Fun charity site. Learn vocab or languages and donate rice for the hungry.

Free Rice ^ | 10/18/11 | Free Rice

[Winstons Julia]

I like to brush up on vocab and also feel like a do-gooder.

[leapfrog0202]

Thanks for sharing. I posted it on my Facebook page and already have several people that are using the site!

[bigheadfred]

These are hard. They don’t seem to have any of my answers as choices.

[Winstons Julia]

There is no “special” version of this.

I like to refresh mah francais there sometimes.

I drink deeply from the font of ... internet.

[bigheadfred]

Well, when they said suicide and I said pork chops for dinner and it was wrong I just nude I was in trouble. Apparently manual doesn’t mean do it yourself, either.

[Winstons Julia]

Mush room! I steaked my claim tonight. I don’t want to leave you hanging.

[FrdmLvr]

Thanks. Very “engrossing”.

[FrdmLvr]

Thanks. Very “engrossing”.

[PieterCasparzen]

Every nation needs to be able to feed ITSELF.

No international food donations, ever.

If other nations have problems they need to fix their own problems.

[Mike Darancette]

When you get them all correct they don’t get much rice.

[Winstons Julia]

It’s not a donation. It’s paid for by your participation.

[PieterCasparzen]

For what it’s worth, my HO...

If I pay money, then I get the rice. If they want rice they need to pay for it or grow their own. There’s no free rice in life.

When Europeans first came to America and it was a “colonial backwater”, basically the “wilderness” - there was no “international aid program” that gave them free food while they floundered. They brought axes, hammers, livestock and seeds with them and when they got here, they started farming. And they’ve been so successful at farming they can easily produce enough food for Americans to have plenty of high quality inexpensive food.

Now the rest of the idiots of the world who refuse to overthrow their own tyrants, roll up their sleeves, and make a living farming are kept addicted to foreign aid.

There are only two reasons a nation starves it’s people: stupid and lazy.

Tyrants keep their people starving because they alone decide how capital is employed, they’re incompetent at doing that, and they place a very low priority on doing things right and a very high priority on simply staying in power. Anyone who has had a garden or raised a chicken knows how easy it is to farm once you understand manure and irrigation. And if you’re in an inhospitable place, with the tiniest bit of brains and quite a bit of sweat, it’s amazing how you can rig up a farming operation very cheaply. High-tech is not necessary. Billions of dollars in “loans” are not necessary. Gargantuan dams are not necessary. The Romans built aquaducts to move water hundreds of miles - without any energy needed to make the system work.

Propping up failed political regimes - those that fail in being able to keep their subjects fed, clothed and housed - is very bad for those subjects as it allows the dictators to keep their people in darkness. Dependency is one of the most alluring of tempations and powerful methods of enslavement.

What they really need is first the Bible, then inspiration to get up and git goin’, business-wise and politics-wise. Just git’er done.

There is no free lunch.

[Immerito]

And yet, Christ was willing to provide both Jew and Gentile with exactly that—a free lunch. He fed them physically and he fed them spiritually.

[Winstons Julia]

I’m a girl. I’m compassionate and enjoy challenging myself. If it feeds some people... that’s a bonus.

Have a great day.

[PieterCasparzen]

And yet, Christ was willing to provide both Jew and Gentile with exactly that—a free lunch. He fed them physically and he fed them spiritually.

Free in the sense that it was freely given and they did not merit it, yes; free in the sense that they were free to continue their old lives, unchanged, certainly no, thank God, as the true believer is to "put off the old man with his deeds", as they are "bought with a price".

[Immerito]

It was free in the sense that He did not require them to go home and feed themselves, but He fed them physically. He also gave them spiritual food, which they rejected then.

Believers are called to do both—to provide for the physical needs of others and to provide for their spiritual needs.

[PieterCasparzen]

Believers are called to do both—to provide for the physical needs of others and to provide for their spiritual needs.

Scripture tells that having the right motive in our heart is imperative:

Matthew 6

"1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."

Often there is a fascination with world travel, an attraction to making an effort that seems dramatic with the allure of what seems like an exotic locale as opposed to helping millions right here in America with enormous needs both physical and spiritual but living in circumstances quite unglamorous and familiar. Many young people romanticize about helping "poor" foreign nations and many of them are not even professing Christians, many are even atheists. The Peace Corps is an example of this. These urges mostly spring from a sense of exciting adventure coupled with being able to have a "badge of honor" that they performed wonderful altruistic works. A "community organizer" is another example.

We must ask ourselves - do we act so that our name might appear on a list of donors, that others might be impressed, that we might be proud of ourselves ? Perhaps we feel guilt which tempts us to think that we can rely on our acts to merit salvation. If we have not become completely convicted of our sin we can have difficulty in faithfully trusting in salvation by God's grace alone. Such actions will then have our earthly reward; the glory of ourselves, adoration by others, being "able to sleep at night" - but all such things are false and fleeting, of course.

