Should i punch a bible full of fake blood to make a point?

My city council has gradually been taken over by conservatives who have deprived the least fortunate in my community of what they need. They literally forced a homeless shelter called the Jesus Center to close and move and shrink its services down so they could build luxury apartments in its place. Next, they spent $400,000 in taxpayer money on an outdoor ice skating rink in a city that does not get under 30°F in the winter and it's not open the majority of the year. We're deep in a valley in California and it's HOT. There are many, many homeless just being shoved around in triple digit weather right now. The shelters are all full. All the recycling centers within town were removed as well so the homeless cannot make money that way.

I am a Christian Quaker and recently learned of an early abolitionist named Benjamin Lay. After a passionate speech against slavery, he stabbed the Bible with a sword, causing juice to spill out. I obviously can't bring a sharp object, but I think I can have the same effect by hollowing out a Bible of mine and punching it instead after repeating the Sheep and Goat pronouncement from the Gospel of Matthew.

There's a specific reason I'm going at this from a religious angle. I'm tired of people who call themselves Christians treating other human beings in this way. These people should still be treated with humanity regardless of any type of sin that may have caused their homelessness.

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Based on 15 votes (8 yes)
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Comments ( 44 )
  • Grunewald

    The problem with symbolic acts like this is that they can be variously interpreted. I think the meaning would be ambiguous, and therefore interpretable in a way you might not want.

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    • This could be true, regardless of what I preach beforehand. People care more about a Bible remaining intact than the messages inside it.

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      • Grunewald

        That, plus it could be interpreted as an anti-Christian message in general.

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        • That's my main concern. People completely ignoring me preaching from it and just focusing on the blood pouring from the Bible. I even wear a veil on my head because I practice a form of plain dress, but nope. Devil worshiper lol.

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          • Grunewald

            It's so frustrating, isn't it?

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            • My favorite thing on here was the person commenting I should be focused on abortion, or the person who just outright thinks I'm a troll lol.

              "I think we should take care of the homeless and treat them with basic human decency. It's part of my beliefs as a follower of Jesus Christ."

              "WHAT ABOUT ABORTION?!?! YOUR STATE ALLOWS PEOPLE TO ABORT THEIR BABIES WHENEVER THEY WANT" (also untrue, but hey, it's trendy to hate California). Almost as if they try to use that as a distraction...

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  • Whatintarnation

    I wouldn't desecrate a Bible to prove a point but you could probably pick out passages that deal with the downtrodden. I don't think there are any easy answers when it comes to the homeless

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    • At this point in history I think people care a lot more about owning the Bible as an object to hold over people's heads in superiority rather than actually reading the messages inside it.

      I'm sure these people have heard Bible passages many times. They need to understand they have blood on their hands. It's going to reach over 110°F and they are going to be out there with no water or places to use the bathroom. They most recently pushed them to the "poor part of town" in which the residents of that area had been working for years to clean up. So the poor residents who have homes clean their community up and the city council dumps a homeless encampment there.

      There are some answers to the homeless issue: DON'T spend our tax money on a useless ice rink and instead spend it on helping these people. They literally have them in a park with a playground where people go with their kids.

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  • ospry

    If you choose to do this, please post a follow-up. I'd really like to know how this goes down

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  • LloydAsher

    Shouldn't you already be pissed off over California's commitment to be pro abortion? I feel like thats a more pressing issue for true Christian's in that state.

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    • I like how you implied me being upset about homeless being treated like subhumans also means I'm pro choice, almost like saying the inverse would mean if i am pro life i wouldnt care about the homeless. That's really interesting.

      I literally never said anything about abortion in this post and for you to bring it up is really random and bizarre.

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    • My views are also mixed. I think every abortion is a tragedy, however, I don't think situations like the 10 year old who was pregnant should be forced to carry to term. Not all Christians are homogeneous in their views on abortion. Diversity opinion exists because, believe it or not, more than one Christian exists.

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      • LloydAsher

        I didn't mean to offend I just superimposed abortion as an issue that california already sucks at "solving" California has a crap record at getting anything done.

        They are pinnacle of what progressivism does. Have idealistic plan that hinges on the rich footing the bill, and then the same rich people being able to shoot down said plan.

        I'm not treating abortion as a monolithic issue that all Christian's have to be pro life from the moment of conception. I just kinda expect a line to be drawn somewhere and California's "anytime anywhere" line is way too far.

        Granted I also dislike Texas's abortion bans but I feel like it better to be wrong for the babies benefit than for the mothers.

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        • Regardless, it's still weird to bring up abortion when I'm talking about helping the less fortunate who have been cast away by society, including other supposed Christians who have tricked my community into thinking they have Christ's love in their hearts. Their actions the past decade while they have been in power have been the antithesis of what Jesus taught as I watch these people bake in the sun. They most recently dumped all of them into a poor neighborhood in our town where the residents of that neighborhood had taken it upon themselves to clean it up in recent years. It was looking really nice, then the city council dumps all the homeless there.

          They have no compassion for other humans. I don't want to hear whataboutisms when people who are already born are dying on the streets and fellow Christians aren't giving them a second thought.

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        • "Anytime, anywhere" is not the law for abortion in California. It's up until the fetus is viable or to save the life of the mother. That is *not* "anytime, anywhere".

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        • Liberals were doing a better job than what conservatives have done. I don't understand the mentality of "darn liberals!" When they seem to be the only ones who assure those in poverty get the necessities they need. My grandmother bought into that mentality and moved to a conservative state, and now she lost a ton of coverage for a bunch of her necessary medications and needs to pay out of pocket despite making less than $1000 per month.

