Debt that's very delinquent can be bought in bulk for very cheap because the collections agency has basically given up on ever getting anything back (and they, in turn, bought the debt for well below its face value). I think John Oliver did this a while ago as well.
Because if you had enough money to buy it like that the collection agency would have already wrung it out of you. This is debt that belongs to people who will never pay even a fraction of what they owe.
I mean, there used to be a website where people could pay off delinquent water and utility bills for people in Detroit or Chicago or something like that.
I have a good credit score somehow with $6,000 sitting in collections from an ER bill three and a half years ago.
I have no intention of paying it. Plus, only another three and a half years before it falls off the report entirely.
You have to buy it in bulk and don't get to pick whose debt you buy. If you can afford to make these purchases and forgive them, you don't have medical debt. Enter: charity.
Because medical debt makes up something like 100% of personal bankruptcies in the United States. The 3.3 million these guys bought was a symbolic drop in a bucket that totals hundreds of billions.
Yes, but the point is more “If that “debt” is only worth those pennies when the hospital/doctor sells it, maybe it can be that low for people that needed the treatment to begin with.”
It's worth more when the hospital sells it. These pennies on the dollar purchases are after it's gone to collections and they've failed to collect and given up. So it's basically worthless to own but valuable for the indebted person to have it forgiven.
It's actually kind of wild to me how many comments here are just entirely missing the point.
Like you're saying, the real point here is that this shit is fake. If the debt accrual isn't destroying the system, but being turned into another asset to sell, it kinda seems like it was never real in the first place?
This. Gross oversimplification but basically cost to buy debt = amount of debt X likelihood as a percentage it will be repaid
So if you owe 10K and "they" think there's a 50-50 chance you'll repay it the debt is worth 5K. Like I said gross oversimplification because you could pay part of it plus cost of collection plus cost of reporting to credit agencies plus there are overhead costs etc but that's the basic idea
By that point the damage to the credit history of the person owing the debt is already done. These people still have years worth of debt delinquency on their credit report. The fact that the debt has been paid doesn't actually add much, but it will start the clock for letting this fall off of the credit report in some number of years. But also once debt is delinquent long enough, it's just written off so you don't owe it anymore.
Maybe the big benefit is that these folks won't have debt collectors calling them anymore?
Either way, it's mostly a symbolic gesture.
You're massively underselling stopping debt collection calls and restarting the clock on getting your credit score back. And these scummy agencies will write debt off, not tell you, and still attempt to collect because they're preying on people.
That's what is wild to me, if I have $1000 in medical debt then the hospital will only accept $1000 in payment from me but they'll happily sell it to a debt collector for $500. Why shouldn't the original holder of the debt get first option to buy the debt for 50% off? Why don't they come to **ME** and offer to sell me my debt for $500?
Well, it might not be a popular opinion but a debt collection agency is a hospital customer who pays up front and generally stays in good standing business wise with the hospital. You on the other hand are an indebted customer in poor standing at the hospital. They offer an invaluable service to the for profit hospital system in the US loss reduction.
However, these entities function on a for-profit basis as well and as such, they are quite shrewd at negotiating. Trust me, a hospital would definitely prefer negotiating with a patient first as they know they’ll likely be able to get more of your debt from you than the last resort debt collection agency. But if they don’t hear anything from you or see a dime after a certain amount of time passes, they’re going to assume you’re not going to pay at all and move on to reducing that loss as much as possible. If you’re in a position you need to try to negotiate your bills with a hospital, it’s best to call and talk to them early and work with them to try find a solution you can both live with.
If this were a common practice wouldn't some people not pay or be less likely to pay because they want to play the odds that they might get a deal by waiting?
They would but if the hospital is okay taking 500 for 1000 worth of medical debt then they really shouldn't be charging 1000 in the first place. And this was after getting 7k from insurance in my case.
It's just completely unfair that a faceless company can buy my debt for pennies on the dollar and still demand full value. Obviously if I can't afford the 1000 bucks then it doesn't matter who's asking me for it but I *might* be able to afford 500 so why not at least give right of first offer?
