tdekeyser

I am VERY, VERY happy that Elizabeth is home safe.

What I am appalled at is the Smart family's faith almost got the daughter KILLED!

From news reports:
"Elizabeth's mother, Lois Smart, has said she met Emmanuel in downtown Salt Lake City when he asked for money. She gave him $5 and hired him to help work on the roof of their home in November 2001. He worked for about five hours and the family didn't see him again, she said. "

This is the 3rd drifter they tried to "help". I also read that it is their faith in God and their wish to help those in need that compelled them to hire drifters. They also felt that the family was protected by god and helping those in need was a 'good deed'.

Ricci robbed them, and Mitchel kidnapped their daughter! Where was GOD???!!!?????

This stupidity of these people's faith (and most others) really gets me.

I am SOOOO glad the girl is home safe and that she was NOT killed.

tdekeyser

Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus is speaking this parable. Look at verse 41 to
explain Mrs. Smart's behavior. "I was a stranger and you did not invite me
in."

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of
the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are
cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I
was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed
clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not
look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a
stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of
the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to
eternal life."

butswana

So since this wacko guy called himself Emmanuel and did consider himself to be the MESSIAH, she could have been getting up close and personal with THE MAN himself. It was her selfish desire for eternal life that got her daughter snatched!

the_cave

This is ridiculous...I admit the Smarts' behavior is also a little absurd, but what if they had just been charitable atheists? There'd certainly be no hue and cry from this board...atheists do all kinds of foolish things in the name of charity, and so do Christians. Probably an atheist wouldn't invite in a homeless man who called himself "Emmanuel" (and, I MIGHT ADD, neither would most Christians!!!), but they might well invite in someone else.

Tom Sawyer

I think that she was just a nice lady who tried to help out people in need. The fact that that motivation came from her faith is irrelevant - it still led to people in need getting helped.

By the sounds of things, the Smarts had a number of homeless people come and work on their house and most of them were apparently decent people who did nothing wrong and probably did a fairly good job since they kept hiring more of them. The fact that one turned out to be a psycho freak doesn't mean that it was any less of a good deed on the Smarts' part.

tdekeyser

I disagree 100%! Let's use our brains people......

Any animal that is starving or suffering will 'take' what they can. It is a mode of suvival.

I would NEVER, EVER bring in a drifter to my home with CHILDREN around! NEVER.

That is just asking for trouble. When a person (no matter how honest they are) are taken from the dirty streets to a million dollar home, what do you think they are going to do? Well first off, they assess the situation. And the 'situation' is that this family has more 'resources' than I do, hence I may take something to help me survive. Theft is one very good example. Ricci was arrested for theft in that home.

You get a starving animal that has sex with ugly girls and then place them around a young, clean, sparkling virgin, what do you THINK will happen???

Is the risk of 'trusting' a drifters moral values against natures evolutionary 'survival' instincts worth it? No way!

Even as an ethical atheist, I still have my brains.

Starboy

Hmmmm, 5$ for five hours of work. No wonder he robbed them. Sounds like they were trying to exploit a down an out homeless person and the homeless person exploited back. So much for Christian charity.

Starboy

tdekeyser

I believe the $5 was charity and then paid him for the work separately.

Biff the unclean

But it does, their actions put their own family at risk because they couldn't tell the difference between religion and mental illness.
But is there that much of a difference? Yesterday and today you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing about the Elizabeth Smart case in Utah. Every few months the news fills with stories about some religious nut and the terrible crimes they commit. I used to think that these mentally ill people were patterning themselves after people they admired in the bible. Delusions of grandeur. But now I'm beginning to think that this might not be so. We hear their stories "sectionalized" in the news, the crimes they committed/their insanity. But if we hear their stories from their point of view we would get them all of a piece.
When you check out the biographies of the men in the bible who were in contact with god we get the same thing. Abraham, Elijah, Moses, John, and even Jesus, you get their claims that impossible things are happening, you get the massive disruption they cause in other peoples lives, and you get the crimes they committed. Exactly what we hear from today's criminals.
The only difference in the bible stories and the crime news stories is the audience. Today's audience is more enlightened, we understand that there is such a thing as mental illness. Whatever it is that is affecting these peoples minds today has exactly the same symptoms as the bible characters had. It wouldn't be too big a stretch to assume that they share the same illness.
The Smart's were blinded to this by their "faith."

Bree

I really don't see any evidence that the Smart family's faith had anything to do with their donation of money to that drifter. In my opinion what they did was really stupid and unsafe - but stupidity doesn't necessarily go hand-in-hand with Christianity.