          Conservatives waste money on absolutely asinine, wasteful things that were useless to our community and made our homeless issue excessively worse. They cut a bunch of services and literally shut down a place called "The Jesus Center" to build luxury condos and wasted a bunch of tax money on an ice skating rink in an extremely hot city.

          At least when our leaders were more liberal the homeless weren't scattered about the streets doing fentanyl in the parks in front of kids. They could actually get help. All of that has been drastically reduced. They've basically dumped them all in a bit camp.

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          • LloydAsher

            I'm just saying that california has a homeless problem and that california has a heavy democratic supermajority. If their tatics actually did something shouldnt they be the utopia they brag about? Instead they have poop patrols because the homeless dont even have places to go to the bathroom.

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            • What I am saying is the conservative majority in my area has absolutely destroyed any progress that was made with any type of homeless problem. They just push them around to new places.

              Maybe there's just an *appearance* of no homeless issue because they flock to places where there are resources, which are liberal areas, hence the larger homeless populations. We also had a gigantic fire up here (Camp Fire) that displaced thousands.

              I think non-Californians have a strange, extremely nasty view of California and Californians. If you're going to paint the most populous state and its people with such a broad brush, you have a very uncritical way of thinking.

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  • jethro

    This is a troll post. As soon as you inferred that any place in Corruptifornia was conservative, I knew you were making this up. Had you just changed the conservative slant of your troll post to liberal democrat, I may have your believed post.

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    • Have you ever lived here? There's a bunch of areas with concentrations of conservatives. It's not just San Francisco. That big green dip in the middle is a bunch of farmland and I'm represented by a guy named LaMalfa.

      Conservatives were the ones who indeed destroyed the services that were benefiting our town and spent tax dollars on a useless ice rink the townspeople hate.

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      • jethro

        Yes I live here. And yes there are conservatives here. But all of the control of the state is liberal. And they have turned the state into a sewer. Not the conservatives. Which makes you a liberal troll. Just like Gruesome Newsom or #FJB.

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        • I live in a conservative area. Doug LaMalfa is my representative. At least people with Medi-Cal have coverage here. When my grandma moved to Nevada, despite only making 1000 a month in social security, she now has to pay out of pocket for her medications. A LOT out of pocket for necessary meds.

          Conservatives continue to try and appeal to Christians but they never deliver or do the exact opposite of what they say their "Christian" morality is.

          I live in a town called Chico. If you want to read about all the ridiculous stuff about the ice rink and the waste of money that was, look up Sean Morgan Chico. The thing didn't even break even the first season it was open and requires a bunch of water. As a Californian, you know we are in a drought. If you're not even willing to research that, well, I don't really expect any differently from someone who seems to want to live in ignorance.

          If you think this state sucks so bad, move.

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          • jethro

            I'm planning on moving. But you are still a troll

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            • God bless

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  • Ligeia

    If I witnessed this I'd see it as antichristian ngl

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    • I think that's a big issue. Like I've said before, I was inspired by a very fervent follower of Christ who cared about his fellow man like Christ commanded us to do, but the message has become so warped people nowadays will care more about keeping a Bible intact, regardless of whether or not they read the messages inside it.

      I'm a Christian woman who wears a veil and would precede this with the Parable of the Sheep and Goats from Matthew. If people do not see it as a Christian act, they are not looking with clear sight.

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      • Ligeia

        Still, do you really need to engage in some novel, sensational action to get your word across? If hearing the plain Word of God isn't enough, what would make this demonstration enough? There's nothing shallow or hypocritical about feeling uneasy at seeing a Bible destroyed, and obviously you have some reservations yourself or otherwise this post wouldn't be made. I think this is in bad taste...that's my 2c.

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        • I am, and it is because there is some sensationalism to it. Still, I'm frustrated at what seems to be lack of action. I may just have to figure out another way to go about helping the less fortunate, and a less aggressive demonstration.

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  • normal-rebellious

    It's normal for a Christian but the religion of Quakers, like religion of Puritans, isn't violent, it's the evil and the devil what they're doing with that homeless shelter and I think the sinful need to be forgiven, and one should build heaven from a foundation of holiness and substance, for the Puritans, from sainthood, I don't know anything about the Quakers but I promise you this situation will be good if they built the damn homeless shelter and let the homeless in.

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    • Peacefulness is definitely a part of it, but we aren't puritans. Quakers used to "Quaker" or shake with the Holy Spirit, or "tremble at the word of God". But maybe puritans were a bit like that too, I don't know lol. But yes! We are nonviolent a majority of the time and pacifists.

      Thank you for being kind at least understanding homeless individuals deserve to have roofs over their heads, just for the sole fact of being human beings.

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      • normal-rebellious

        Aww, that's OK, and I heard Quaker was a Puritan sect but Puritans of my kind don't shake for the "Holy Spirit", we believe in the spirit of God instead of the Holy Spirit. 😁 Besides that with my repeated study of the YouTube video of Puritanism and I watch it on a regular basis, I found out the Puritans had many dissenters that didn't want to be anything like the Puritans, including the Brownists, Muggletonians, conformists, non-conformists, Separatists, traditionalists, Arminians, anti-Puritans, and of course Quakers.

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  • RoseIsabella

    I generally try not to damage books, but I appreciate your motivation.

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    • Understandable. Thank you for your input. Yeah, I'm feeling kind of weird about that part of it too, especially given what book it is, but I think people care more about the Bible as an object rather than the messages inside it at this point.

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      • RoseIsabella

        Good point.

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  • Anonnet

    I see absolutely nothing wrong with this plan. It sounds pretty extreme, but it's extreme in a way that doesn't hurt anyone. You might get escorted out and face some fallout for doing something like that, but you're trying to make a point and make it memorable. Godspeed.

    Make sure to do some trials with that before doing it in the room, though, since I can see tons of ways of that getting a little too "explosive."

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