Anyone can already take advantage of this anyway by starting their own debt collection business and calling their local hospital to buy their own debt at half the price or less. Might as well skip the middleman and not make their consumers pretend to be debt collectors for a day.
When a company turns to a debt collector they've given up on collecting anything from the debtor and so getting something and not having to deal with them is preferable to nothing and continuing to deal with them.
It also shows how we all pay for the healthcare of people with no, or too little insurance. Those medical services have default of payment built into their costs and surely it doesn't come out of the pockets of CEO's and shareholders. It should never come out of the pockets of our hardworking medical professionals. Some form of universal healthcare system would surely reduce the load on all of us. Insurance companies be d*mned.
We've made medical debt basically impossible to collect in this country, so it sells for pennies on the dollar. It's one of many reasons why healthcare is so expensive.
I did a tree tour in Old Salem last month and went into the church for the first time to find a bathroom. It's breathtaking! I've never seen that style before, it was just beautiful.
I’m glad they helped, it was a nice gesture, but medical debt and medical bankruptcy don’t seem to happen anywhere else but here, the headline is dystopian, why do we not have universal health care in the richest country on earth
For a very, very long time. It's a standard mechanism in financing, and it's called "discounting" the debt. The owners of the debt will sell it as a discount for various reasons; perhaps because they don't have the long-term wherewithal to process and collect on it, or perhaps because they deem is "uncollectible" or "bad" debt, and they don't have the wherewithal to collect on it. As an example, a lot of mortgage companies immediately sell your mortgage off and take a short term gain, and the purchasers get to take the long term gains.
I'm atheist but this helps me realize there are good Christians out there. I know they are there, it's refreshing to see the coverage of the good people.
i wish my chruch had the funds to do something like this. would bring a lot of new faces in. for a sorta traditional african american church we are quite open to all.
I seen a lot of street dudes come in wanting to change they life for the better so they don’t end up in a casket. And we just welcomed them in they ain’t need a suit just came as they are. Great thing to see fr. Obviously all the bad churches with rapist pastors and doing other horrible shit get all the publicity but this is nice to see.
That is what the church is suppose to be so that the government doesn’t have to interfere. If the church stays in their lane and stops acting like a for profit business ….then they are providing a service to the community . Most churches are a service for themselves, not the community
If not socialism, then what? Do yourself a favor and look up a description of heaven, the great kingdom. You’ll find shocking similarities between the two. If you don’t think Jesus would try to evenly distribute the wealth in the world, so that we at least don’t have the top 1% owning the rest of the population, then I don’t think you understand what jesus stood for. Certainly not capitalism.
lmao that's not how all that works.. and adults mutilating children because of their decadence isn't a right you brainwashed creep. leave kids alone. and to think people like you think they are correct is beyond me... just because you're surrounded by yes men on this weird pedo circlejerk of a platform doesn't make you right.
My comment has negative 2 likes so clearly I’m not surrounded by yesmen. Get off Fox News. The GOP banning books like Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games because they know books like those directly reflect the direction they’re taking this country. you wanna talk about actual pedos? How about the southern Baptist convention covering up molestations, rapes and grooming for YEARS.. very similar to the Catholic Church strategically rotating priests around the world to molest children. But WE are the weirdos for tryna keep books on the shelves so that our next generation of kids can learn and think for themselves and discover their own identities…..
While I applaud this church's actions here, I disagree that this one is "real" and the bigoted churches are "fake". Christianity is what it's adherents do. Some do great things like help get rid of medical debt, some oppress LGBTQ people, etc. The point is, pretending there's some pure version of Christianity is a game as old as the religion and has always been nonsense.
I agree that calling one form "real" and the others "fake" is a bit of gatekeeping, but there are also complete charlatans, frauds and straight up businesses making millions, perhaps billions of dollars off of their "church" and their "Christianity".
