Giving during the holiday season

It's already time for the bell ringing to start. Pretty early this year. Do you give to the Salvation Army or other faith based charities? Do you not? If you don't do you have a specific reason or just refuse to give to Christian charities? Do you make an effort to give to secular charities? 

How much time do you spend researching a charity before giving. How many of you just give to gofundme's without some background on the cause or person. 

No. I usually just give food to the food bank.This year i am thinking about donating food to the buddhist monastary near me. I am waiting for pepperjack cheese to go on sale, because that's a favorite,along with nuts and dried fruit. 

I give to a food bank run and organised by volunteers. I wouldn't give to a religious charity if my life depended upon it.

They just love their observatories and telescopes costing ££££ billions all donated by parishioners who are in fear of going to hell.

The vatican's latest new baby is called

L.U.C.I.F.E.R.
“L.U.C.I.F.E.R., which stands for “Large Binocular Telescope Near-infrared Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research,” is a chilled instrument attached to a telescope in Arizona. And yes, it’s named for the Devil, whose name itself means “morning star” [and which] happens to be right next to the Vatican Observatory on Mt. Graham in Tucson”.
Built on sacred Indian Burial ground the LBT observing instruments split into single beam instruments receiving light from one primary mirror only, and instruments combining the beams of the two mirrors while conserving their phase relation (interferometers). Each of the two telescopes is equipped with three single beam instruments: a prime focus camera, an optical spectrograph (MODS), and a near-infrared instrument (LUCI, formerly LUCIFER).
The 1.8 meter Alice P. Lennon Telescope and its Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility, known together as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), is a Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared which achieved ‘first light’, the first starlight to pass through the telescope onto a detector, in 1993.
VATT is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory situated on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona, and is operated by the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, in partnership with The University of Arizona.

 One has to wonder, that considering everything is supposed in gods hands and all going to his plan, what is it they  believe they are doing peering into god's own living room. Still I suppose it went some way to pardoning Galileo eventually in 1992!!!  took them long enough didn't it? 

That's a shame, because by in large, Christian charities are actually the ones who are going out and feeding people.

Year round.

Don't believe me?

Give up everything and wander the streets for a time, you will see who is actually doing the work.

The only food banks in my area are run by the county. 

I will drop into the red kettle in one county but not the other. Salvation Armies are local. I give to the one here because it has the only homeless shelter in the area. They will let homosexuals stay but not in the same room even if married. Some don't even do that. I also give to the local veteran group not a national one because the need for counseling increases during the holidays. . Most of the food banks are church run along with the soup kitchens. I give to a veterans Heathen group this time of year to that gives altar supplies to those serving overseas in the military. Also any coat drives done by local media. 

That's a cool idea. They would probably like that. 

Copy that ten four. 

Taking note. A credit if you will +1. 

For the charitable work your " organizations " do.

A quick score update. 

Religion:  FOR  5 

Religion:  AGAINST 4890578336793190742114589754697838624315395059353153656372990335778432198385490865246790065421567.7

Good game.

Good game.

The Red Cross hasn't been religious in a long time. Do some research. 

I didn't say it had. I said :

"Governments of the western world give billions too from the taxes of people's hard earned take home pay. The Red Cross springs to mind".  In other words The red cross depends on GOVERNMENT MONEY RAISED BY TAXES of the people. Get it now, poly?

The Red Cross is paid for by taxes. Not church charities. That was my point. Church/ christian charities are nothing extra special just because donations come from the church to aid and assist the needy. 

Non profits get tax breaks. All non profits. 

Christianity, the first religion of Lucifer (Islam is the second), teaches us to give to suicidal degrees such that we end up impoverished ourselves with no one left to give to us.

This is not to say that Lucifer was wrong in his ideals, perhaps communism really is the end-goal but when you sacrifice everything in this life in exchange for eternal bliss that you have 0% evidence of, one must simply question what system of reasoning you use when gambling on the righteous path in life.

Give what you can live without, let it be beyond that. Suffering is suffering and you owe the suffering zilch lest you were the one to initiate said misfortune.

Be wise who you give to. Even the book of Lucifer says so.

They do. I think a lot of charities get tax breaks. So. What is your point.. 

