| Author | Message | ||
| Lindylou Registered user Username: Lindylou Post Number: 107 Registered: 1-2005  |
As I opened up my MSN home page tonight I noticed a title under "Suggested Searches" that said something about the Blue Laws. It seems as if a supermarket change in Massachusets was threatened by the attorney generals office if it opened it's doors on Thanksgiving - which would have been a breaking of the state's blue laws. These laws were put into effect during the days of the Puritans in the 1700's. I was reminded of how any talk of blue laws used to be a precursor to thinking that the National Sunday Law was soon to be upon us. I remember many discussions about this around the sabbath afternoon post potluck socializing. It is just curious how these laws are again under discussion in current news. The emphasis seems to be on trying to get them lifted from most state's books. I also find it interesting that many of these laws have been in full effect until about 40 years ago and yet no national sunday law was ever passed - Why were these used as a scare tactic in the sda church for something bad to happen in the future, when for years businesses were closed on Sunday already? Just curious. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 3045 Registered: 12-2003  |
Good question, Lindylou. I think believing one will be persecuted creates a suspicious, consipiracy-theorist mindset. Colleen | ||
| Pauls Registered user Username: Pauls Post Number: 60 Registered: 9-2005 |
i can't answer directly about the blue laws, except to say that I am aware that many states have them, but don't enforce them and that in some areas there is growing interest in bringing them back..as well as purging them--americans are becoming a divided people--some want more god, some want to eliminate god...as any attorney will tell you, the first step in removing a law is to enforce the law...this will lead to public outrage and pressure to change--and if that fails, it will create a cause for the courts to have a reason to "cancel" the law--since courts can't change laws unless there is a case or lawsuit that creates jurisdiction for them....courts often attempt to rewrite laws if the legislators won't address the issue--so its hard to know which way Mass. is going.......as an aside--have you noticed the huge push this Christmas to remove Christ from christmas--many stores, public schools and other organizations have come down this year with rules prohibiting not only religious carols, but the use of the term "Merry Christmas" its now correct only to say "Happy Holiday". This has been a hot topic among certain christian groups with people wanting to boycot the stores, etc...i'm sure you can find web links if you so desire. i've heard it on several christian talk shows and there was a big discussion at church about it as well.. I often see evidence of what i think is an invisible hand guiding the timing of all sorts of events....and i wonder about this taking christ out of christmas---all in the same year that a lawsuit was filed to remove "in God we trust" from US Currency.(that was just filed about 2 weeks ago) if there is a resurgence in interest in blue laws, in my opinion it is also attributable to an invisible hand that shapes the destiny of man...i would not cry wolf before the wolf is here, neither would i deparage those who believe the wolf is here... but i am fascinated by this invisible hand--we often assume life is a series of random events or at least events explainable within a chain of actions.. but for 2 years, i was an on call maintenance person for an apt complex and there was clearly a cycle--we'd go for months with no emergency maintenance calls--then we'd have a bunch all in the same weekend. it got so bad that if my phone started ringing fri night, i would often just go up and stay at the apts because it was a "bad omen" portending a busy weekend. now, i would assume when the weather changes--like from hot to cold--you'd get a lot of calls for furnaces that won't light, or after a big rain storm--for calls about leaks..but no, the type of call i received and the external weather/climate had virtually no correlation. but i can assure you that the frequency of calls over a two year period was NOT randomly distributed and was very much clustered into specific weekends. i was not employed long enough to be able to test my theory over several years to see if calendar played any role--but i think not--i think that "bad" events do tend to cluster around an entity for a time and then move on--which i think helps to establish the presence of an invisible hand....certainly, if this was the devil, it would be interesting to understand it in the context of how much "manpower" he is working with--perhaps he can't cover the whole world properly at one time---given his limited manpower. or perhaps he is only allowed to wreck havoc in limited areas for short times... the recent disasters in the u.s. since 9/11 are all very unique in world history because of such little loss of life....which again i attribute to an invisible hand.....if these events had occured overseas, we would expect to see millions dead. |
