I saw an article on MSN today saying that a UK priest was preaching shoplifting. At first sight I was disgusted. How could someone who considers themself a man of God recommend such illegal behavior? However, as I read more I started to agree more with him than everyone else. He was specifically recommending it to those who had nothing or had been left without options to feed themselves or their families. He would rather them steal a can of ravioli than turn to prostition or more violent crimes. If we as a people choose to ignore charities or the most vulnerable around us, then we deserve to pay the consequences. He only recommended stealing from chain stores because the cost of stolen food would just be past down to the rest of us.
I'm still completely against theft of any kind, but I agree with the idea of it all. We shouldn't be ignoring the people who are really in need. We need to take care of each other and do more to help those in need. We can donate to charities. Find individuals in our lives that need our help.
I love that his sermon was so provocative because it reached me clear on the other side of the "pond" and got me thinking. This is a good and healthy dialogue and hopefully it stretches us all to do a little bit more for someone else.
I do not believe God will bless those who do not bless the lives of his other children.
Suicide
13 years ago
3 comments:
yeah I'm gonna go with the no excuses on this. You push one commandment soon they are all pushed until they aren't there at all. Can't lower the standards we've been given. That being said we def need to open our eyes to those in need. How many things do I have 2 or more of? How many times did I say I cant eat one more bite and end up throwing away leftovers because there is soo much food in my house? It makes me think what more can I do?
If nothing else his sermon was good for those who have plenty. It was more of a wake-up call than an actual direction to have people break laws and commandments. We all need to do better in our lives and be more generous to those around us.
My husband and I were talking the other day about feeling good about paying tithing and fast offerings because we KNOW it's going to be used for good things. We don't have a lot ourselves (though we have a LOT more than some people), we're still sacrificing some needs at this point, but we feel really blessed to be able to give a generous fast offering and especially when we've felt particularly blessed (monetarily or not) to give a little bit more than we ordinarily do.
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