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Animalcharities: Using Common Sense and Caution
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All charities might be good, but they are not created equal. We should always do everything possible, of course, to support the environment and the biosphere. But, for most of us, money for charity can be extremely, even severely, limited. So, we must use caution and make very careful, thoughtful, and considered choices.
A species might look "cute" from a distance, as is the case with some polar bears or wolves (two of the most popular recent animalcharities). But these creatures might be, in the wild, lethal to human beings and to all other life-forms, especially if they are carnivores.
Do carnivores have the right to exist in peace, undisturbed by human beings? Of course they do, and we should always insist that they have the right to be, as nature itself teaches us. Yet on a planet such as ours, where many other creatures (baby seals, for example) are suffering and dying, and where creatures (such as monkeys) are dying horrible deaths in "scientific" experiments, we can be excused if we prioritize our very scarce dollars to support these creatures before we support the others. Also, and let us never forget this, the most important charities of all include human beings exactly like you and me, who will surely starve if not given aid of some kind. Due to the very nature of things, we think that human charities should come first.
So, when distributing those scarce dollars, let us be careful not to do so carelessly. Let us take our time, think about it, and prioritize. Let us put human beings first, and after them, the most sentient (and harmless) of creatures, including whales, dolphins, monkeys, apes, simians; then, llamas, horses, etc.
Since we are the people of Love, we want to exercise Love in our support of charities as well. There are, of course, no "hard and fast" laws, but these are just some simple suggestions that you might wish to consider.
Love,
the staff of Love Ministries USA
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Monday, October 20, 2008
Saturday, July 05, 2008
The Poorest People in the World
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We are thrilled, excited and delighted, to report that our first fundrive for the poorest people on our poor little planet is being successful, blessed by God (Love). We have gathered, so far, from friends, buds, pals, students, clients, and neighbors, five hundred dollars, to be divided among Love Ministries of India, Love Ministries of Kenya, Love Ministries of Pakistan, Love Ministries of Tanzania, and Love Ministries of Uganda. We are still seeking donations, as small as three dollars.
This note is simply a friendly-- and, we hope, unintrusive-- note of thanks for those who so kindly, so generously, provided donations for our sisters and brothers, many of whom are on the verge of starvation, having lost home and hope due to the greed of warfare and commerce.
In the second round of donations, we have received the following:
Anonymous $200
Chris Finer $25
friend from Portsmouth, NH $25
lmiusa $25
Cathy Moulton-Posey $25
_____________________________________________________
Total 070308: $300
Please be aware that your giving has resulted in blessings that are, and will be, everlasting, following you long after this tiny life!:) And again and again, thanks to you for this thoughtfulness towards strangers; every penny of your donations will go straight to the people in greatest need.
If you would like to contribute to this most worthy cause (We know of no greater need), please fill out a check to Love Ministries, and send to:
Love Ministries
5100 Liberty-Fairfield Rd.
Hamilton, OH 45011
Anything that you can spare is welcome. We are accepting donations of as little as three dollars.:)
Love,
the staff of Love Ministries USA
We are thrilled, excited and delighted, to report that our first fundrive for the poorest people on our poor little planet is being successful, blessed by God (Love). We have gathered, so far, from friends, buds, pals, students, clients, and neighbors, five hundred dollars, to be divided among Love Ministries of India, Love Ministries of Kenya, Love Ministries of Pakistan, Love Ministries of Tanzania, and Love Ministries of Uganda. We are still seeking donations, as small as three dollars.
This note is simply a friendly-- and, we hope, unintrusive-- note of thanks for those who so kindly, so generously, provided donations for our sisters and brothers, many of whom are on the verge of starvation, having lost home and hope due to the greed of warfare and commerce.
In the second round of donations, we have received the following:
Anonymous $200
Chris Finer $25
friend from Portsmouth, NH $25
lmiusa $25
Cathy Moulton-Posey $25
_____________________________________________________
Total 070308: $300
Please be aware that your giving has resulted in blessings that are, and will be, everlasting, following you long after this tiny life!:) And again and again, thanks to you for this thoughtfulness towards strangers; every penny of your donations will go straight to the people in greatest need.
