Vickie Deppe a facebook friend says…
American soldiers have been doing things like clearing the bay and reopening the airport so aid can come directly into Port-au-Prince instead of through the DR followed by a 5 hour truck ride through the mountains. They are also helping to maintain social order so that the many Christian aid workers there can do what they came to do.
The AP is reporting:
“‘The Americans are our friends,’ said Jean Rony Doudou, a 28-year-old jobseeker. ‘They are here to help us.’ Many Haitians—at least for now—share that sentiment as they see U.S. troops bandaging the wounded, clearing debris, handing out food and water and even directing traffic. The soldiers are generating goodwill and are given a large degree of credit for keeping Haiti relatively peaceful during these worst of circumstances.”
I don’t think it has to be either/or.
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God Spots 
Jonathan Miller likes this.
Edie Cain hmmm what a novel idea
4 hours ago ·
Sisterlisa Bee I will say yes. As long as they are going with no agenda to further their denominations.
3 hours ago ·
Justin Kuek Read an article on the comparisons of the Australian response to the Tsunami and the American approach to the Haiti earthquake…
While the Aussies shipped food, water, medical supplies, tents etc… The Americans shipped Military equipment… A lesson for the church??
2 hours ago ·
Vickie Deppe American soldiers have been doing things like clearing the bay and reopening the airport so aid can come directly into Port-au-Prince instead of through the DR followed by a 5 hour truck ride through the mountains. They are also helping to maintain social order so that the many Christian aid workers there can do what they came to do.
The AP is reporting:
“‘The Americans are our friends,’ said Jean Rony Doudou, a 28-year-old jobseeker. ‘They are here to help us.’ Many Haitians—at least for now—share that sentiment as they see U.S. troops bandaging the wounded, clearing debris, handing out food and water and even directing traffic. The soldiers are generating goodwill and are given a large degree of credit for keeping Haiti relatively peaceful during these worst of circumstances.”
I don’t think it has to be either/or.
2 hours ago ·
Jim Rowan There are more missionaries per capita in Haiti than anywhere else in the world.
2 hours ago ·
Justin Kuek I was not criticising the Americans… Just making a comparison of the two approaches… The Aussies used their Army as well… but went directly at the root of the problem… The writer said that the approach by the US military on law and order would actually be a self-fulfilling prophecy… i.e. if the people have no food and water then they WILL loot…
The comparison I am interested in is this…
We often say Missions is TOUGH – but is it TOUGH because of our own self-fulfilling prophecy? We start churches (finance and leadership model), then say it is TOUGH to raise finance and find good leaders… and then lament that the resulting churches continue to depend on us… Have we missed the point? Are we not doing the simple things right first? Are we doing what Jesus commands, rather than what is expected of Missionaries – start churches? There is NO command for us to start churches anyway in the Bible!
2 hours ago ·
Vickie Deppe I agree with you about the finance & leadership model. My husband and I are part of an organic community, ourselves.
What I was responding to was the “instead of” part of Archie’s question. My point was that there are some things that Christian aid workers are just not equipped to do, like rebuild an earthquake-damaged airport. Anyone can hand out bottles of water, but few can restore infrastructure. What the soldiers are doing is making it easier (or possible) for others to do their part.
2 hours ago ·
Justin Kuek Understood…
BUT what the article was saying was that the Aussie Military took a different approach and distributed the IMMEDIATELY needed things first… The US Military went for the BIGGER picture… Just a comparison…. not a Judgment…(some of my best friends are Americans!) The writer (I think an American) said that not dealing with the immediate had a danger of making security worse…
2 hours ago ·
John Scott Wilson III heartily agree with Vickie…US military has enormous amount of resources for such a situation.