Charities are non profits. You seem really confused. They get tax breaks and some tax money but they also run on donations. PBS being a great example of all three working to the benefit of all. You hate PBS too? 

I can think of at least 2 churches that feed hundreds every weekday, 4 that feed hundreds every weekend, many others who walk around with wagons and food, several clothing closets, and likely a great. deal I am missing... right here in the city I live in.

I found this to be the case in most major cities in The United States with few exception, and even then not a totally absent presence, Christian organizations doing this.

There is a food bank as well in my city, and it tends to operate out of church pantries. 

The Christians in my city help the homeless, low incomes, single mothers, orphans, etc.

The work is getting done.

The point I am trying to make is that the vast majority of real charitable organizations I know of that I can actually see doing these things are Christian.

That isn't to say there aren't ones that aren't. There is a particular charity in my area that has done a great deal of good for kids living on the street that is not a religious organization. There are a lot of people who work in that organization that do so because they are Christian though.

Doing these type of works are buikt into the Christian faith. There are some protestants that incorrectly believe that you are saved only by faith, but it is well understood in Orthodoxy that faith and works are inseperable from eachother. Not that we are saved by works, there are no works that will save you, but that if you have faith the works come naturally.

I feel very compelled to do good for the homeless and disadvantaged, and it is not a certain time of year for me, it is an all year thing. There are many who come to volunteer and help around thanksgiving and Christmas, but there are 10 other months of the year, and loving people is more than a quick conversation and a gift.. it's an ongoing relationship. 

And that is what Christians are supposed to do. Love people. Help people. Not because they deserve it, in fact, no one deserves it, but out of love. I say this because wicked entitled people like to accuse Christians and guilt them into giving. Charity dooes not come from guilt, it comes from love, and charity by nature is not an entitlement.

It's for this reason I would love to build a pagan organization that did local charity. Problem is most pagan faiths have no unifying principles or places of worship. It would be a job I don't have time for now. Maybe when I retire. 

I am not a Roman Catholic. My church excommunicated the Roman Catholics almost a thousand years ago.

My church has been persecuted by the Roman Catholics.

And we know the truth, that they broke away from us, not the other way around as they would have you believe.

But everytime you accuse my people of evil because how our persecuters have behaved, you are adding to the fire that my people are chucked into.

Only in the last century, over 20 million Orthodox Christians have been martyred for their faith. We do not call crusades, we are at the whim of the evil forces of this world that even deceive you.

That is why we pray unto God, Forfive them, they know not what they are doing. And that is why we happily go to the grave for our faith, because we know where we are going, and our love is such, that we lay down our life for our friends. 

I am not a Roman Catholic. They have altered the faith, and are not Orthodox.

Maybe you would be better off not attaching paganism to your charity.

There is actually a secular humanist charity in my area. They go out once a month and hand out food and coffee to homeless people. You know where they do it? At a big gathering organized by Christians.

Charity work is built into Christianity. 

Not because feeding people is the religion, but because the love of Christ makes this a real pressing issue of the heart.

I didn't say you are but I see AGAIN that you have completely missed the title of this thread and continued on your glorious path of fawning christian sycophantic propaganda without a single thought for the op. 

You just cannot help yourself can you.

I have no use for secular humanist or people who think only Christians are moral. Same coin. 

Godliness with contentment is great gain.

If your happiness is contingent on the vanities of this world, you do not have real happiness. 

Nobody I know teaches that only Christians are moral.

Please give what you can

I volunteer at a Christian church during their charity events and holiday giveaways, which are surprisingly exhausting to organize and complete, and wipe me out every time. In a good way. In rural areas such as mine many people depend on Christian charity.

I don't give to charities and foundations bc i don't really trust them. I'm sure there are honest ones out there... but, i don't really trust what they are doing with the money i give them. 

I usually give to gofundme's. I search them and give to people that i really feel for and think are genuine. It's better bc it's more personal and i know exactly who i am giving my money too. I've lost count to how much money i've donated on gofundme's. The Las Vegas shooting was probably the most i've given to one event. I gave 50 dollars to each victim. A little more to one bc it was a mom and dad that both died leaving behind like 4 or 5 kids. I gave them 100 and wish i could have given more. If it brings a tear to my heart... i will give on gofundme.