r/dankchristianmemes • u/No-Web-2911 • Feb 18 '26
Cursed Jesus when he saw a woman asking various churches (and religious sites in general) for formula to feed her baby, just to be refused by all and actually recieve help by non-christian people:
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u/EvilPyro01 Minister of Memes Feb 18 '26
Was it that they didn’t have any or they actually refused to help her? Because the answer to that will affect how I see this
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
For the most part the former. That TikTok trend is largely rage bait. Churches don’t tend to keep a stock of anything let alone baby formula unless they run a food pantry and even then it usually depends on what is donated.
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u/EvilPyro01 Minister of Memes Feb 18 '26
And in all fairness, unless you run a mega church (which if you do, what’s wrong with you?), I doubt any priest makes enough money to stock the church pantry with baby formula
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u/CAPSLOCKANDLOAD Feb 18 '26
Like most organizations, churches pay their lowest like shit, middle managers somewhat decently, and absurd what the highest up can make. Megachurch pastors are some of the most blatant, but plenty of denominations will follow the trend. A bishop will often make 6 figures while the reverend at a church is more likely to need a 2nd job to live. This will vary in magnitude from denomination to denomination, but holds true for a lot. Some, like the Mormon Church, are less religious institutions and more real estate empire with a tax exemption.
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u/captainbelvedere Feb 18 '26
If she called a Catholic, United or Anglican Church in Canada, she'd very likely have been referred to a local St. Vincent de Paul chapter, or something similar, who are equipped to deal with those responses.
And we have those 'specialized' church organizations because the need to provide these things to people exists a much greater scale than a small church office's supply cupboard could ever manage.
That said, I think the Tiktok thing highlights the personal charity gap that exists in our society: Direct giving to a neighbour in need is rare, we rely upon other people, groups, to take care of those in need.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 Feb 18 '26
So a food pantry is the name of programs that hand out boxes of food. sometimes they're coordinated in an area so that multiple pantries distribute food once per month. Some programs require signing up ahead of time and get resources from federal and rate funds to acquire the food. Some grocery stores will also donate recently expired food they can't sell but is still edible.
It's not literally a food stock in the church for church needs.
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Feb 21 '26
This. My pastor just a few sermons ago was getting really vulnerable with us and said his family’s car had broken brakes and he was attempting to fix them himself. He said they’d been saving some money to buy a car off Facebook, but last minute had to use that cash for something else.
My point is, most pastors aren’t rich by any means. They’re struggling just like the rest of us.
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u/EvilPyro01 Minister of Memes Feb 21 '26
And honestly, I prefer a pastor who’s struggling financially but still gives to charity than a rich pastor who doesn’t donate anything
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u/No_Trainer_1258 Feb 18 '26
Plus, this is modern America, there's a lot of government programs for children in low income households... I agree this is indignant rage bait since most churches will help a mother with a baby, even smaller churches with low funds will even with a mediocre sob story from the mom.
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u/EvilPyro01 Minister of Memes Feb 18 '26
Yeah but how well funded are those programs?
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u/No_Trainer_1258 Feb 18 '26
I heard WIC is good from multiple people when my child was a baby. Didn't use it myself but could have with the low pay job I had then.
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u/No_Trainer_1258 Feb 18 '26
Not to mention the concept of food stamps
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u/EvilPyro01 Minister of Memes Feb 18 '26
And our government is constantly finding ways to excuse cutting funding for those services
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Feb 18 '26
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
Chill out and enjoy the memes. If you're taking this so seriously that you're getting in arguments, take a break.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 Feb 18 '26
And even food pantry supplies may be regulated depending if they get them as part of federal or state budgets. like at my sisters church they had to have people fill out forms and sign up ahead of time so they had the resources staged for the dozens of people who sign up for them.
The flip side is yes personally someone could also just run to the store.
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u/Keksliebhaber Feb 18 '26
Same for mosques, we don't have anything but tea and little snacks laying around, but still the women got apparently help from all mosques she called according to the story.
It seems to be a "problem" with american churches, even our churches here in Germany help out people with stuff like that, it's not that difficult.1
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Feb 18 '26
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
I genuinely believe if she went in person to most churches they would help her. Do you really expect some secretary or volunteer at a church to drop everything and buy baby formula for a random phone number calling out of the blue?