If you would like to contribute to this most worthy cause (We know of no greater need), please fill out a check to Love Ministries, and send to:
Love Ministries
5100 Liberty-Fairfield Rd.
Hamilton, OH 45011
Anything that you can spare is welcome. We are accepting donations of as little as three dollars.:)
Love,
the staff of Love Ministries USA
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Poorest People in the World
*******
We are thrilled, excited and delighted, to report that our first fundrive for the poorest people on our poor little planet is being successful, blessed by God (Love). We have gathered, so far, from friends, buds, pals, students, clients, and neighbors, five hundred dollars, to be divided among Love Ministries of India, Love Ministries of Kenya, Love Ministries of Pakistan, Love Ministries of Tanzania, and Love Ministries of Uganda. We are still seeking donations, as small as three dollars.
This note is simpply a friendly-- and, we hope, unintrusive-- note of thanks for those who so kindly, so generously, provided donations for our sisters and brothers, many of whom are on the verge of starvation, having lost home and hope due to the greed of warfare and commerce.
Please be aware that your giving has resulted in blessings that are, and will be, everlasting, following you long after this tiny life!:) And again and again, thanks to you for this thoughtfulness towards strangers; every penny of your donations will go straight to the people in greatest need.
If you would like to contribute to this most worthy cause (We know of no greater need), please fill out a check to Love Ministries, and send to:
Love Ministries
5100 Liberty-Fairfield Rd.
Hamilton, OH 45011
*******
We are thrilled, excited and delighted, to report that our first fundrive for the poorest people on our poor little planet is being successful, blessed by God (Love). We have gathered, so far, from friends, buds, pals, students, clients, and neighbors, five hundred dollars, to be divided among Love Ministries of India, Love Ministries of Kenya, Love Ministries of Pakistan, Love Ministries of Tanzania, and Love Ministries of Uganda. We are still seeking donations, as small as three dollars.
This note is simpply a friendly-- and, we hope, unintrusive-- note of thanks for those who so kindly, so generously, provided donations for our sisters and brothers, many of whom are on the verge of starvation, having lost home and hope due to the greed of warfare and commerce.
Please be aware that your giving has resulted in blessings that are, and will be, everlasting, following you long after this tiny life!:) And again and again, thanks to you for this thoughtfulness towards strangers; every penny of your donations will go straight to the people in greatest need.
If you would like to contribute to this most worthy cause (We know of no greater need), please fill out a check to Love Ministries, and send to:
Love Ministries
5100 Liberty-Fairfield Rd.
Hamilton, OH 45011
*******
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Giving to Charity with Wisdom
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We think you very wise to seek out small, and more honorable and honest, charities. We also try to do the same. There was a time, a few years ago, when we just gave to every telephone-solicitor who called. Ten bucks here, fifteen there, even these tiny donations added up! Happily, before going broke, we wised up a little. Now, with every call, our first question is, "What percentage of any donation goes for administration?" We have been stunned to learn that it is often as high as eighty percent! So, out of ten dollars, only two actually go to the needy, and the rest goes for office-rental, telephones, and salaries of solicitors, etc. While we do love charities, we cannot afford to "support" the vast business-enterprises that often are built around the charity.
*******
We think you very wise to seek out small, and more honorable and honest, charities. We also try to do the same. There was a time, a few years ago, when we just gave to every telephone-solicitor who called. Ten bucks here, fifteen there, even these tiny donations added up! Happily, before going broke, we wised up a little. Now, with every call, our first question is, "What percentage of any donation goes for administration?" We have been stunned to learn that it is often as high as eighty percent! So, out of ten dollars, only two actually go to the needy, and the rest goes for office-rental, telephones, and salaries of solicitors, etc. While we do love charities, we cannot afford to "support" the vast business-enterprises that often are built around the charity.
*******
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Salvation and Love
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We all always need to be "saved"-- from ignorance and arrogance, as early gnostic Christians pointed out, and from the falsehoods and dangers of the lower nature (the humanimal mind and the animal mind).
The "quickest and easiest" Way to salvation is through Love-- through Love-immersion. This means that we think almost continuously about Love and its many flowers or "fruits," such as kindness, reason, goodness, generosity, and wisdom. We must never forget the poor and the disadvantaged among us. When we can afford it, we even give money to those who need it. We can do this through recognized charities, but, since a high percentage of their funds often goes for administration, often, we are better off just giving to a person whom we know to be in need.
