Posted on 10/07/2010 7:04:54 AM PDT by Catholic Examiner
Greed over need. What would Jesus do?
For $75, I bet a collection would have come up with that in no time, or chalk it up as a lost pair of boots.
Ah, yes ... the plot thickens.
“No one should lose their home because they are too cheap or too poor to pay the $75 bucks”
Send that one in to the administration. If Obama uses it ont he stump, maybe you’ll get a $75 prize.
His son is the one that punched the chief, not him.
Since we can assume that these firemen are 'decent' people, then we must also assume there is something missing from this picture.
We don't have all the facts, and I think if we did, we would better understand why they refused to put out the fire, and why this man refused to pay the fee. Apparently last year and this year.
No it can be assumed that since they sat there with a firetruck and all the equipment needed to put out the fire they are not decent.
When the firechief was asked by a media outlet that was there why they were just letting it burn the firechief got mad and threatened to call the police on them. He then rounded up his little fake firefighters(yes fake since they watched a house burn down) and made them leave so he wouldn’t be questioned about it.
Nothing decent about these guys has come up to even show they are decent. We know they let a home burn down when they could have out of decency stopped it and they didn’t.
I’m for it!
(btw, I am not attacking your morality or Christianity in my comments. I respect, and admire the answers you have given in your posts.)
In need? This is the part I don't think we can assume.
It appears this homeowner had the money, but refused to pay.
It that is true, would you have paid the fee for him?
Given all that, those fellows certainly did their jobs.
You either engage the fire, or you do not. If they engage, they have taught the residents of the county that failing to pay the annual dues doesn't matter - and the FD goes broke.
What the FD did do, was set up a Fire Block zone, so neighboring homes (who did pay) would be protected.
This is a very simple case of the parable of the Ant and the Grasshopper.
Surprisingly, you seem to be defending the Grasshopper.
Funny how people like to order Firemen to go into a Burning house - a house that is outside of their taxbase, a house where the owner decided to both drop Fire Department coverage, as well as declined to install any fire prevention system to replace the Fire Department’s protection.
I have no idea what kind of house it was, or what condition the roof was in, do you? Can’t water be streamed into a window or other opening?
Keith Olbermann and Huffington Post are coming down on the side of the hand-wringers, linking the fire department’s actions to the Tea Party movement.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26”What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28”You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36”Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Did you read about the Ant and the Grasshopper?
Why does the FD have to save a house, of someone who has refused to pay for the service? Do you run into your insurance company after your home has flooded - and demand that they take your $150 check and retro-actively cover you? Do you total your car, then demand that your insurance company take a premium check for a policy to replace your car?
If the FD were to save his home, why would anyone continue to pay the annual charge?
Then the state would have to provide those FD services, and water supply , and housing, and staff, for areas that have no Fire Department, or whose Fire Departments go bankrupt because nobody has to pay. Instead of paying just for FD services, we would have to pay for the graft and bureaucracy that would accompany the state takeover.
Is that really the direction you think we should take?
Perhaps you haven’t heard of the parable of the “Ant and the Grasshopper.”
That parable is far more applicable, as there was no threat against a human, only possessions that the homeowner was foolish enough to place at risk.
The Bible preaches self-reliance and personal responsibility - you seem to be twisting this to be entitlement and Nanny State.
And more than a few FREEPERS are joining in with them, I am ashamed to say. Funny how the term "Personal Responsibility" has no meaning to some people.
They don’t have to, but, along with many others, I feel they should have tried. Since it’s done yearly, all they have to do is change the contracts with what they want, and what they need to cover this sort of situation.
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