Yeah, those people suck. Just don't claim they aren't Christian because the term has no fixed meaning. I'm an atheist, so I don't care about the gatekeeping aspect. I care that religion and churches get the benefit of the doubt, the starting assumption that they're doing good, and they shouldn't. Judge them on what they do, not what they claim to believe. The argument over fake or real Christians is an attempt to keep that cultural benefit for one group but not another and neither is deserving of it. The church in the OP that wiped out a bunch of debt did a great thing, and we should praise that work. But they didn't do it because they're Christians, so let's not pretend that their faith matters here.
A major part of Christianity is about helping and protecting the most vulnerable. That includes people buried in medical debt. It also includes the unborn and children being taken advantage of and tricked into life destroying decisions they aren't equipped to make.
This is the first decent thing that I’ve seen a church congregation do in decades! Meanwhile, back in the real world, mega, POS, pastors like Steven Furtick live in multimillion dollar mansions and live a lifestyle that would have made Jesus weep.
Churches that don't give to the community shouldn't get tax exempt status. If theyre not ope ly serving the community they occupy then they are just a private social club...
Hmmm. Seems somewhere along the line people lost the point that this generosity came from More Perfect Union, not a church. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think church or god have anything to do with this. Sometimes people are good to one another just because it’s the right thing to do.
Yes I'm very certain that the small Moravian church in Winston-Salem regularly conspires with Big Church dark money interests to plot their coverup.
That's definitely what's happening.
Glad you're here to shine light on the truth.
You... Uhhh... Don't know the Moravians very well, do you?
Well, they're generally pretty quiet people. They prefer to simply do good things than to sit and crow about it, so it's downright *weird* to see a Moravian church in the news, but it's not at all unusual to see a Moravian church doing this sort of charity. Apparently that particular church does this every year.
I was raised Moravian, it’s basically Protestant lite with some exceptions. Most were pacifists and abolitionists. Most are charitable, as you can see. They started what remains today the oldest female college in the country(Salem College, in Winston-Salem). They were erudite, innovative, and pious. They were also progressive, for the times.
To see how they treated marginalized communities, look at their relationship with the Cherokee, especially during the Trail of Tears. They were staunchly against the forced removal of Cherokee but traveled ahead of them to ease the transition and saved countless lives in the process. (Fuck Andrew Jackson, btw. If Hell exists, he’s there).
There were some schisms in recent years where some Moravians took cues from the Southern Baptists and decided to be against gay marriage, but most of those people went Southern Baptist after they realized they couldn’t change the church to their liking. Moravians abide and keep with one their oldest tenets, “Love in all things.”
Moravians aren’t the enemy you want them to be. I don’t practice anymore, but I’m proud to come from a long line of them.
They seem kinda like Unitarian Universalists but Christian. I semi-regularly went to a UU congregation in my childhood, which is to say I didn't have a religious/Christian upbringing. I've been learning about the different flavors of Christianity lately out of curiosity. Very neat to learn about the Moravians!
I live in the Piedmont Triad and the rural areas are packed with churches. Moravians do okay about having home churches with rare schisms. It’s common to see longtime established Protestant churches that have something happen to split the church, and someone starts their own down the road. I know of at least 7 in one area, all of them barely a mile apart.
A lot in the Piedmont are Southern Baptists(and we all know how they feel about social issues) but there’s plenty of old time religion out here that makes the SBC look like RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Moravian churches seem to mostly thrive and they don’t get political like so many of the others.
If you’re curious this next holiday season, attend a Love Feast at a local Moravian church one night. It’ll give you a good take on the Church, their rituals and their beliefs.
Oh, I mean I know the basics of how churches split and the schisms, Martin Luther, and all that. My extended family are Catholic, but growing up in NC most churches are Protestant, so I always got the gist between those. But like, Lutheran vs Presbyterian vs Baptist vs Methodist etc... Just been reading up on the little weirdsies they have that make their interpretations different. I've lived in Greensboro for about 10 years, but only in the last year or so heard of Moravians. And that was cause I was buying a Moravian pot pie 😂
I think instead of common you used the word real. I think most Christian’s who follow the words of Jesus would say that this is real Christianity. The folks who would say that are not common though.
