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645 days ago

Lovely yet pointless sentiment

Julie Neighbourly Lead from Havelock North

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti faith. I don’t believe in any religion, but I have a great deal of faith. It’s been well tested over my half a century, but I still have it.

But, I feel faith is pointless, without practical purpose. Especially if it involves spending money sending thoughts and prayers, instead of donating to worthy, desperate causes, such as the cyclone relief funds, that are so sorely needed at the moment.

I just took a stamped, posted, envelope out of my letterbox, with a lovely, handwritten letter, offering me “comforting thought from the scriptures”, and I wonder how much money did that kind person spend to send me, a complete stranger (envelope addressed “To The Resident”) and however many others these missives.

At $1.70 postage, per letter, plus the envelope and paper, and printed flyer, that’s potentially a lot of “thoughts” that could have put food on tables or bedrolls under bodies. Would that not have been a better option, than randomly sending people quotes from the scriptures?

My priest, growing up Catholic, would tell us every Wednesday at bible practice “turn your hands to practical matters and your hearts to spiritual”. And he’d follow that up with the simple explanation “Do something useful”.

So, dear people, rather than preach about how the big G cares about us, show you care about others, and live your faith, practically. If you can’t physically help, don’t waste money preaching, use it to help. Don’t be the preacher on the cliff who let the boy fall, because God loved him. Turn your hands to practical matters, and your hearts to faith!

And if your church is footing the bill, there’s better things they can do with the money too.

Keep the faith, but, please, do something practical. I don’t need saving, but thousands really do.

More messages from your neighbours
4 days ago

Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

This Wednesday, we are having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.

John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!

As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!

John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.

Share your question below now ⬇️

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8 hours ago

Calling All Puzzle Masters! Can You Solve This?

Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

When John was six years old he hammered a nail into his favorite tree to mark his height.
Ten years later at age sixteen, John returned to see how much higher the nail was.
If the tree grew by five centimetres each year, how much higher would the nail be?

Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.

Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.

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8 hours ago

Win this brand new home!

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