Love is also expressed as tolerance and patience. Recognizing that we do have forever, the humanitarian Lover is not always rushing around, or rushing others. She is a being of patience. Because of her Love, she tolerates diversity-- in lifestyle, sexual preferences, politics, and religion. This does not imply that the person of Love must be indecisive, a wishy-washy type who says that nothing really matters. That is not deep spirituality, but one of its opposites-- apathy or complacency.
The spiritual being might know with solid and total firmness what she believes, and might even share it. But she will do so only educationally; the spiritual being does not make "converts." For God is continually "converting" the heart from within, and conversion is Her job, not that of the human being.
Love, in this kind of world, must be not only relentless, but continuous. We must often try to love the being (Soul) beneath the person (mask). The person might be ignorant, arrogant, and even repulsive. But it is up to the enlightened to see beneath the surface, to see that tiny "spark" of the "sun of God" that dwells within every person. Thus, we can never "damn" anyone, which is the "judgment" prohibited by the Master. (Mt. 7:1)
To love endlessly, tirelessly, universally, consistently, and unconditionally is the Way to salvation. This includes the three subpaths of real spirituality: 1) love everyone, 2) serve everyone, and 3) forgive everyone.
No amount of "Bible-study," no giving of sermons, no Bible-thumping, no "gift of the Spirit" is worth anything without accompanying Love. So, if you had all of these, without Love, they would all be worthless. Joining any particular church or religion is also useless, if it does not create or stimulate Love in the heart. Joining any group that damns others is sin. But if you have Love alone, without any of these, you are blessed beyond imagining. (Compare the "Canticle of Love," in First Corinthians,
chapter 13.)
Some preachers and ministers do not know this, and so, they emphasize the wrong things-- actions that eclipse Love in the heart. We must be careful never to become followers of incompetent and ignorant human beings. Why should we? For we have the Master of Love, living entirely in each and every heart.
*******
We all always need to be "saved"-- from ignorance and arrogance, as early gnostic Christians pointed out, and from the falsehoods and dangers of the lower nature (the humanimal mind and the animal mind).
The "quickest and easiest" Way to salvation is through Love-- through Love-immersion. This means that we think almost continuously about Love and its many flowers or "fruits," such as kindness, reason, goodness, generosity, and wisdom. We must never forget the poor and the disadvantaged among us. When we can afford it, we even give money to those who need it. We can do this through recognized charities, but, since a high percentage of their funds often goes for administration, often, we are better off just giving to a person whom we know to be in need.
Love is also expressed as tolerance and patience. Recognizing that we do have forever, the humanitarian Lover is not always rushing around, or rushing others. She is a being of patience. Because of her Love, she tolerates diversity-- in lifestyle, sexual preferences, politics, and religion. This does not imply that the person of Love must be indecisive, a wishy-washy type who says that nothing really matters. That is not deep spirituality, but one of its opposites-- apathy or complacency.
The spiritual being might know with solid and total firmness what she believes, and might even share it. But she will do so only educationally; the spiritual being does not make "converts." For God is continually "converting" the heart from within, and conversion is Her job, not that of the human being.
Love, in this kind of world, must be not only relentless, but continuous. We must often try to love the being (Soul) beneath the person (mask). The person might be ignorant, arrogant, and even repulsive. But it is up to the enlightened to see beneath the surface, to see that tiny "spark" of the "sun of God" that dwells within every person. Thus, we can never "damn" anyone, which is the "judgment" prohibited by the Master. (Mt. 7:1)
To love endlessly, tirelessly, universally, consistently, and unconditionally is the Way to salvation. This includes the three subpaths of real spirituality: 1) love everyone, 2) serve everyone, and 3) forgive everyone.
No amount of "Bible-study," no giving of sermons, no Bible-thumping, no "gift of the Spirit" is worth anything without accompanying Love. So, if you had all of these, without Love, they would all be worthless. Joining any particular church or religion is also useless, if it does not create or stimulate Love in the heart. Joining any group that damns others is sin. But if you have Love alone, without any of these, you are blessed beyond imagining. (Compare the "Canticle of Love," in First Corinthians,
chapter 13.)
Some preachers and ministers do not know this, and so, they emphasize the wrong things-- actions that eclipse Love in the heart. We must be careful never to become followers of incompetent and ignorant human beings. Why should we? For we have the Master of Love, living entirely in each and every heart.
*******
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