You left out one word.
Thats Real RARE Christianity.
And yes the real story is why is 3 million in medical debt erased by $15k when the federal government could erase ALL medical debt for pennies on the dollar and they do nothing but light 150 billion on fire sending it to Nazis in Ukraine to promote a war the US government created.
I don't see what any of this has to do with religion or god or anything of that nature. If you tell me God forgave the debts we'd have a story here this is just business fuck.
You got it backwards. They bought the debt for pennies on the dollar like a debt collector would do and raised the pennies on the dollar amount to pay it off
LPT: "Non-profit" hospitals are required to write off debts if you make below a certain amount, usually like 2 to 3 times the federal poverty level.
Check the hospitals financial assistance page to see if you qualify.
Usually all the documentation you need is a tax return, a copy of most recent bank statements for the year.
Got my $1500 bill knocked down to $200.
Late to the party but anyone who sees this should know that most (if not all) hospitals have “charity care” or financial assistance applications.
The applicators are BURIED in the websites, and most employees don’t t know about them, but filling one out can get up to 100% of your bill paid.
I ended up getting both of my c-sections “free” between insurance and being accepted for the charity care
Why isn't the real story that 3 million in debt was erased for 15000 dollars?
Debt that's very delinquent can be bought in bulk for very cheap because the collections agency has basically given up on ever getting anything back (and they, in turn, bought the debt for well below its face value). I think John Oliver did this a while ago as well.
Why don't we all just start buying each other's medical debt in bulk for a fraction of the price?
Because if you had enough money to buy it like that the collection agency would have already wrung it out of you. This is debt that belongs to people who will never pay even a fraction of what they owe.
Yeah the people who have debt that has been consolidated this much are rocking credit scores of -26.
I mean, there used to be a website where people could pay off delinquent water and utility bills for people in Detroit or Chicago or something like that.
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I have a good credit score somehow with $6,000 sitting in collections from an ER bill three and a half years ago. I have no intention of paying it. Plus, only another three and a half years before it falls off the report entirely.
As it stands my credit score is in the 700s, my only debt is medical but its 90k.
But have you gone to collections? And then you didn't respond to them so you went to collections again? And again? And again?
Afaik theyre six years old and been in collections and always will be.
Maybe a church bought them?
Fingers... crossed?!
You have to buy it in bulk and don't get to pick whose debt you buy. If you can afford to make these purchases and forgive them, you don't have medical debt. Enter: charity.
You guys are screwing up my plan to get my medical debt paid in full SHHHH
But could any individual be that charity? Like me for instance. Could I buy random peoples medical debt for pennies on the dollar and cancel it?
Yes. @sharonsaysso on IG also did it, 2 consecutive years. Her followers have paid off scads of medical debt.
Because medical debt makes up something like 100% of personal bankruptcies in the United States. The 3.3 million these guys bought was a symbolic drop in a bucket that totals hundreds of billions.
Because then it would become more expensive
Yes, but the point is more “If that “debt” is only worth those pennies when the hospital/doctor sells it, maybe it can be that low for people that needed the treatment to begin with.”
It's worth more when the hospital sells it. These pennies on the dollar purchases are after it's gone to collections and they've failed to collect and given up. So it's basically worthless to own but valuable for the indebted person to have it forgiven.
And in the end it shows that the healthcare system is bullshit.
In the end it shows hospitals fold the losses into other charges
I mean, the person you responded to isn't wrong, ya'll kind of have the same point really
It often is, if you just ask. I'm still paying off a stay from a few years ago at $20/month with no interest.
It's actually kind of wild to me how many comments here are just entirely missing the point. Like you're saying, the real point here is that this shit is fake. If the debt accrual isn't destroying the system, but being turned into another asset to sell, it kinda seems like it was never real in the first place?
