Union: Would Jesus Shop At Wal-Mart?

An anti-Wal-Mart union group is asking if Jesus would shop at Wal-Mart.

Of course he wouldn’t!

Jesus lived in first-century Judea. They didn’t have Wal-Marts back then.

It’s a stupid question. For one, Jesus wasn’t above dining with sinners (Mark 2-13-17) and tax collectors (Luke 19:1-10), which suggests that he wouldn’t have any qualms about going into a Wal-Mart. Secondly, arguing that shopping at Wal-Mart is somehow a grave sin is simply stupid. One can make a political argument that Wal-Mart should pay more, but the fact remains that dragging the name of Jesus into the discussion adds nothing other than provocation.

For all the talk about how bad the religious right is, there’s no shortage of moralizing coming from the left these days, and it’s no less subtle than the brayings of a Falwell or Robertson.

To answer the question: what would Jesus do? He’d take the money that was spent buying ad time and give to the poor. The money spent on a 43-state ad campaign could have bought plenty of toys for needy children, provided warm meals to thousands of homeless people, or built dozens of shelters for battered women. It could have saved thousands of lives in Africa or Latin America, where children frequently die of dehydration that could have been prevented with a 67 cent packet of oral rehydration salts. It could have gone to a scholarship fund that would ensure that the children of the Wal-Mart employees that are apparently so abused could afford a college education.

As someone quite wise once said, “let he without sin cast the first stone.”

4 thoughts on “Union: Would Jesus Shop At Wal-Mart?

  1. Underpaying people and treating them like crap is a moral issue.

    Spending resources stopping this injustice will allow many families to deal with their own problems before they exist–should we give more scholarships to people or should we make sure families have the resources they need to pay for college? Your option helps a few scholarship winners, mine helps every Wal-Mart employee with a child who wants to attend college.

    You don’t have to be 100% pure and innocent to point out moral wrongs.

  2. As someone quite wise once said, “let he without sin cast the first stone.”

    Seems like a convenient justification for maintaining the status quo…

    Alec

  3. As someone quite wise once said, “let he without sin cast the first stone.”

    Of course, what Jay conviniently forgets is that, immediately afterwards, that man said “Now, go forth and sin no more.

  4. As someone quite wise once said, “let he without sin cast the first stone.”

    As Paul Harvey says “And now the rest of the story…”

    From the Gospel of John, Chapter 8, beginning at verse 3:

    Scribes and Pharisees (leaders of the day) brought a woman taken in the act of adultery (ever ask, Hey where was the guy she was with?)to Jesus saying that the law of Moses prescribed stoning the woman and asked Jesus’ opinion on the matter (in order to be able to accuse him of going against the law) to which he gave the answer listed above. As each one was convicted by his own conscience, they left and it was only Jesus and the woman. “Woman, where are they, did no one condemn you?” to which she replies no one. “Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more”.

    There’s alot going on here: 1) discrimination and possible entrapment 2) politically motivated intrigue 3) justice and mercy

    A woman couldn’t commit adultery by herself and the man was conveiently left out of the picture. The woman’s capture was either accidental or a setup (I vote setup). The political intrigue was an attempt to catch Jesus making a statement against the law which would be grounds for hauling him in front of the Sanhedrin. Justice comes when each of those leaders is convicted by their consciences for what they are attempting, which is why each one leaves the scene. Mercy comes when the woman, who was rightly due death under the Law of Moses, was set free with the admonition not sin again.
    What a Christmas gift! You deserve to die but get set free.

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