The difference between Christianity and Maltheism.

So The Friendly Atheist put up a post that, to my mind, clearly illustrates the difference between Christianity and Maltheism.  Or a church actually trying to do good vs. one infected by whatever this evil thing is that's going around.

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 24, verses 32-46. KJV

Your holy book.  Not mine.

 So the Merced County Rescue Mission is doing exactly what Jesus told them to do.  They're feeding the hungry.  They're feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and generally helping the least of these.  Great, awesome for them.  They are living their beliefs and I have to respect them for it.

The Central Presbyterian Church across the street has made them stop because "the least of these" are icky and kind of creepy.  And looking at their web page they don't seem to do any organized charity at all.  "Stewardship" means giving money to the church.  So not only are they not helping "the least of these" themselves they are actively attempting to prevent others from doing so.  But if you ask they will tell you they are the most perfect, loyal and loving of Christians.

Re-read the above Bible passage and draw your own conclusions.

And before anyone says "well, what about you?".  A)  Not my god, not my holy book and B) I work the annual fundraiser for the local charity hospital every year, knit winter things for homeless LGBT youth and donate to the annual CASA angel tree.  It might not be much but it's better than the nothing some churches apparently do.

/rant

I'll update life in general later/tomorrow.

______

Edit:  Turns out I was at least somewhat wrong.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/10/10/church-that-complained-about-homeless-shelters-food-giveaway-now-says-theres-more-to-the-story/

Yesterday, I heard from someone who works closely with the church and has first-hand knowledge of this situation — he asked that I not use his name in this post — and he went into some detail about what actually happened.

This is not an official church statement.  Just pointing that out.

...we have 3 of our members who currently serve on their Board of Directors along with members who volunteer at the Mission. In addition, we donate significant financial support each year, we own the building they are housed in and make it available to them at no cost (we originally acquired it by paying off a sizable debt the Mission owed on the property to relieve them of their oppressive financial burden), we host bible studies and recovery programs for the Mission’s residents, and are involved/committed in a host of other ways the people of Central Presbyterian Church are passionate about.

Okay.  People from the church volunteer there, and they own the building.

We did have a team meet with their Board of Directors recently to request that they relocate the feeding program as it posed a health and safety risk not simply to our “young families with children,” but for residents of the surrounding community (many of whom have no connection to our church) who’d expressed concern.

<snip>

The current program not a typical Rescue Mission setting where folks can sit down, get a hot meal, and interact with caring volunteers. It’s a window that they pass food out of and folks congregate in the alleyways and on the street — at times publicly urinating, defecating, or even fully undressing on the sidewalks. We have had numerous instances of having to clean up human feces around our property on a regular basis. In addition, food and trash gets strewn about the streets of downtown Merced as recipients of the food wantonly discard the stuff they don’t wish to eat.

<snip>

We were simply asking for the Mission to approach this vitally important activity in a manner that better contributed to the overall wellbeing of the entire Merced Community. We suggested a mobile distribution approach where food would be prepared in the Mission’s kitchen and then taken around to various points throughout the city where many people experiencing homelessness tend to hang out. Some of our members offered financial support, logistical support with city government officials, and one even offered to use his transportation company’s vans to help with the distribution FREE OF CHARGE! The City of Merced refused to permit such an operation without having the vans be certified by the Health Department in a manner similar to the rigorous standards imposed on restaurants and food trucks. In short, we are working with the Rescue Mission and the City of Merced to achieve a more equitable means of feeding Merced’s hungry.

Then why not renovate the building?  Add a real kitchen and dining room?  Which would take time and money, yes, but then they could say that a food truck is a stopgap measure while they were working on the renovations.  It sounds like they didn't even suggest that as an option here.

Also, residents but not a dining hall?  What's up with that?

Seriously, while those who use the world as a toilet are unpleasant and  more than a little disgusting, they are still "the least of these".  The net effect is still to try to get those "least" away over there somewhere.

And church organized charity is still not mentioned anywhere on their website or in their calendar.

As individuals it sounds like they're not horribly hypocritical, which is a good thing and I commend their efforts.  But their church as an organization still hasn't convinced me that it's doing it's best to follow the philosophy it claims to be built upon.