It's illegal now to help "strangers" in trouble

[aldona]

Las Vegas Makes It Illegal To Feed the Homeless

US pair charged after aiding stricken migrants

Very interesting.

Has anybody read the Book of Jasher?

The Book of Jasher - Online Text

Here's an extract that deals with the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their sexual immorality is well known, but it seems there were also other sins that brought judgement on the two cities.

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(Chapter 19, p.47)

8 And when a poor man came to their land they would give him silver and gold, and cause a proclamation in the whole city not to give him a morsel of bread to eat, and if the stranger should remain there some days, and die from hunger, not having been able to obtain a morsel of bread, then at his death all the people of the city would come and take their silver and gold which they had given to him.

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9 And those that could recognize the silver or gold which they had given him took it back, and at his death they also stripped him of his garments, and they would fight about them, and he that prevailed over his neighbor took them.

10 They would after that carry him and bury him under some of the shrubs in the deserts; so they did all the days to any one that came to them and died in their land.

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(Chapter 19, p.48)

24 At that time the wife of Lot bare him a daughter, and he called her name Paltith, saying, Because God had delivered him and his whole household from the kings of Elam; and Paltith daughter of Lot grew up, and one of the men of Sodom took her for a wife.

25 And a poor man came into the city to seek a maintenance, and he remained in the city some days, and all the

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people of Sodom caused a proclamation of their custom not to give this man a morsel of bread to eat, until he dropped dead upon the earth, and they did so.

26 And Paltith the daughter of Lot saw this man lying in the streets starved with hunger, and no one would give him any thing to keep him alive, and he was just upon the point of death.

27 And her soul was filled with pity on account of the man, and she fed him secretly with bread for many days, and the soul of this man was revived.

28 For when she went forth to fetch water she would put the bread in the water pitcher, and when she came to the place where the poor man was, she took the bread from the pitcher and gave it him to eat; so she did many days.

29 And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah wondered how this man could bear starvation for so many days.

30 And they said to each other, This can only be that he eats and drinks, for no man can bear starvation for so many days or live as this man has, without even his countenance changing; and three men concealed themselves in a place where the poor man was stationed, to know who it was that brought him bread to eat.

31 And Paltith daughter of Lot went forth that day to fetch water, and she put bread into her pitcher of water, and she went to draw water by the poor man's place, and she took out the bread from the pitcher and gave it to the poor man and he ate it.

32 And the three men saw what Paltith did to the poor man, and they said to her, It is thou then who hast supported him, and therefore has he not starved, nor changed in appearance nor died like the rest.

33 And the three men went out of the place in which they were concealed, and they seized Paltith and the bread which was in the poor man's hand.

34 And they took Paltith and brought her before their judges, and they said to them, Thus did she do, and it is she who supplied the poor man with bread, therefore did he not die all this time; now therefore declare to us the punishment due to this woman for having transgressed our law.

35 And the people of Sodom and Gomorrah assembled and kindled a fire in the street of the city, and they took the woman and cast her into the fire and she was burned to ashes.

36 And in the city of Admah there was a woman to whom they did the like.

37 For a traveler came into the city of Admah to abide there all night, with the intention of going home in the morning, and he sat opposite the door of the house of the young woman's father, to remain there, as the sun had set when be had reached that place; and the young woman saw him sitting by the door of the house.

38 And he asked her for a drink of water and she said to him, Who art thou? and he said to her, I was this day going on the road, and reached here when the sun set, so I will abide here all night, and in the morning I will arise early and continue my journey.

39 And the young woman went into the house and fetched the man bread and water to eat and drink.

40 And this affair became known to the people of Admah, and they assembled and brought the young woman before the judges, that they should judge her for this act.

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41 And the judge said, The judgment of death must pass upon this woman because she transgressed our law, and this therefore is the decision concerning her.

42 And the people of those cities assembled and brought out the young woman, and anointed her with honey from head to foot, as the judge had decreed, and they placed her before a swarm of bees which were then in their hives, and the bees flew upon her and stung her that her whole body was swelled.

43 And the young woman cried out on account of the bees, but no one took notice of her or pitied her, and her cries ascended to heaven.

44 And the Lord was provoked at this and at all the works of the cities of Sodom, for they had abundance of food, and had tranquility amongst them, and still would not sustain the poor and the needy, and in those days their evil doings and sins became great before the Lord.

45 And the Lord sent for two of the angels that had come to Abraham's house, to destroy Sodom and its cities.

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I know the Book of Jasher is an apocryphal book and not considered inspired like the Bible is, but this account helps other Biblical passages make sense...like Ezekiel 16:49..."Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned: they did not help the poor and need."

And could this also be a reason why there are so many biblical texts instructing us to show hospitality to strangers and to be generous to those in need?

Just some thoughts...

aldona

[Neil D]

While I don't want to defend these cities actions against the homeless, I do want to note that the reason these cities take these actions.

Some of the homeless have become aggressive in thier panhandling, aka asking for moneys from the public. Consider the following anadoctal story-

My uncle and his wife and a friend were visiting a large city together. They were window shopping, going from window to window making tourist type comments, when an old unkempt woman came up to my uncle. She never said anything, but stared at up at my uncle. My uncle replied in the form of putting his arm around his wife. The unkempt woman went to my uncle's friend and stared at him. No words were said, but the unspoken communication was clear. After about 5-10 minutes, the friend gave the woman some money and she left.

Such is the harrassment that some residents get. And the bussiness owners are complaining about it.

This legislation deals with regularly feeding of the homeless...and I assume that it does so in a public place. It does not forbid the homeless from going to soup kitchens or other such places to recieve food. It only restricts the giving of food in commerical/tourist areas.

[aldona]

Neil, you make a lot of valid points, but maybe (if the apocryphal account is true), the law in Sodom was first passed for similar practical reasons...

If the population of homeless/ underprivileged people in a town increases to the point where ordinary citizens are being harrassed and feel unsafe, would it not be more humane to look into the causes of the problem and see what has gone wrong in the running of that society, to allow such an imbalance to occur?

I guess I just have a problem with the whole idea of passing a LAW to forbid rendering assistance to a person in need, regardless of the circumstances.

aldona

[bevin]

There are three fundamental causes in down-town USA

• We don't let the real bottom end just plain die. This is a big change from most societies in history (and even today). Nor do we give them enough support to become productive. Instead we give them just enough to keep them alive.
• We don't have a frontier for the poor to move to. Instead we have a society where everything is owned by someone, and thus it is hard to be a subsistence farmer/hunter/vagrant.
• We don't provide a practical education that teaches people how to take care of themselves. Instead we have a legal system that encourages dependency - the poor are a mechanism for siphoning wealth from the tax payers into the pockets of the lawyers, medical profession, social services, etc.

I see vast waste in the social services system in the city where I ride ambulances. Not in the delivery of critical treatment, but in the inefficient delivery of noncritical treatment.

Stupid things, like calling two police cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance to a slow-speed pedestrian v car where there was no significant injury to anyone. Or calling a 911 ambulance to an independent living facility just to stand a eldery person back on their feet after doing a very easy to do assessment. Or a 911 ambulance to someone with a tooth ache who just wanted an Advil.

/Bevin

[bevin]

ps: I think every USA city has free food for the poor - soup kitchen's or whatever that provide nutrious meals every day.

There is no need for people to pan-handle for food - and if you give them money it is probably NOT going to be spent on food. Drugs and alcohol, almost guaranteed. You are NOT helping someone on the street by giving them a few dollars - you are almost certainly enabling their habit.