There is a hypothetical autonomous town in America; I shall call it “Smith-Town,” and there arises in Smith-town a most impossible problem. On one very busy street there is a vibrant church who feeds the helpless, yet on the opposite side of the street there are many thriving businesses.
The church and the businesses came into place about the same time. The church has a following of “helpless” people that they feed every day in a soup kitchen and the helpless have increased in large number. The helpless are now becoming an unsavory sight for the businesses across the street, and will in variance clog up the side-walks and at times even get off the side walk and get into the street.
The soup kitchen barely has enough room inside for any lines to form and the line goes our the door down the side-walk which is public property and will on occasion pour over into the street; the street too of course is also public property.
Now the helpless getting fed are indeed “helpless,” thus they cannot be taught to be socially or occupationally productive, also the city, the church and the businesses are not able or willing to finance their relocation.
Also the law is in conflict, for Smith-town law supports public use to the helpless to be fed, yet the law also provides businesses the same public access for their customers; thus the law suffers a dilemma; for the businesses want the homeless gone, and the church feel the business' are cruel to demand it. The law must change in some way, one way or another, in order to make both or one of the parties happy.
The church stands their ground, saying they have a “right” to help the helpless, and even fear that some of the helpless souls could suffer severely if they are forced to stop.
The businesses also stand their ground saying they have a “right” to not have their businesses harmed by having helpless folks standing around on the sidewalks and street. For they are able to confirm that when the homeless are on the street and side-walks, their business traffic becomes obsolete, and endangers their ability to economically survive.
Here is the challenge - “Ethically according to scripture” what should autonomous Smith-town do to solve the problem? Keep in mind that most cities do not consider scripture in the real world, yet we as Christians are given scriptural grounds on how we should “support” the law in society. According to scripture, how should we “support the law.”
Let us have a dialectical exchange to resonate scripture; as a caveat, this is not a debate. If comments are given to “win” then you missed the point, yet if you use scripture and reason to shed light on the hypothetical problem, then we are all beneficiaries to understand ethics from scripture. I of course will also offer scriptural perspective for contribution in variance.
The church and the businesses came into place about the same time. The church has a following of “helpless” people that they feed every day in a soup kitchen and the helpless have increased in large number. The helpless are now becoming an unsavory sight for the businesses across the street, and will in variance clog up the side-walks and at times even get off the side walk and get into the street.
The soup kitchen barely has enough room inside for any lines to form and the line goes our the door down the side-walk which is public property and will on occasion pour over into the street; the street too of course is also public property.
Now the helpless getting fed are indeed “helpless,” thus they cannot be taught to be socially or occupationally productive, also the city, the church and the businesses are not able or willing to finance their relocation.
Also the law is in conflict, for Smith-town law supports public use to the helpless to be fed, yet the law also provides businesses the same public access for their customers; thus the law suffers a dilemma; for the businesses want the homeless gone, and the church feel the business' are cruel to demand it. The law must change in some way, one way or another, in order to make both or one of the parties happy.
The church stands their ground, saying they have a “right” to help the helpless, and even fear that some of the helpless souls could suffer severely if they are forced to stop.
The businesses also stand their ground saying they have a “right” to not have their businesses harmed by having helpless folks standing around on the sidewalks and street. For they are able to confirm that when the homeless are on the street and side-walks, their business traffic becomes obsolete, and endangers their ability to economically survive.
Here is the challenge - “Ethically according to scripture” what should autonomous Smith-town do to solve the problem? Keep in mind that most cities do not consider scripture in the real world, yet we as Christians are given scriptural grounds on how we should “support” the law in society. According to scripture, how should we “support the law.”
Let us have a dialectical exchange to resonate scripture; as a caveat, this is not a debate. If comments are given to “win” then you missed the point, yet if you use scripture and reason to shed light on the hypothetical problem, then we are all beneficiaries to understand ethics from scripture. I of course will also offer scriptural perspective for contribution in variance.