2019 Labor Pains

Some of them should have been mandated by government decades ago.

"Make the Company Keep Your Workplace Safe," jumps out.

Yikes.

I was responding to your line, "Soopers used to have security who carried guns...." (Message 20). I quoted it.Do you propose shooting shoplifters?

So is making people so poor that they feel they have to steal. Maybe the priority of the lunch line should be based on who's the hungriest.

Ask and ye shall receive. And you see them as faceless bad guys. According to Jesus, it's mandatory for you to be willing. The only thing I have that's worth stealing is my jar of spare change. Maybe he's just saving me a trip downtown.

I didn't say it is. But there is a correlation between poverty and crime. The workers don't get paid in food either. Grab all you can? Yeah, that was how it worked until we invented the rule of law. No, you're wrong. It's to each according to his need. A society that can't provide for the needs of its most needy is a worthless society.

And yet your attitude toward theft is harsher than your employer's. Nobody is saying it's okay to steal. I was replying to your, "Love thy neighbor, don't demand stuff from him." (Message 28) I'm saying if he asks, you should give. Nobody's asking you to hand out Safeway's spare change, just your own. And while you're on the clock, you could try just being a little compassionate instead of vindictive. Yes, you render unto Safeway what belongs to Safeway but what does Safeway render unto you and its customers and the community that supports it? As I've told you before, that is not an excuse for ignoring the poor. If anything, it's an indictment of our society.

The egg. Did you think it was a difficult question?Clearly, poverty came before crime. Poverty is a natural form of population control in most species. Crime, on the other hand, is strictly a social construct. Who "owns" what is arbitrary. What people steal is just a medium of exchange. They don't steal cosmetics because they want cosmetics. They steal what's valuable and portable. They exchange it for what they need, whether that's food or drugs. And you insinuated that the pushing to the front of the line is a good thing. And nobody is advocating any such thing. "Society" includes both those who are fed and those who feed, so your fantasy is meaningless.I repeat: A society that can not take care of its weakest members - the children, the sick, the poor, the disabled, the aged, etc. - is worthless.

I haven't said anything about justifying theft. I'm suggesting that you try to understand it. You'll never solve the problem by dehumanizing the thieves.Or maybe you really don't want to solve the problem. Maybe you'd rather try to preserve the myth of "the Fall". You should think about it, for a lot longer than a minute. As I have said, it was mandated by Jesus. You are mandated to be willing. Non sequitur. If the churches were doing what they're supposed to do for the poor, the government wouldn't have to help them at all. And if somebody was doing enough for the poor, there would be a lot less crime.

You keep saying that and I keep correcting you. God is not doing His work. For practical purposes - e.g. helping the hungry and sick - there is no God. We have to do the work if it's going to get done. It would be nice if there was a God doing it for us but there isn't.

You don't work for Caesar.