2 hours ago ·
Rhonda Sayers I think the answer is found in the principles of the following references, Rom. 12 and 1 Cor. 12. Do whatever part you are called to do and are gifted for, let others do their part. It takes it all.
about an hour ago ·
Vickie Deppe I just don’t think it’s fair to single out a particular group of people who are down there enduring hardship to help others, and say they shouldn’t be there, or they should have done something else, or done things in a different order. I don’t have access to the article you’re referencing, Justin, but perhaps the reason the US decided to focus more resources on infrastructure is precisely because the Aussies were there with water & food. They are all down there doing the best they know how, they all have strengths and weaknesses and a different perspective of how they can best bring their assets to the table and help others to do the same. They all deserve our support.
about an hour ago ·
Justin Kuek NO No No… Guys, I am not criticizing the American military for being there… you miss the point…
I was just quoting an article (I read it on the BBC website) that compared the approaches of two Militaries in two SEPARATE disasters – one in Asia (the 2006 Tsunami where about 150,000 died too) and the Haiti Earthquake. The Australian military responded to Indonesia, as they were closest, and the Americans responded to the Haitians (I don’t even know if the Aussies are in Haiti). They simply had different approaches. I am NOT questioning SINCERITY or MOTIVATIONS… Simply stating the different approaches and what we as the church can learn from that… That’s all….
about an hour ago ·
Justin Kuek Here’s the article….
How does Haiti differ from post-tsunami Aceh?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8479494.stm
My apologies… correction… the Author was an Englishman – not American.
about an hour ago ·
Archie Rhines Justin and Vickie. I appreciate your passion. The end game is to lead people to Jesus. I’m thinking a couple things. First that when catastrophe happens, it may be an opportune time to show people the face and hands of Jesus.
But at the same time, I am thinking of the Good Samaritan and if the Haitian is lying on the side of the road, he probably needs his wounds and hunger satisfied.
My possibly immature thought was, what if…. 20,0000 faith believing people showed up and God came with them. The job of the believers would be to kick satan in the teeth and break the stronghold of his dominion he has on Haiti.
Those that travel Haiti frequently, will readily agree satan is at his worst on that island and yet people readily worship him. I say kick out satan and feed the people.
just sayin’…
9 minutes ago ·
Archie Rhines Oh and Sisterlisa. Obviously, the only believers effective will be Baptist. Ha! Just kidding….
7 minutes ago ·
I think comparing American and Aussie response strategy is missing the point; it’s two completely different ways of thinking. The American is just simply a different breed. Same with the Aussie.
Back to the original topic, I do think believe sending in 20,000 Christians would be a good idea, as it is doing exactly as the Bible has commanded, ie the Good Samaritan.
But if we’re all Christian, then the best thing that can be done for Haiti is pray for them.
Sisterlisa Bee Interesting points of view here. I am just now home to see all this. I was posting from my phone earlier. Justin, great points. It seems that more often the government keeps trying to be the Church. The people will see the love of Christ our Lord through the gentle hands of those who are being led by Him to give without expecting anything in return. It concerns me what our government will do. USA is ‘seen’ as a Christian nation and if this ‘Christian’ nations does anything for their own benefit in Haiti, God won’t be too happy with that.
45 minutes ago ·
Mike Xpietoe Pollie suppose 20000 believers stormed iraq and aphganistan instead of 20000 troops
imagine the book of acts and the NT church coming to life in this generation
wow
25 minutes ago ·
Justin Kuek Hi Sisterlisa,
Unfortunately, like it or not, the West is tarred with the Christian brush and other countries then “judge” it and by extension Christianity by what this perception is…
One of the saddest “misconceptions” is the very sad approach to the Crusades that the “church” took, and then Colonisation which happened to be “lumped” in with the “Crusade mentality”… Unfortunately this means that relations of “recipient nations” – be it aid or gospel tend to try to read ulterior motives into any interaction with the West… This is not helped by the Western penchance for “moving on” and “getting over it”. The nations with an Eastern worldview have very LOOONG memories…
9 minutes ago ·
Sisterlisa Bee I understand that, Archie. When I used to be a fundamentalist Baptist, someone outright hollered with hate at me that ‘my kind kill people’…you fundamentalist!” as if Fundamentalist was a very very bad word. Yet later I realized some things about current fundamentalism that sent us OUT of that place. Thank you for sharing that with me. It’s much like racism isn’t it? Long memories that span the generations.
4 minutes ago ·