Gents.....great discussion! The quandry I have always wrestled with is how far to intrude into a person's or culture's beliefs in any sort of charitable or evangelistic endeavor. I have some ancestral relatives that were missionaries in China in the 20s and 30s and have always wondered what their personalities and levels of influence were towards the local people. I trust it was effective altruistic relationships.
It is hard to say. The interesting thing is that there is a recognition now that we might have intruded in the past. And many have tried to engage in a more respectful and meaningful way in more recent times. That is contrasted with this new movement that claims to know what is best for everybody. Loving people is very difficult and many of the people of the 20's and 30's brought medical care and food and lots of good things to the people there. They certainly did so imperfectly, which is the nature of the case. That is probably why we shouldn't make grand claims about what is altruistic on a grand scale - because we are probably making mistakes, because humility is in order, because we don't want to violate the humanity of others. On the other hand, doing nothing isn't an option either (at least according to Jesus). So all we have is moving forward imperfectly and with humility.
Gents.....great discussion! The quandry I have always wrestled with is how far to intrude into a person's or culture's beliefs in any sort of charitable or evangelistic endeavor. I have some ancestral relatives that were missionaries in China in the 20s and 30s and have always wondered what their personalities and levels of influence were towards the local people. I trust it was effective altruistic relationships.
It is hard to say. The interesting thing is that there is a recognition now that we might have intruded in the past. And many have tried to engage in a more respectful and meaningful way in more recent times. That is contrasted with this new movement that claims to know what is best for everybody. Loving people is very difficult and many of the people of the 20's and 30's brought medical care and food and lots of good things to the people there. They certainly did so imperfectly, which is the nature of the case. That is probably why we shouldn't make grand claims about what is altruistic on a grand scale - because we are probably making mistakes, because humility is in order, because we don't want to violate the humanity of others. On the other hand, doing nothing isn't an option either (at least according to Jesus). So all we have is moving forward imperfectly and with humility.