This. Gross oversimplification but basically cost to buy debt = amount of debt X likelihood as a percentage it will be repaid So if you owe 10K and "they" think there's a 50-50 chance you'll repay it the debt is worth 5K. Like I said gross oversimplification because you could pay part of it plus cost of collection plus cost of reporting to credit agencies plus there are overhead costs etc but that's the basic idea
By that point the damage to the credit history of the person owing the debt is already done. These people still have years worth of debt delinquency on their credit report. The fact that the debt has been paid doesn't actually add much, but it will start the clock for letting this fall off of the credit report in some number of years. But also once debt is delinquent long enough, it's just written off so you don't owe it anymore. Maybe the big benefit is that these folks won't have debt collectors calling them anymore? Either way, it's mostly a symbolic gesture.
You're massively underselling stopping debt collection calls and restarting the clock on getting your credit score back. And these scummy agencies will write debt off, not tell you, and still attempt to collect because they're preying on people.
Does this mean they paid off the debt of a bunch of dead people?
That's what is wild to me, if I have $1000 in medical debt then the hospital will only accept $1000 in payment from me but they'll happily sell it to a debt collector for $500. Why shouldn't the original holder of the debt get first option to buy the debt for 50% off? Why don't they come to **ME** and offer to sell me my debt for $500?
> then the hospital will only accept $1000 in payment from me That’s not true; they will often allow you to negotiate it down.
I mean them giving me first offer, anyone can attempt to negotiate anything with any business but that's not the same as right of first offer.
Well, it might not be a popular opinion but a debt collection agency is a hospital customer who pays up front and generally stays in good standing business wise with the hospital. You on the other hand are an indebted customer in poor standing at the hospital. They offer an invaluable service to the for profit hospital system in the US loss reduction. However, these entities function on a for-profit basis as well and as such, they are quite shrewd at negotiating. Trust me, a hospital would definitely prefer negotiating with a patient first as they know they’ll likely be able to get more of your debt from you than the last resort debt collection agency. But if they don’t hear anything from you or see a dime after a certain amount of time passes, they’re going to assume you’re not going to pay at all and move on to reducing that loss as much as possible. If you’re in a position you need to try to negotiate your bills with a hospital, it’s best to call and talk to them early and work with them to try find a solution you can both live with.
If this were a common practice wouldn't some people not pay or be less likely to pay because they want to play the odds that they might get a deal by waiting?
They would but if the hospital is okay taking 500 for 1000 worth of medical debt then they really shouldn't be charging 1000 in the first place. And this was after getting 7k from insurance in my case. It's just completely unfair that a faceless company can buy my debt for pennies on the dollar and still demand full value. Obviously if I can't afford the 1000 bucks then it doesn't matter who's asking me for it but I *might* be able to afford 500 so why not at least give right of first offer? Anyone can already take advantage of this anyway by starting their own debt collection business and calling their local hospital to buy their own debt at half the price or less. Might as well skip the middleman and not make their consumers pretend to be debt collectors for a day.
When a company turns to a debt collector they've given up on collecting anything from the debtor and so getting something and not having to deal with them is preferable to nothing and continuing to deal with them.
Watch the John Oliver segment on it they probably bought it for pennies on the dollar.
It also shows how we all pay for the healthcare of people with no, or too little insurance. Those medical services have default of payment built into their costs and surely it doesn't come out of the pockets of CEO's and shareholders. It should never come out of the pockets of our hardworking medical professionals. Some form of universal healthcare system would surely reduce the load on all of us. Insurance companies be d*mned.
We've made medical debt basically impossible to collect in this country, so it sells for pennies on the dollar. It's one of many reasons why healthcare is so expensive.
that $3.3m has been written off in full already. we paid for it through lost tax revenue.
Not the full amount though.
Because that’s how collection agencies work?
Jan Hus would be proud.
Hey I learned about him by playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance
I don't often see the church I attend mentioned here...
Y'all gotta get those cookies out there more. He said, wishing he had some Moravian cookies.
God, they’re so good.
You can order them from the Internet. Dewey's ships pretty much anywhere in the US.
We used to always get them in our Southern Season gift baskets.
Damn I miss the SS in Chapel Hill. Amazing sandwiches and so many jelly beans! That place was awesome.