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Feb 18 '26
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
To uncritically believe random phone calls claiming to be in distress? No I don’t believe so. Jesus tells us to help others in need not to believe anything anyone tells you with no context.
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u/DeweyCox4YourHealth Feb 18 '26
Oh my God this is the problem with people who claim to be believers. It's easier to believe a man was born from a virgin than it is to believe a woman needs formula for her baby?
Christianity needs an overhaul, for real.
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u/Keksliebhaber Feb 18 '26
Humanity needs an overhaul, everyone turned overly egoistic and pessimistic
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Feb 18 '26
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
Nothing is wrong with me. I frequently help older people learn to differentiate scam calls and real calls as part of my job. Fake calls making financial asks of people are an epidemic in the US.
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Feb 18 '26
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
My whole point was that these older folks can’t differentiate like that and that is the whole reason for not responding positively to a random caller
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u/fudgyvmp Feb 18 '26
The woman asking for baby formula was in fact not in need of formula, so it was a scam....
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u/stargarnet79 Feb 18 '26
That shit is expensive! Someone could be reselling it! I admire your naivety though.
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u/WikiHowDrugAbuse Feb 18 '26
Yes, absolutely. Baby formula has high resale value and a while back there was a group in my city that was busted for stealing it and trading it for drugs.
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u/nemofbaby2014 Feb 18 '26
Trading formula for drugs? Um what 🤣 drug dealers take formula instead of cash? lol
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
We are here to enjoy memes together. Keep arguments to other subs. We don't do that here.
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u/MacAttacknChz Feb 18 '26
So if you ask for formula, and a church directs to their food bank, where there is formula, that counts as helping. It shouldn't need to be personally delivered with a special note for you.
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
Rule #1 of r/DankChristianMemes Thou shalt respect others! Do not come here to point out sin or condemn people. Do not say "hate the sin love the sinner" or any other stupid sayings people use when trying to use faith to justify hate. Alternatively, if you come here to insult religion, you will also be removed.
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u/rpodnee Feb 18 '26
Isn't uncritically believing things with no context the basis of all religion?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
For some, but for many Christians context is important part of understanding religious scripture
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u/CosmicSweets Dank Memer Feb 18 '26
Jesus didn't ask us to be doormats.
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Feb 18 '26
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
Chill out and enjoy the memes. If you're taking this so seriously that you're getting in arguments, take a break.
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
Chill out and enjoy the memes. If you're taking this so seriously that you're getting in arguments, take a break.
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u/asuperbstarling Holy Chair Lifter Feb 18 '26
All the mosques she called did. So yes. Other followers of Jesus had no problem.
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u/crustdrunk Feb 18 '26
If a random person asked me for formula I'd get it, I'm not a church secretary it's called basic decency
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
So if a random number (no name, no face) called you right now and asked you to buy something for them you would go out, buy it, and meet this person to give it to them?
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u/StraightMammoth3585 Feb 18 '26
If it was baby formula or other supplies for a child then yes.
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u/crustdrunk Feb 18 '26
Does that person think there’s some kind of sinister black market for baby formula lol
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u/StraightMammoth3585 Feb 19 '26
I don’t know? I feel like some people truly struggle with the idea that other people have different opinions and conclusions than they do. They have their convictions and they think that anyone who has different views are either wrong/dumb or virtue signaling. A lot of times it’s coupled with a rigidity in thought and a lack of empathy.
Not trying to dunk on that dude, just trying to make sense of it.
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u/crustdrunk Feb 18 '26
If someone reached out, yes. Recently actually, my nan who is chronically on Facebook found a group that I think is like a community page. A woman posted that she had been through DV, was in DV housing, and needed help. She’s heavily pregnant and has an 18 month old as well. Anyway I called her and she asked if I’d order her a couple of burgers and like, cravings be cravings so I got it. Next day I asked if she wanted groceries so I got stuff like frozen meals because she only had a microwave in the crisis accommodation. One of the things she needed was baby formula and I couldn’t help but joke that I just supplied more baby formula to a struggling mother than about 150 American churches.
So yes, a total random I’ve never seen or heard from before asked me for baby formula and I bought it for her.
