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A while back, I was listening to a podcast that apparently had a fairly sizable conservative Christian audience, because there were a good number of ads for Christian “Health Care Sharing Ministries,” into which subscribers pay a voluntary “share,” and from which they draw when they need it.
I don’t remember the specific language the ad used, but I do remember it saying something that sounded almost dangerously close to “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” I started laughing at that one.
There’s a Fundamental Christian influencer named Aria Lewis who has that “insurance”. She’s been dealing with dental problems and basically made a post one day asking her followers if that insurance was a scam because she wasn’t able to get the care she really needed
It’s crazy what problems people fall into when they choose something has “Christian” in the name over what everyone else is using
Agreed 100%. Even as a Christian myself, I avoid businesses with “Christian” in the name. At best it feels like they’re trying to say that they’re the “Jesus-y” choice. At worst it means they’re crooks trying to look legitimate. In either case they’re probably maga.
The one that breaks my heart is the Christian counseling services, which are so often not true therapy. There are absolutely licensed therapists out there who are Christian and can advertise that. Just hate watching people who have serious mental health problems go to counseling and hating themselves because prayer isn’t usually enough to help.
I’m a firm believer that if there is a God, he provided the tools and people to help his flock deal with modern problems. But people often turn away from using these tools or services :(
I’m a firm believer that if there is a God, he provided the tools and people to help his flock deal with modern problems. But people often turn away from using these tools or services :(
One of the most clear expressions of how I feel about such things is 411 years old:
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them.”
It was originally written by Galileo Galilei, and it’s still as relevant now as it was then. This was made into a satire with the joke about the man on a rooftop during a flood who rejects a helicopter, a boat, and a raft, saying that “God will save me;” and who, after drowning, confronts God at the gates of Heaven, who answers his complaints, “I sent you a helicopter, a boat, and a raft, what more did you want?” The fact that something is available to believer and nonbeliever alike should be a cause for rejoicing, not for distrust.
Theologically speaking, God gave us sense, reason, and intellect; not the devil. Trained therapists and mental health professionals are gifts of God, whether they’re Christians or not. And, going back to healthcare for all, another gift of God is community; and being able to help one another as a group. But the conservative Christians have been hoodwinked by rich con men into believing that that’s socialism, and that mental health is wokeness.
dental insurance is kinda of a scam, if you are not using an employer-sponsered one, they dont cover most things outside of cleanings. the ones i looked from the 3 well known dental insurance, have approximately the same kind of coverage for all 3 plans, the only difference some of them are more expensive. Employer- sponsored plans have very different coverage from the individual plans.
i like how they rail about dental/health insurance as a scam, while they use a more expensive version which is likely paying the full cost of dental care. i would imagine the fund would drain pretty fast if people are getting multiple cavities filled, and not even for other things like extractions, root canal and crowns, or periodontal care, or implants.
I ALSO notice some dental offices, offer thier own “insurance” in house, may or may not be expensive but that could be another avenue if people dont want to pay for better insurance.
My parents are the most MAGA-pilled, Evangelical, racist, sexist, etc., folks you’ll find. Fully on board with all of the ‘conservative’ messaging, and have been their entire lives. They fully think that Communism is some existential threat…
They’re also poor. My mom never held down a full time job in her life. Her husband was a Janitor. They live in a community of other like-minded poor people that are close-knit and trade goods, labor, and services to help each other out. Its a while network where people come together to met each other’s needs. My mom grows food in her garden and will trade it for chicken eggs. Her husband will use his tractor to help someone grade a road, and get ‘paid’ in meat by someone who raises cattle, etc. Its a wonderful system and they and their network of friends working within this system are literally communists.
No matter how I’ve tried to point that out, there is NO getting through the propaganda they’ve spent their lives bathing in. Its baffling.
Oh, absolutely. People from the church I grew up in sometimes say such baffling things about socialism and communism. I want to tell them, “know how I learned about social economies? From Sunday afternoon pitch-in dinners. Even though there was going to be food there, people who could bring food still brought it! We all ate until we were sick, there was food left over, and it all tasted fantastic. Sure, we had to cut Elaine’s chess pie extra thin so that everyone could get a slice, but there was literally a vat of mashed potatoes and two whole turkeys.”