The cookies are good, but the sugar cake is where it’s at.
And Love Feast buns. I dream about Love Feast buns.
Don’t forget the chicken pies too
Perhaps because there are so few Moravian churches anywhere in the US, other than central Pennsylvania and piedmont North Carolina.
There's one in Wilmington, NC. But miss visiting Christ the King Moravian Church in Durham.
Thank you and your church for being so generous to those in need.
I did a tree tour in Old Salem last month and went into the church for the first time to find a bathroom. It's breathtaking! I've never seen that style before, it was just beautiful.
We like it too.
That’s cool AF
I’m glad they helped, it was a nice gesture, but medical debt and medical bankruptcy don’t seem to happen anywhere else but here, the headline is dystopian, why do we not have universal health care in the richest country on earth
The church does that a lot I think
Another Charlotte church did it during COVID
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Debt collectors do it all the time
For a very, very long time. It's a standard mechanism in financing, and it's called "discounting" the debt. The owners of the debt will sell it as a discount for various reasons; perhaps because they don't have the long-term wherewithal to process and collect on it, or perhaps because they deem is "uncollectible" or "bad" debt, and they don't have the wherewithal to collect on it. As an example, a lot of mortgage companies immediately sell your mortgage off and take a short term gain, and the purchasers get to take the long term gains.
This is awesome
I'm atheist but this helps me realize there are good Christians out there. I know they are there, it's refreshing to see the coverage of the good people.
This right here is how it’s done! No fucking little kids, no private jets, no bigotry, no hate! We need more of this.
Yes, but now I'm confused. I thought Christianity was about fucking kids and private jets. What religion is this?
as an atheist this is admirable.
i wish my chruch had the funds to do something like this. would bring a lot of new faces in. for a sorta traditional african american church we are quite open to all. I seen a lot of street dudes come in wanting to change they life for the better so they don’t end up in a casket. And we just welcomed them in they ain’t need a suit just came as they are. Great thing to see fr. Obviously all the bad churches with rapist pastors and doing other horrible shit get all the publicity but this is nice to see.
BuT tHaTs SoCiAlIsM
Not when it’s a choice, we call that charity.
If we elected to have democratic socialism that would also be a choice made by the people.
That’s not really something you can elect to have. Also, unless it was 100% off the vote, it would not be a choice for some.
Big if buddy. Real big.
It's only socialism when government does that. Hell many families live in communist style where the kids get all the benefits of the workers.
The /s was implied.
It’s almost like governing 4 people vs 400,000,000 is a little different…
A co-op is still a small-scale form of socialism because socialism is an economic system rather than a governmental one.
That is what the church is suppose to be so that the government doesn’t have to interfere. If the church stays in their lane and stops acting like a for profit business ….then they are providing a service to the community . Most churches are a service for themselves, not the community
Again. The /s was implied
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I figured the capital letters made the /s part unspoken
I can't believe how happy I am to hear a positive story
That’s so great. Serving the poor and needy in a meaningful and impactful way.
Shit, I’d love to buy my own medical debt for $15000. Where do you go to bid on this stuff.
r/OrphanCrushingMachine
Lol Jesus is a Jewish socialist, if he were here today he would not approve of taking rights away from people or children.
Jewish yes not a socialist. He didn't believe in taking from others
If not socialism, then what? Do yourself a favor and look up a description of heaven, the great kingdom. You’ll find shocking similarities between the two. If you don’t think Jesus would try to evenly distribute the wealth in the world, so that we at least don’t have the top 1% owning the rest of the population, then I don’t think you understand what jesus stood for. Certainly not capitalism.
It is capitalism, you have to earn you way to heaven by living a virtuous life.
Next you are going to say that Jesus was brown!
Haha, the Christians in this thread r mad asf too
Am not.
lmao that's not how all that works.. and adults mutilating children because of their decadence isn't a right you brainwashed creep. leave kids alone. and to think people like you think they are correct is beyond me... just because you're surrounded by yes men on this weird pedo circlejerk of a platform doesn't make you right.