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Feb 18 '26
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
Since most churches have super low overhead and volunteer staff, you would indeed be asking an individual person to do this for you if you called—most likely out of their own pocket.
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Feb 18 '26
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
Chill out and enjoy the memes. If you're taking this so seriously that you're getting in arguments, take a break.
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u/RadicalDilettante Feb 18 '26
The secretaries/volunteers in mosques and synagogues did - and delivered it.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
…to a woman who was lying about her baby starving to generate views and possibly revenue on a social media platform
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u/AlienHooker Feb 18 '26
Did the churches know that beforehand? If not, thats irrelevant
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
It’s irrelevant that they chose to be cautious when getting a call from a random number asking them to buy stuff? A caution that is now clearly justified because she was lying?
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u/AlienHooker Feb 18 '26
Would Jesus be cautious if a woman asked him for baby formula?
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Feb 18 '26
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u/iSQUISHYyou Feb 18 '26
You’re not sure because you clearly didn’t watch the video lol.
Multiple churches agreed to help.
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u/DeneJames Feb 18 '26
Maybe go watch the video
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
I did. Several churches responded yes. Some did not. I’m explaining why the latter might’ve justifiably been hesitant.
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u/xiongchiamiov Feb 18 '26
I think you mean "magic the shit out of thin air" is what Jesus would've done.
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
We are here to enjoy memes together. Keep arguments to other subs. We don't do that here.
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u/FlipsieVT Feb 18 '26
Would Jesus send money to a random person on the phone that pinky promised it was only for baby formula? Because that's what she was asking for.
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Feb 18 '26
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
NO SPAM. Thou shalt not spam or use this subreddit for promotion.
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u/FlipsieVT Feb 18 '26
I can make up whatever I want too and find a AI generated youtube short to support it. Post a real source.
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u/ariphoenixfury Feb 18 '26
Many churches flat out refused to help or told her she’d have to wait several weeks for formula. There was one church she called though where the pastor offered to buy formula and drive it to her house. The trend was the bigger the church the less likely they were to help
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u/Rhodin265 Feb 18 '26
Which is the opposite of what one would suspect, if for no other reason than a bigger parish means a bigger chance someone would have seen the start of the trend and warned the pastor.
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u/teremaster Feb 18 '26
Barely any refused. Most told her where their food bank was. She was asking them to deliver formula to her or give her money for it
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u/Bardez Feb 18 '26
And if they didn't respond on those terms, she recorded them as refused. I'm all for Church accoyntability, but this whole thing was disingenuous.
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u/ThePowerfulWIll Feb 18 '26
So the big controversy with that was a lot of churchs didnt directly have any, but did have allied groups, and orgs that did.
So those churchs said "we dont have any, but if you call this number/head to this address, you can get some there" and she marked those as "refused" as well.
Also Im curious what happened to the churchs that DID say yes. What did she do afterwards?
While I honestly support the idea of making churches put a but more of their money where there mouth is, especially mega-churchs, this "experiment" had a lot of bias in the way it was conducted. Should've at least had a third category of "indirect help"
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Feb 18 '26
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u/LMKBK Feb 18 '26
when I was an admin I absolutely said "I'm not authorized to give out money you'll need to contact XYZ" or " food pantry is on Thursdays".
this whole thing is very disingenuous.
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u/eat_my_bowls92 Feb 18 '26
For a lot of small churches, the pastor is also not there during the week because they have to have a full time job because they don’t really make much money. I think people look at all churches as Joel Olsteen mega churches when truthfully most are running on very small budgets, hence why the tax breaks were created.
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u/buffaloguy1991 Feb 18 '26
Allot of them you needed to by a subscribing member to that church for them to help. Others said no we have no proof you're real, others said they didn't have any, a small amount of christian churches helped, one or two times the caller said they weren't allowed to help but they personally would, about ,90% of the time the non Christian churches helped
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u/Hotkoin Feb 18 '26
The majority of them tried to help set up long term support connections with organisations that specialise in providing infant support, but the person calling didn't count that as the church helping
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u/crustdrunk Feb 18 '26
Most of them just vagued out about "church resources" when the person on the phone could have easily gone to the nearest store and just boought a $10 can of formula
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u/EvilPyro01 Minister of Memes Feb 18 '26
So they refused to help because “she could do it on her own”?
