You do have a point. I'll have to be posting more of my female escapades so that they know we are all studmuffins.

Probably not what you meant, haha.

Anyway, now that the side dispute as been settled, where is Axis?

I hate one of you.

there was absolutely no point in that.

Well he said he hated one of us...

and then that made me think of that

And I mean we were talking about insults

and it just kind of flowed.

In mah head.

You know how it goes.

Son of Zeus Spook, no one understands our relationship.

Promote literacy? I'd do my research as to what that actually goes to before I donate there. It'd be really disappointing to have your money fuel some stupid revolutionary gorilla wackos, or line the pockets of corrupt officials.

I'LL BET I KNOW WHO ELSE THOUGHT THE SPREAD OF RELIGION WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE ABILITY TO OBTAIN KNOWLEDGE!

Guerrilla not gorilla. unless you think giant apes have something to do with revolutions.

I mean, it's kind of hilarious you put "gorilla" instead of "guerrilla" in a post lambasting efforts to promote literacy.

Home schooling. lolololololololololololololololololol

Oh little wise one, you must have missed this:

I have to admit that is kind of funny but, to be fair, quite a few of us inadvertantly use the wrong homonym even when we know the right one. I hate it when I do that. It's like I get caught up in the phonetics and then don't catch the error. It's even worse when you decide to reformulate a sentence in the middle of typing it and then don't go back far enough to properly edit it.

I was talking about Obi.

Yeah, but you said "who else". So while you talking about Obi, I inferred that you were referencing me. Damn you, just say something insulting to me! You know you want to!

Uneducated, Christain oaf.

If I remember correctly, Wookie isn't Christian (or "Christain").

Are you kidding me? He's basically the embodiment of every Christian rightwing nutjob stereotype. If he isn't Christian I'll be extremely surprised.

I have stated several times over the years here that I am not religious. So, to say more about that than I have in the past, I would say that I lean towards Christianity. I don't like to say that I'm not Christian because I'm not sure if I am or not. My hesitation stems from the same qualities that made me realize I'm conservative. I've always believed in the power of the individual so when I hear that no matter how good of person you are unless you believe in a certain religion you go to hell, I have a problem accepting that.

And you're basically the embodiment of every annoying atheist left wing nutjob college student, right?

Except you're not really. I had a point but your post made it leak out of my head.

Yeah, but the little **** can grow a decent beard. I hate him.

If i remember right freelancer doesnt like college. >__>

Which makes him a hippy. Like me.

The group that intends to plant churches in Japan will use the money for initial start-up costs of getting the team to Japan, housing, etc. $500 is a real drop in a bucket compared to the costs the team is looking at to start any kind of church in Japan.
The literacy for Honduras group is trying to build a library in an area that does not currently have a library. The money will go towards the cost of constructing the library, and furnishing it with books.

There's a certain level of moral darkness in the world. Any faith that reduces corruption, and encourages philanthropy while having a positive effect on the community seems good to me.
Whether people are living in grass huts, or high rise apartments, they have emotional/spiritual/physical needs.
Japan may have money and literacy, but those things don't stop suicides or mend broken lives and families, do they?

Do I want people to know how to read? Absolutely.
Do I wish there were more faithful Christians in Japan? Yes.

It would seem wrong to overlook the positive effects something like Christianity can have on a community,though. Not that literacy is unimportant!

Well said. Thanks for coming in with more info. That's very helpful but it doesn't help me make a choice because they both seem noble. Also seems like a drop in the bucket for both. Of course I know they aren't expecting to pay for the projects with $500, they're just raising money. Are they the only groups competing?

No, not well said. He (you, Axis) just said that "while building a Library in an area that doesn't have them is nice, it doesn't fix broken homes in a region that has money and resources to deal with these things on their own." I'm sorry, yes, I'm a vocal atheist, but this really has nothing to do with christianity. If your group was trying to build a church in Honduras instead of Japan, I might actually have to weigh out the good a library can bring to a local Honduran community with the good a church can. And yes, this is me saying that churches can bring good to communities. But you're trying to "bring good" to Japan, which is a nation that really doesn't need it. Not only have they been exposed to far more peaceful religions, but they have access to the teachings of Christ there, it's readily available to the majority of the public, and yet there are still people doing wrong things there. Your money will be thrown down the drain there. That $500 could actually educate a group of people in Honduras though, a region where they don't exactly have access to books in general.

I respect your opinion but I don't equate building a library with educating people. If their project was to build a school to educate people then I would see it more the way you describe. And we have no idea what type of areas the churches are planned for in Japan. I wouldn't be surprised if there are poor areas with high crime rates that could benefit from the morality a church could bring. Be that as it may, I have commented enough. I'll slide to the side for awhile.

Right, I do equate building a library with at the very least providing the populous with material to read/learn from. But, you are right, I should ask: Axis, what region of the very wealthy nation of Japan is your group/congregation/youth-whatever planning to build said church? I can't say that the $500 of whatever money would do more for the poor country than the rich country until you answer this.

Japan is a first world country with an ever growing Christian church. Honduras is a sickeningly poor country with little to no social education. Seriously, Axis.

And I'm really not sure what your image of Japan actually is. Are you mistaking Japan with China?

And it's kind of funny that you think that an exhortation to verify the legitimacy of the charity (a very real concern, BTW) so that you don't hurt the people you are trying to help, is lambasting efforts to promote literacy.

But I forgot- imperfect spelling on the internet is worse than deliberately misinterpreting what people say as an excuse to bash them.

As far as charity in South America goes, Hati needs all the help it can get. Those people have it really rough.

Haiti is located on an island in the Caribbean (some miles from South America).

You're sick in the head.

They've got you on strings, and it's kinda sad. But I bet if you have children atleast they might see through the BS.

Ok, why don't we compromise here. build a church in Honduras! honestly, it would probably do more good than just building a library.

I'm surprised at how few of you acknowledged that literacy programs are very often tied in with planting churches and missionary work in general. granted... i think there are better places to do this than japan.

What good is your book if you can't read it?

Oooh! More nit-picking! Obviously I thought Hatti was on the continent because no one would ever refer to South America as the southern portion of the hemisphere known as the Americas.

Get off your high horse. Or maybe you can misconstrue anther technicality to prove that I'm stupid.

Why do that when you do all the work for us?

We don't really need to do that for you.

Hey it's just like digg!

Building a church in Japan will accomplish nothing. The religion is already available to them. What good will a church do when nobody is going to attend it? If you want to convert Japanese people to Christianity you need to take a more proactive and cost-effective approach. You need to take to the streets and teach people the word of god. Although that won't accomplish anything, either, because the Japanese people look down upon western ideals with the exception of branding and consumerism.

The same thing applies to building a library in Honduras. To illiterate Hondurans, a book is as good as toilet paper. If you aren't building a school beside that library you might as well not even bother.

You're one messed up kid and whoever came up with this project is a stupid sadist.

That and considering how many here on Massassi feel about religion, its pretty obvious whats going to win out. Don't get me wrong, I'm a religious person and I would choose the literacy in Honduras if I had to choose between the two, but Massassi is so biased towards one of the choices that its not even necessary to put up a poll to know what everyones gonna choose.