What a proud and haughty nation that we, in our gravely misguided spiritual state of depravity, being on the precipice of financial collapse, would jaunt off in delusive denial of America's dire situation in a vain attempt to assuage our own guilt by making a show of helping far-off nations of millions of "starving heathens" who have "never heard the gospel".

American towns and cities are certainly chock full of millions who have heard the gospel and rejected it, as well as millions who are poor and ignorant by American standards. Moral depravity of every kind on the one hand, homes lost to foreclosure, unemployment, bankrupted from medical bills, etc., on the other. We certainly do not have to travel far down the street to find people to help both physically and spiritually.

Undoubtedly there are Americans called to carry the gospel overseas, but as a nation we have a "beam in our eye" and therefore present a "task at hand" for Christians that is of the utmost importance. If America falters it will be to our shame and there appears now to be no nation ready to take our place as a pre-eminent yet benevolent nation. IMHO...

[Immerito]

Giving in secret has nothing to do with your post #12. Kindly do not attempt to change the subject.

I believe Christ reveals, through his parable in Matthew 25, where your post is in error. Our attitude should be not. “I have mine, let them earn theirs” but, “God gave me X, therefore, because I have X, I can freely give of it—food to the hungry, clothing to the naked, etc—because God has given it to me, not to store up for myself, but to be used to serve others and lead them to Him.

[PieterCasparzen]

It’s “cool” to be a liberal and travel to far off lands and help the starving sick millions. It’s like having a tattoo or drinking the latest martini.

If I express any reservations or conditions on supporting the masses of the third world, I’m an “evil Republican”.

Young guys and girls (and aging hippies, commies, etc.) think it is the coolest thing for “the rich”, i.e., other people who have substantial means, to give.

One can donate to the starving North Koreans. Kimbo Il would send his thanks for feeding his people. And happily continue oppressing them.

International charity creates and props up dysfunctional and tryannical governments. It creates dependency on said charity. That’s not charity it’s slavery. Because Kimbo will never ever do anything to raise the standard of living of his people, provide Bibles to them, provide education for them that is not indoctrination, etc. In his own mind, perhaps he is a great ruler, but in reality, he is in way over his head. Yet he refuses to relinquish power. And he sits on a small stockpile of nuclear weapons. The more economically broke NK is, the less ability the nation has to wage war. The more the nation of NK is helped, the more bold the leader becomes, thinking that he is “winning”.

In short, the nations of the world with lower per-capita wealth and income are awash in complex problems that naive people can not solve. In fact, most efforts, even large loans by the IMF, etc., usually make things worse, as powerful thugs with armies and gangs wind up taking whatever things of value there are and running roughshod over the “little people”.

The Bible exclusively refers to charity of providing for earthly needs via two conduits: tithing to your congregation and directly to people you come across - directly - who have dire needs and are not simply tricking you out of money, but they have real needs. The Bible never speaks of responding to letters from far off places telling of some great need. There is no mention of one nation being responsible for another nation’s poor. There is no mention of being required to pay money to a charitable organization other than the church. I am reminded of the case of poor Stanley Thornton, the man who likes to play baby. He is capable of managing a website promoting his twisted thoughts, but unable to get a job. He adamantly maintains that he requires government charity and threatens to commit suicide if it is cut off.

Non-Christians and many professing Christians who are simply naive will prod others to donate to their “charities” and employ subtle twisting of Scriptural meanings to separate people from their money.

Often, people think about it for a second, wondering if the cause is legitimate, then realize that it would take far too much time and effort to really, truthfully know, and they simply click off their mind and give a little, consoling themselves in their own mind “at least I tried, I gave”. That’s the dark logical pit one can fall into - since such acts DO ABOSOLUTELY NOTHING TOWARDS GAINING SALVATION. The false charity has succeeded in playing on the person’s guilt and uncertainty of Scripture to snooker them out of some spare change. If a charity does that enough times, there is plenty of money for full-time Executive Directors and staff members - who can make a living and lull themselves to sleep at night feeling good about their self-righteousness.

The answer for the Christian who feels guilty from time to time - tithe 10% of ones gross earnings to one’s congregation. And anyone that you happen across who is in desperate need of help, help them. Perhaps it might not be money, maybe they need a car. Maybe they need job skills. A second chance start in life. But the Christian with a desire to give must learn to not become prey for people who are dangerous or destructive and remember that the first priority is bringing the Gospel to them. If a Christian spends some time walking around an inner city this issue confronts them as they need to learn who is trying to rob them, who’s looking for drug money and who is hungry.

Certainly legitimate churches have overseas missions that one can support either with effort or money. Those missions that are best, IMHO, are those that focus first on the Gospel and emergency items of mercy, as well as those that go on to try to uplift people and work towards real goals of lasting change, including political change towards civil government that embraces Christianity and rules wisely and justly, as well as promoting ingenuity and hard work. In order to support such efforts best, one should search them out instead of waiting for them to come along. Then one can fully and rightly discern what the mission is all about and confidently support it.

Then when the “thing on the internet” pops up and someone starts exhorting one go “give, give”, “what kind of Christian are you!!!”, one can politely, with no guilt whatsoever, let them know that one has already given.

[TheOldLady]

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