The Muslims will call for his beheading.

The Christians? I think they will take it lying down.

We seek out altruistic people to work with. One such group is:
http://www.riverkidsproject.org/
They wear their heart on their sleeves and are utterly transparent in their dealing.

Another is on the Thai-Myanmar border too busy trying to save as many as possible with their very limited resources. They live very similar to their charges in the new “temporary shanty town,” with imperceptive different shack and dress like their charges – sarong and T-shirt.

They render help without any precondition nor do they impose their religious beliefs. They only discuss after being badgered to do so by their charges.

They are just a silent beacon of light and hope in a sea of darkness and despair.

They did not seek our help or assistance but their hospitality was tremendous and gracious.

Like these partners, we do our due diligence on site and also try to be silent and quiet when we extend our help.

Religious conversion is not a kpi for our partners or us, delivery of hope and help is.

If we set Jesus’s example against the history of Christian missionary work, there’s a lot not to be proud about. I hope that we are at least learning.

Ultimately the free will of the individual must be preserved, I believe that it is God’s intention for the intelligent life He created to self-determinate.

That can be tough if you are contacting a culture a lot pooer then you. Your attempts to help can be construed as manipulation.

My take? If you want to reach out to a culture you need to UNDERSTAND their ways first before presenting yours. That is only fair. A good note to take would be from Jesus himself and how he interacted with the woman at the well who quite obviously, had different ideas then him.

Unfortunately the Christian creed is not exactly one that allows its adherence to leave the world alone… if you believe that souls are in inherent danger, inaction would be immoral and wrong. HOWEVER, that does not justify acting in ignorant and insensitive ways.

Given an example in the documentary. You have a village that is functioning perfectly fine, primitive perhaps, but perfectly fine.

Given that you know that the village practice pagan religion and that they are resistance to conversion. Would you still insist on building a school, and conducting bible classes to educate and convert the young ones?

Knowing that it is inevitable that this will eventually lead to friction between the young ones with their parents?

Is spiritual salvation sufficient justification for material disharmony?

Where do you draw the line?

It’s Ok to spar….but don’t even hit below the belt!

I don’t see the need to like pull up the sedition act to ban stuff just because it seems to be “threatening”. That is a sign of insecurity.

If one believes that what his beliefs are the truth, one should not be afraid to bring them out to the world so that they will be tested against reality. If they are true they will hold.

Nobody said you could nor critique their beliefs or worldview, but you jolly well know what you are talking about before you speak. It’s one thing to say idols are worthless, but you owe the person who believes in them a reason as to why you think they are worthless, and be willing to discuss on a fair and level ground.

That’s the problem I do feel that infects a lot of us Christians today? We want others to listen to us on OUR terms, but we are less willing to listen to others on more level ground.

People like C.S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton had their convictions, they spoke their mind on what they felt on other creeds… but at no one point were were ever dismissive or ignorant of the claims of the creeds they critiqued.

I wonder if anti-intellectualism is one of the issues facing Christianity in Singapore… as in we’ve forgetten that the Christian ought to love the Lord with his mind as well, and that means cultivating ones mind to be sharp on these matters to properly further His will… nowadays it seems the habit is just to take a general impression from the pulpit and run along carelessly with it.

Surely this is a not uniquely Christian preserve – happens with missionaries of all the persuasions who have not been well vetted or adequately trained.

Often these organizations operated by “professionals” – people who are motivated by money and honey not altruism.

How would a chicken ever convince anyone of their authenticity when they quack and waddle like a duck despite their ability to crow extremely well.