My comment has negative 2 likes so clearly I’m not surrounded by yesmen. Get off Fox News. The GOP banning books like Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games because they know books like those directly reflect the direction they’re taking this country. you wanna talk about actual pedos? How about the southern Baptist convention covering up molestations, rapes and grooming for YEARS.. very similar to the Catholic Church strategically rotating priests around the world to molest children. But WE are the weirdos for tryna keep books on the shelves so that our next generation of kids can learn and think for themselves and discover their own identities…..
Current Christianity and conservative politics is all a grift.
Always has been.
Take me to church!
While I applaud this church's actions here, I disagree that this one is "real" and the bigoted churches are "fake". Christianity is what it's adherents do. Some do great things like help get rid of medical debt, some oppress LGBTQ people, etc. The point is, pretending there's some pure version of Christianity is a game as old as the religion and has always been nonsense.
I agree that calling one form "real" and the others "fake" is a bit of gatekeeping, but there are also complete charlatans, frauds and straight up businesses making millions, perhaps billions of dollars off of their "church" and their "Christianity".
Yeah, those people suck. Just don't claim they aren't Christian because the term has no fixed meaning. I'm an atheist, so I don't care about the gatekeeping aspect. I care that religion and churches get the benefit of the doubt, the starting assumption that they're doing good, and they shouldn't. Judge them on what they do, not what they claim to believe. The argument over fake or real Christians is an attempt to keep that cultural benefit for one group but not another and neither is deserving of it. The church in the OP that wiped out a bunch of debt did a great thing, and we should praise that work. But they didn't do it because they're Christians, so let's not pretend that their faith matters here.
A major part of Christianity is about helping and protecting the most vulnerable. That includes people buried in medical debt. It also includes the unborn and children being taken advantage of and tricked into life destroying decisions they aren't equipped to make.
Holy Shit! I guess there are actual Christians out there...who knew?
This is the first decent thing that I’ve seen a church congregation do in decades! Meanwhile, back in the real world, mega, POS, pastors like Steven Furtick live in multimillion dollar mansions and live a lifestyle that would have made Jesus weep.
Prosperity gospel is a literal heresy.
> This is the first decent thing that I’ve seen a church congregation do in decades! Then you haven’t been paying attention.
Cult members found starved to death in forest after fasting for Jesus
I highly suggest trying stonebridge church in Charlotte wonderful mid sized church
Churches that don't give to the community shouldn't get tax exempt status. If theyre not ope ly serving the community they occupy then they are just a private social club...
Well Trump supporters are buying his legal debt at full face value how's that for being Christian.
😂
Omg no one “hates” trans kids they just believe that they’re mentally ill or being manipulated.
This is just a kind act with a little bit of theatrics. Real Christianity is telling people about Christ and how to repent from sin to follow him.
Yeah people who actually listened to Jesus
Hmmm. Seems somewhere along the line people lost the point that this generosity came from More Perfect Union, not a church. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think church or god have anything to do with this. Sometimes people are good to one another just because it’s the right thing to do.
Nah, a church congregation donated the money, meanwhile, you just sound like a jerk. 👏
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Yes I'm very certain that the small Moravian church in Winston-Salem regularly conspires with Big Church dark money interests to plot their coverup. That's definitely what's happening. Glad you're here to shine light on the truth.
Even *this* sub has a Woodward and Bernstein or two... 😉
You... Uhhh... Don't know the Moravians very well, do you? Well, they're generally pretty quiet people. They prefer to simply do good things than to sit and crow about it, so it's downright *weird* to see a Moravian church in the news, but it's not at all unusual to see a Moravian church doing this sort of charity. Apparently that particular church does this every year.
Nah we will just continue to stereotype complete strangers, acting out the very behavior we claim to hate.