A while back, I was listening to a podcast that apparently had a fairly sizable conservative Christian audience, because there were a good number of ads for Christian “Health Care Sharing Ministries,” into which subscribers pay a voluntary “share,” and from which they draw when they need it.
I don’t remember the specific language the ad used, but I do remember it saying something that sounded almost dangerously close to “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” I started laughing at that one.
There’s a Fundamental Christian influencer named Aria Lewis who has that “insurance”. She’s been dealing with dental problems and basically made a post one day asking her followers if that insurance was a scam because she wasn’t able to get the care she really needed
It’s crazy what problems people fall into when they choose something has “Christian” in the name over what everyone else is using
Agreed 100%. Even as a Christian myself, I avoid businesses with “Christian” in the name. At best it feels like they’re trying to say that they’re the “Jesus-y” choice. At worst it means they’re crooks trying to look legitimate. In either case they’re probably maga.
The one that breaks my heart is the Christian counseling services, which are so often not true therapy. There are absolutely licensed therapists out there who are Christian and can advertise that. Just hate watching people who have serious mental health problems go to counseling and hating themselves because prayer isn’t usually enough to help.
I’m a firm believer that if there is a God, he provided the tools and people to help his flock deal with modern problems. But people often turn away from using these tools or services :(
One of the most clear expressions of how I feel about such things is 411 years old:
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them.”
It was originally written by Galileo Galilei, and it’s still as relevant now as it was then. This was made into a satire with the joke about the man on a rooftop during a flood who rejects a helicopter, a boat, and a raft, saying that “God will save me;” and who, after drowning, confronts God at the gates of Heaven, who answers his complaints, “I sent you a helicopter, a boat, and a raft, what more did you want?” The fact that something is available to believer and nonbeliever alike should be a cause for rejoicing, not for distrust.
Theologically speaking, God gave us sense, reason, and intellect; not the devil. Trained therapists and mental health professionals are gifts of God, whether they’re Christians or not. And, going back to healthcare for all, another gift of God is community; and being able to help one another as a group. But the conservative Christians have been hoodwinked by rich con men into believing that that’s socialism, and that mental health is wokeness.
Makes my blood boil.
dental insurance is kinda of a scam, if you are not using an employer-sponsered one, they dont cover most things outside of cleanings. the ones i looked from the 3 well known dental insurance, have approximately the same kind of coverage for all 3 plans, the only difference some of them are more expensive. Employer- sponsored plans have very different coverage from the individual plans.
i like how they rail about dental/health insurance as a scam, while they use a more expensive version which is likely paying the full cost of dental care. i would imagine the fund would drain pretty fast if people are getting multiple cavities filled, and not even for other things like extractions, root canal and crowns, or periodontal care, or implants.
I ALSO notice some dental offices, offer thier own “insurance” in house, may or may not be expensive but that could be another avenue if people dont want to pay for better insurance.
My parents are the most MAGA-pilled, Evangelical, racist, sexist, etc., folks you’ll find. Fully on board with all of the ‘conservative’ messaging, and have been their entire lives. They fully think that Communism is some existential threat…
They’re also poor. My mom never held down a full time job in her life. Her husband was a Janitor. They live in a community of other like-minded poor people that are close-knit and trade goods, labor, and services to help each other out. Its a while network where people come together to met each other’s needs. My mom grows food in her garden and will trade it for chicken eggs. Her husband will use his tractor to help someone grade a road, and get ‘paid’ in meat by someone who raises cattle, etc. Its a wonderful system and they and their network of friends working within this system are literally communists.
No matter how I’ve tried to point that out, there is NO getting through the propaganda they’ve spent their lives bathing in. Its baffling.
Oh, absolutely. People from the church I grew up in sometimes say such baffling things about socialism and communism. I want to tell them, “know how I learned about social economies? From Sunday afternoon pitch-in dinners. Even though there was going to be food there, people who could bring food still brought it! We all ate until we were sick, there was food left over, and it all tasted fantastic. Sure, we had to cut Elaine’s chess pie extra thin so that everyone could get a slice, but there was literally a vat of mashed potatoes and two whole turkeys.”