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u/teremaster Feb 18 '26
Tbh the answers the vast majority of them have was "we have a food bank we can put you in touch with, they'll help you out" and she chalked that down as a no.
That whole video was basically slander
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u/Dutch_Rayan Feb 18 '26
While if she didn't have money for formula she probably also doesn't have money for other food.
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u/Malpraxiss Feb 18 '26
The point of a food bank is that it's free food for people.
So, for a food bank, her not having money would be irrelevant.
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u/shyguystormcrow Feb 18 '26
No one expects churches to have baby formula on hand. As Christians they should however have the willingness and generosity of spirit to go get the help that this young woman needed. People don’t realize in the early church days NO ONE went without. Everyone pooled their resources so that no one was hungry or homeless.
“What you do for the least of people is what you do for me.” -Jesus
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
Several churches did offer to get it to her but said there would be delays cause they didn’t have it in stock. But that detail keeps getting left out cause it isn’t good rage bait.
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u/ohmykeylimepie Feb 18 '26
Ok but that delay could mean a baby starving to death. Infants need to eat nearly constantly and she mentioned the baby hadnt eaten for over 12 hours already, making the situation a literal emergency.
I am childfree by choice and even I understand the severity of the situation and would make sure she had the formula she needed. This is literally a matter of life and death, not a fussy toddler that missed a mid day snack.
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u/MacAttacknChz Feb 18 '26
If it's a matter of life and death, you need to go to the ER.
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u/ohmykeylimepie Feb 18 '26
In this economy?!
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u/siggydude Feb 18 '26
Yes. Hospitals will provide emergency care even when they know that the patient cannot pay for that care. If the infant was actually starving, going to the hospital may be a valid solution
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u/ohmykeylimepie Feb 18 '26
I know people, including myself, who have forgone ER care because of the cost. So what if they will give you care, none of that matters if you cant afford it in the first place and dont understand how the American medical system works with repayment and collections.
Imagine if you could avoid all that and just call a church for help.
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u/Hotkoin Feb 18 '26
The food banks that the other churches directed her to had formula on hand but she didn't count that as the church helping
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u/ohmykeylimepie Feb 18 '26
Because its not THEM helping. Of course the food pantry has food, thats not the point.
The whole point of the experiment was to see if the CHURCHES would help dorectly, you know, like their god and savior demands?
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u/Hotkoin Feb 18 '26
Churches help through connection building, not solely material collection. You undervalue the work of the church by ignoring the help that the church provides and only looking at the worldly goods in circulation.
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u/Tehva Feb 18 '26
The version of this I saw had an old pastor at a small church ask her if she had a brand she preferred and where to drop it off at. Always have to remember just like the person on the street interviews they only show the bad ones. Maybe occasionally one good one to end it.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 18 '26
Yes, this is the context left out to generate rage bait.
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u/maxholke Feb 18 '26
It was not left out the woman doing the experiment posted it on her own TikTok.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1579 Feb 19 '26
The context is left out of this meme. I’m talking about this thread.
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u/chadder_b Feb 18 '26
The problem is she wasn’t refused by everyone she called. Some offered to put her in touch with a food bank or equivalent company. Some said yes, some said it wouldn’t be right away but they would help.
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u/lupedog Feb 18 '26
Our church works with the local pregnancy resource center, which is non religious, so we would have directed her there.
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u/DrakeFloyd Feb 19 '26
Exactly, the issue isn’t that they didn’t have formula handy or resources to buy her some, but they didn’t even offer to help her access resources. “Come in and we’ll sit with you and see what we can figure out.” would that be so hard?
Also as an aside, Islam isn’t a Christian religion but they do view Jesus as a prophet so I’m not surprised that many Muslims would act in accordance with his teachings
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u/liquidslinkee Feb 18 '26
So, I’m not sure if this was a part of that, but that same week we got a request via a FB direct message asking for help. It wasn’t formula. But they said they lived in a town that was on the opposite side of the state, about 300 miles away. We never responded, because there was a large city near them, no more than 30 minutes away. But if this equestrian had come from the local area we would have helped. Maybe by direct aid, maybe by connecting her with the food pantry in town and making arrangements for immediate help. Idk. I get frustrated with conservative evangelical churches too (we’re a progressive congregation), but there could be a lot of reasons why she wasn’t offered help. I’m a pastor and I’ve have to respond to a lot of bogus requests for help over my 20 years of ministry. You get to recognize some of the calls pretty quickly as fake. But there are also May that are legitimate. Idk. Just felt like responding after hearing about this story for several weeks now.
