Charitable Giving

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by Legs

[seebs]

My interest has been people who are right on the edge of poverty, usually due to abuses by people like "payday loan" companies or the exorbitant fees that banks charge for "overdrafts".

e.g., a friend of mine recently wrote a $21 check on an account containing $18. And was charged $36 for the "service" of clearing the check, etcetera.

So I give people a few hundred bucks to get out of that loop, stop sacrificing hundreds of bucks a month to those fees, and so on -- and they end up pretty much fine after a couple of months.

[Legs]

Originally Posted by mickthinks

No one is boasting, stop trying to turn a discussion of doing good for others into a shitfest. Save it for a deserving topic.

[ShottleBop]

Someone who won't be getting a donation from me:

Fed up with the ACLU? Your support for a new $100,000 Matching Grant will help stop its attacks on your values!

Dear Friend,

My name is Alan Sears.

I am president of a unique legal alliance called the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), and I am writing to ask you to help defend our faith and freedoms in courtrooms across America.

. . .

Why should you support ADF? Let me ask you a few questions.

Are you tired of the ACLU telling Christian students they can't publicly say a prayer at their high school graduation?

Have you had it with the ACLU aiding activitists to go to public schools and tell little kids that homosexual behavior is not only okay, but good--and that two men living together is a "family"?

Are you angry that court-approved abortion continues to kill more than a million babies every year in this country?

Are you just plain heartsick that our country has become so secular?

Yes? I am, and so were the 35 Christian leaders who launched ADF 15 years ago.

Frankly, they were fed up with the Amrican Civil Liberties Union's and other leftist groups' efforts to suppress people like you and me to achieve their goal of making America a completely secular nation.

And do these outstanding leaders--including Dr. James Dobson, the late Dr. Bill Bright, the late Larry Burkett, the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, and others--took strong action to stop the ACLU.

. . .

If you're fed up with the ACLU,, take heart! By God's grace it has met its match. . . .

And when you contribute, you will feel good knowing you're doing something very effective to help stop America's tragic drift away from its roots.

You see, the ACLU was created nearly 90 years ago for the express purpose of driving virtually all public Christian influence out of America's public square. . . .

The ACLU is passionate about suppressing people like you and me, who want nothing more than to be free to live out our faith and who are willing to stand up for Our First Liberty--religious freedom.

And we will lose that freedom if we don't stop the ACLU and its allies!

These groups--Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Planned Parenthood, and many others--share the ACLU's objectives: to suppress Christians' rights to hear and speak the Truth and to limit Christian influence in our country.

. . . etc., etc., etc.

No idea how I made it onto their mailing list.

[ShottleBop]

Right on, seebs!

Maimonides, often called by his acronym RaMBaM (Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon), was a 12th century Jewish scholar and physician. Rambam wrote a code of Jewish law, the Mishnah Torah, based on the Rabbinic oral tradition.

Rambam organized the different levels of tzedakah (charity) into a list from the least to the most honorable.

8. When donations are given grudgingly.

7. When one gives less than he should, but does so cheerfully.

6. When one gives directly to the poor upon being asked.

5. When one gives directly to the poor without being asked.

4. When the recipient is aware of the donor's identity, but the donor does not know the identity of the recipient.

3. When the donor is aware of the recipient's identity, but the recipient is unaware of the source.

2. When the donor and recipient are unknown to each other.

1. The highest form of charity is to help sustain a person before they become impoverished by offering a substantial gift in a dignified manner, or by extending a suitable loan, or by helping them find employment or establish themselves in business so as to make it unnecessary for them to become dependent on others.

[godfry n. glad]

Lessee....

Nature Conservancy...
Cascade AIDS Project
Bradley Angle House
Hostelling International
Freedom From Religion Foundation
ACLU
Freethought Forum
Greater Portland Iris Society/American Iris Society

I also donate time to my neighborhood association, city parks, and to education on tree care as part of the city's urban forestry program.

I suspect my next donation will be in the direction of something like helping re-establish the 4-H programs for urban kids in the metropolitan area.

[Qingdai]

I like Bradley Angle house, they not only are a women's and children's shelter, they have counseling for women to avoid abusive relationships.

[godfry n. glad]

That's why they get my donations.

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by Legs

No one is boasting...

LOL It's a "Post your boast" thread.

[Jerome]

Great post ShottleBop!

[Dingfod]

I give to United Way, even though some of the money goes to Boy Scouts and Salvation Army. Habitat for Humanity is a worthy cause, especially for those who can only give unskilled labor. Volunteering to feed the homeless is a worthwhile endeavor.

And, of course, I give to Nuke the Gay Baby Whales for Jesus regularly.

[Qingdai]

Originally Posted by mickthinks

LOL It's a "Post your boast" thread.

Only you would be uncharitable about being charitable about charities.

[mickthinks]

I'm not uncharitable about giving, but I think boasting is unattractive.

[Watser?]

Ok guys, we lost another thread...

[mickthinks]

LOL Thought about changing the tactics by which you guys 'defend' them? (I thought you'd fixed it not to see my posts, dude )

[lisarea]

Nobody here is bragging.

But even if they were, so what? Nobody seems to care much whether you think it's 'unattractive' or not. What kind of objection is that, anyway? Do you honestly think anyone is going to model their behaviors so that you will find them more attractive?

You're just some dumb internet persona who fancies yourself some kind of contrarian maverick (AKA a sexy truthteller). It's a dull, adolescent schtick, and it gets tedious seeing you try to interject your stupid little routine into as many different threads as you can.

[ShottleBop]

When the only tool you have is a hammer . . .

[seebs]

Mick, it's one thing to suck at reading people. It's another entirely to get devoted to the idea that you have some kind of secret magic power of knowing the truth and that everyone else is lying.

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by lisarea

Nobody here is bragging.

I think some are.

Nobody seems to care much whether you think it's 'unattractive' or not.
Hmmm... Only those who are taking issue with me for saying so like Legs, Qingdai, and now you and seebs.

Do you honestly think anyone is going to model their behaviors so that you will find them more attractive?
I honestly think they might. Why not?

... and it gets tedious seeing you try to interject your stupid little routine into as many different threads as you can.
LOL That complaint doesn't sound at all adolescent. No sir!

Originally Posted by seebs

Mick, it's one thing to suck at reading people. It's another entirely to get devoted to the idea that you have some kind of secret magic power of knowing the truth and that everyone else is lying.

Recognising the truth when you see it is hardly magical, seebs. I think boasting about your charitable giving is unattractive. What's "everyone else is lying" got to do with it?

Originally Posted by mickthinks

Anyone else think it's unattractive to boast about your charitable giving, or is it just me?

Well, is it just me?

[Watser?]

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by Watser?

Watser? dies ignoring a fire...

[wildernesse]

mick, you've yet to give anyone a convincing reason why we should care what you think.

[mickthinks]

Dear wildernesse

You aren't required to care what I think.

btw, why did you post?

Love Mick

[Adam]

Originally Posted by lisarea

(AKA a sexy truthteller)

Awesome.

[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by Watser?

Ok guys, we lost another thread...

Whut?

All I see is a few roadkill.

I'm just amazed that you people continue to buy into his bullshit.
I don't care about what he thinks or has to say, so I ignore him.
It's that easy. This whole thread could have gone on without a
huge fucking discussion over why this particular poster, whose
opinions and methods fail to vary much at all, happens to dislike
this thread...If everyone had ignored the troll comment.

I did like the 'sexy truthteller', that's spot on. But, that's about the
extent of useful conversation (from my persective) since this particular
poster shot off his virtual mouth.

On the other side of the equation, people, are those who feed it...
by responding.