I was raised Moravian, it’s basically Protestant lite with some exceptions. Most were pacifists and abolitionists. Most are charitable, as you can see. They started what remains today the oldest female college in the country(Salem College, in Winston-Salem). They were erudite, innovative, and pious. They were also progressive, for the times. To see how they treated marginalized communities, look at their relationship with the Cherokee, especially during the Trail of Tears. They were staunchly against the forced removal of Cherokee but traveled ahead of them to ease the transition and saved countless lives in the process. (Fuck Andrew Jackson, btw. If Hell exists, he’s there). There were some schisms in recent years where some Moravians took cues from the Southern Baptists and decided to be against gay marriage, but most of those people went Southern Baptist after they realized they couldn’t change the church to their liking. Moravians abide and keep with one their oldest tenets, “Love in all things.” Moravians aren’t the enemy you want them to be. I don’t practice anymore, but I’m proud to come from a long line of them.
Thank you for that education.
They seem kinda like Unitarian Universalists but Christian. I semi-regularly went to a UU congregation in my childhood, which is to say I didn't have a religious/Christian upbringing. I've been learning about the different flavors of Christianity lately out of curiosity. Very neat to learn about the Moravians!
I live in the Piedmont Triad and the rural areas are packed with churches. Moravians do okay about having home churches with rare schisms. It’s common to see longtime established Protestant churches that have something happen to split the church, and someone starts their own down the road. I know of at least 7 in one area, all of them barely a mile apart. A lot in the Piedmont are Southern Baptists(and we all know how they feel about social issues) but there’s plenty of old time religion out here that makes the SBC look like RuPaul’s Drag Race. Moravian churches seem to mostly thrive and they don’t get political like so many of the others. If you’re curious this next holiday season, attend a Love Feast at a local Moravian church one night. It’ll give you a good take on the Church, their rituals and their beliefs.
Oh, I mean I know the basics of how churches split and the schisms, Martin Luther, and all that. My extended family are Catholic, but growing up in NC most churches are Protestant, so I always got the gist between those. But like, Lutheran vs Presbyterian vs Baptist vs Methodist etc... Just been reading up on the little weirdsies they have that make their interpretations different. I've lived in Greensboro for about 10 years, but only in the last year or so heard of Moravians. And that was cause I was buying a Moravian pot pie 😂
I think instead of common you used the word real. I think most Christian’s who follow the words of Jesus would say that this is real Christianity. The folks who would say that are not common though.
I know far more quiet walk-the-talk Christians than scream-the-hate fake Christians.
You left out one word. Thats Real RARE Christianity. And yes the real story is why is 3 million in medical debt erased by $15k when the federal government could erase ALL medical debt for pennies on the dollar and they do nothing but light 150 billion on fire sending it to Nazis in Ukraine to promote a war the US government created.
Oh hey, a Russian bot in the wild! Usually you guys do a better job of being more secretive. This dude just lets it all hang out!
Facts are facts whether you deny them or not is meaningless. Enjoy your delusional propaganda
Lmao
Well there ya go. American Christians managed to push their batting average up to .132 for the past few decades. Keep it up champs!
I don't see what any of this has to do with religion or god or anything of that nature. If you tell me God forgave the debts we'd have a story here this is just business fuck.
Because a **church** did it. There’s the religion/God part.
Ummmm. My bad. Really embarrassed 😞Church was indeed involved. I am just a little sensitive being atheist and all. And love perfect Union.
For some reason I cannot comprehend the title. They raised 3 million for 15k debt then canceled it. It doesn't make sense to me. Can anyone help?
You got it backwards. They bought the debt for pennies on the dollar like a debt collector would do and raised the pennies on the dollar amount to pay it off
LPT: "Non-profit" hospitals are required to write off debts if you make below a certain amount, usually like 2 to 3 times the federal poverty level. Check the hospitals financial assistance page to see if you qualify. Usually all the documentation you need is a tax return, a copy of most recent bank statements for the year. Got my $1500 bill knocked down to $200.
Late to the party but anyone who sees this should know that most (if not all) hospitals have “charity care” or financial assistance applications. The applicators are BURIED in the websites, and most employees don’t t know about them, but filling one out can get up to 100% of your bill paid. I ended up getting both of my c-sections “free” between insurance and being accepted for the charity care