destructive,is simply unbelievable.Maybe you should visit a few of these places and find out the truth.

Answer 5

Missionaries have done much more harm than they have good. They have gone into very destitute areas and offered food, shelter, and medicine to the people there. Then, they say, ''This is from Jesus. Believe in him and he will bring you more and more''. They convert, and the missionaries leave to go to another place. They take from these poor people their cultures, beliefs, and ways of living, for an exchange alien to them and they have lost everything of importance to them. The missionaries go, and with them go the meds, food, etc.,. But! They converted! It was not the people that mattered, but the conversions.

It would be fine if they would go in, give much needed supplies and teach the people how to provide for themselves, and leave once they are strong enough to do so. Do not take their religions, their beliefs, and their cultures away. Each people is a proud and honorable people-----let them stay that way.

Answer 6

Oh whatever! You know and I know that missionaries have brought medicine, clothing, farming and a lot of other things to foreign nations. Just because the natives decided to put on clothes and quit killing other people didn't "eradicate" their culture. You hate Christianity - talk about that and not a lot of drivel about how many lives Christianity destroyed. You know you are in charge of your own destiny - why don't you just take care of it and stop foaming at the mouth about something that makes you angry because you feel condemned - you decide - are you or are you not living a life you think is right. If you are - get a life and shut up about Christianity. No one has to prove to you what good they have accomplished - although there are many recordings of that - you wouldn't accept it. Believe as you will and be happy with it. In the end only truth will stand and if you have it - well how wonderful for you!

Answer 7

My girlfriend is a missionary and teaches children how to read and write who would otherwise not get a chance. She's been in the mission field for 10 years and never at any time have she nor her group threatened or mistreated anyone they have missioned to. She's been in places like Guana and Papau New Guinea where Athiests wont dare go and help. In Philiadelphia, where I live, right now there are missionaries here from Alabama who have set up a soup kitchen and a group "hang out" for teenagers after school so they dont have to hang in the streets and get caught up in gangs just because there's nothing else to do. I havent yet seen an atheist organization build a shelter or or open a soup kitchen.

Answer 8

I don't think I would be getting my information from a skeptics view of Christianity website.
Somehow that throws up a big red flag to me.
It does not sound like an unbiased opinion.

I have known fine missionaries who have worked tirelessly to help the natives and help them to come to Christ, giving their lives purpose.

One such incident was with Nate Saint and Jim Elliot and three other missionaries and their families.
They went into an area where the people were Canabals, and they were killed. Their wives went into the area and were able to successfully witness to them.
Now the tribal chieftan is a Christian and openly admits he had the four young men killed, and has stated his regret for his actions.

read these from wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Saint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Elliot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Elliot
also look at:
http://www.hope4russia.org/
http://aimtogo.org/

grace2u

Answer 9

You should rent the movie The End of the Spear. These people, South American Indians, were cannibalistic and lived in fear of the world until missionaries came in. And the first missionaries who went into the jungle to find them were killed by these Indians. Then a few years later the families went into the jungle because they believed thesw people could be reached for God. Now the whole tribe is Christian, they no longer live in fear, and the don't kill and eat other humans. In fact the son of one of the original missionries that got killed is now like a son to the Indian that killed his dad. The Indian is now grandfather to this man's son, even though because of him their real grandfather is dead. That is real the real love of God in action.

Yes...I do think missionaries have done actual good.

Answer 10

Well your right unfortunately many missionaries have passed on "Western Religion" and labeled Christianity.

There are many good and culturally relevant missionaries. Who take the people's native cutlure, religion, practices, and understanding. And try to relate to them based on that. They critically evaluate their culture with the teachings of Jesus. They simply ask them to follow Jesus with their understandings.

For a great book on one man who did this read Brucko. I may have mispelled this, if you are seriously interested, ADD ME to our IM.

I took a missionary anthropology class in college. And they teach missionaries to consider their native culture. They also gave many examples of missionaries who failed to do this.