Dan - Just because we are Christians, doesn't mean that we need to be a doormat or, are we to enable crime or criminals by not making the choices THEY made, of their own volition, that would ultimately cause their own destiny. We are STILL to love, and to look after those that are needy. Whoever that may be. In so doing, yes, we are displaying God's love for all, in action. Everyone, as you know, needs to make a decision to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. If your sentenced to Cap. Pun., well, your time frame to do so is reduced. Yes, all Christ followers are saved by Grace. Grace is only offered while we are alive so, everyone better take advantage of God's favour while they are above ground. The prison system does represent a large section of the poor, but, I'm sure that envy is a major reason for most. There are financially well to do people there too, but, perhaps there aren't more because they may have the means to stay out of prison - who knows? Hard work will result in financial prosperity, not the world's view, but God's. Regrettably, many choose the wide road, not the narrow. Some perks in prisons are wide screen T.V's with cable, video games, BBQ's, theraputic walks for sex offenders around bird baths, yoga, cooking classes, Gov't sponsored pensions, early parole hearings (which disrespects victim's families) etc., etc. If prisons would reflect more of a place to stay out of - I'm sure decisions to enter would change also.
In response to Mulcair - Not only are the optics bad here but, if this decision is to not do what he should do, renouncing citizenship in France, shows his non-committment soley to Canada. This decision by him, also reflects upon the NDP's laissez faires attitude in the way they run their party.What Mulcair's family roles are are vastly different or can be, than running a diverse Country such as ours.
Great to hear from you, John. I’ve been feeling sort of bad about putting in two negative responses without first saying how nice it is to see you blogging. I’ll try to keep reading and responding. Sometimes I feel a bit awkward about such a public forum so if you’ll drop me an email at dan.colborne@gmail.com I’ll have your email address and we could correspond a bit more personally. You can also get back at me on my blog. http://pilgrim-colbornespilgrimjournal.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI’m not so concerned about the Mulcair thing. First, as a follower of Jesus I serve a foreign king who’s kingdom is not of this world. Worldly citizenship has an administrative purpose but beyond that Jesus’ followers should put little value on it. Secondly, as you say, the electoral process will take care of the matter. But I suspect he’s done the polling already and knows, or thinks he knows that people don’t care.
The issue of prisons is another thing.
What you are calling perks are the normal, everyday things that make life liveable in the 21st century. These people are sentenced to live in this place for years. Do we really want to deprive them of TV, or just wide screen and cable? Should they have no walks, bird baths, classes, BBQs, video games? Even if we work them, what are they to do when they’re not working? Can they have books, books with pictures, books with colour pictures? Would you like to be the guard of hundreds men whose lives are being systematically made hopeless and miserable? Sounds unnecessarily dangerous to me. And why would we deny them the pensions that they earned and paid for? They can’t spend their money in there, but many have dependants. Should my wife, who will have a very meagre Canada Pension because she stayed home to raise our children, lose the benefit of my pension just because I committed a crime? And when a person is eventually released from prison is there some benefit in him or her being penniless?
I suspect the over-representation of poor people in prison has more to do with them being unable to afford lawyers to work the system for them, than it has to do with envying more than rich folks do. And also with committing the kinds of crimes you go to jail for. The rich bank executives who brought the American economy down and destroyed the lives of so many poor people didn’t go to jail, but they did get bailed out with millions, even billions of tax dollars. As long as the rich make the laws they will be under represented in jails. Check out Jeremiah 5:26-29. Sounds like Canada.
John, I am glad you’re blogging about this, it’s a very important problem and Christians should be concerned about it. The system is terrible and it needs a total rethink. But it isn’t broken; it’s fixed.
Keep blogging John, and email me, and tag me on my blog some time. This could be fun.
Hi Dan. Good to hear from you. I understand if you're feeling bad about two neg. comments in a row-it's okay, I'm thick (head?) skinned. I trust that your big move to Ontario went well.
ReplyDeletePrison response - These many "perks" that prisoners receive does make life more livable for them. When someone is sentenced, I don't think that it's in the best interests of the taxpayer or society to make their stay more enjoyable. Sure, they can have T.V., but it doesn't have to be cable. Sure, they can be worked, not pounding rocks, but reasonable work. When they're not working, they can watch movies, play all sorts of sports, yes, read books, use a computer for education but with no internet access, only intranet. In order for them to receive a pension, this should be based on they're personal earnings through working, either at the prison or outside. I'm sure that the pension could be altered to reflect their time in prison (is this too Pollyannish?. The point I'm making here is too often prisoner's receive pensions even though they've committed horrendous crimes.-eg. Clifford Olson, Paul Bernardo, and many others. Perhaps something needs to be set up for families of prisoners.
In regard's to more poor than rich in prison's - bottom line, don't commit a crime that you'll regret doing this later. All too often, and I'm sure a very large representation of convict's have some sort of gang affiliation. Our system is vastly different than the American's. Of course, there were (are) many abuses by execs that didn't serve any time and were again rewarded by gov't bailouts (taxpayer funded), and many, many people were terribly victimized by these very selfish and self-serving acts that ruined millions of lives. Jeremiah doesn't restrict the rich, only the deceitful ones. Just because your, this does not automatically translate into being deceitful.
Unfortunately, I'm only in front of the computer from 7:30 - noon M-F. So, my responses are a little late. Talk to ya.