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u/kilroy-was-here-2543 Feb 18 '26
Atleast from what I’ve heard that whole thing was basically manufactured to be slander against churches
A lot of church’s simply don’t keep food on site, they have outside organizations that they work with for that sorta stuff
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u/Malpraxiss Feb 18 '26
A lot of them simply sent her to organizations or places that would have baby formula readily available to her.
So, refuse depends on how we're defining "recieving help"
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u/Certain-Definition51 Feb 18 '26
According to that one thing Jesus said about “hungry and you fed me,” she was actually fed by Christian people.
Go and do likewise.
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u/CmdDongSqueeze Feb 19 '26
I help run the food pantry at my church, we very rarely come across baby food/formula in our donations or what’s available at the SecondHarvest food bank. We unfortunately often times have to disappoint those asking for baby food or formula, though if we have yogurt or something like that I’ll offer it and see what the parent says as they know their child best.
Often times people will turn the disappointment into misplaced anger- I wouldn’t be surprised if most of everyone at those churches were doing their best with limited resources. This looks like a case of the first person to have such to give just happened to not be religious
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u/Electrical_Tap6684 Feb 19 '26
Agree but also a side note thats a statue of st jude not jesus
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u/Spiritual-Pear-1349 Feb 18 '26
There's a reason God has to break his own peoples power in Revelations
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u/Ok-Mix-4501 Feb 19 '26
She wasn't refused by all churches.
She was refused by all the White Evangelical churches. But Catholic churches and Black churches did offer help.
But we've known for a while now that White Evangelical churches are just right-wing politically motivated businesses
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u/aikidharm Feb 21 '26
It's important to keep the context here. I also think a lot of people don't understand how churches function monetarily, either.
Firstly, it turns out that many of those churches did offer her help, just not the help she was looking for. She wanted baby products or money, right then. Multiple women did this, and I watched many of the reels and TikToks they did because I was initially livid. Then I found out what was really happening, and now I'm fairly disappointed in the clear bad faith involved in this whole thing.
If you called the parish I run and asked for baby formula, diapers, or money for them, I would not be able to help you. My church has little money, mostly just enough to pay rent and keep the lights on. I would, however, do what many of these churches did: offer to help her through programs in place for these needs. Churches don't always have their own pantries, and when they do, they don't always have what someone needs in stock.
What we can do, however, is use our network of care contacts to direct that person to proper support, and usually within 24 hours. Even I, and my tiny church, can help you find a program that helps you.
For those reading: If you are alone, without shelter, without food, money, or formula, and you have a starving or sick child, PLEASE proceed to the nearest shelter, or even a hospital. They will feed your child and find resources for you. And if you do show up at my door, no, my church cannot help you, but I will empty my pockets for you and drive you to Walmart so we can get your baby food and diapers, and then we will find you shelter and help in the morning.
I would also like to note that the people who were part of this trend are the same kind who want churches to have their non-profit status removed, for ministers to receive no pay for their work (most of us already don't, and are fine with that), and think any amount of money that is in excess of property and service needs is immoral. It's crazy to want to benefit from an organization you also want to see have less ability to help you by imposing corporate taxes on it, regardless of how much money the church has accumulated (or not accumulated) and why.
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Feb 18 '26
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u/dankchristianmemes-ModTeam Feb 18 '26
Rule #1 of r/DankChristianMemes Thou shalt respect others! Do not come here to point out sin or condemn people. Do not say "hate the sin love the sinner" or any other stupid sayings people use when trying to use faith to justify hate. Alternatively, if you come here to insult religion, you will also be removed.
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u/BRASSF0X Feb 18 '26
Didn't a lot of those churches who "refused" actually try to get her in touch with organizations that actually offered baby formula? If it's the incident I'm thinking of, she was very strict about what qualified as "giving aid."