The Tribune

By Rev Canon S

Sebastian Campbell

1. A moralist who prides himself in not stealing but yet makes a false claim to the insurance company.

2. A businessman whose loose code of ethics permits him to overcharge so as to make bloated profits, but yet will beat his son for stealing marbles.

3. False labelling, for example a superior brand name on an inferior product or changing price tags in a shop.

4. Falsifying the scales; in how many different ways can we conceive of this. Would flour in cocaine or sand in sugar get you thinking? False weights and false measures were common place in the time of Amos, he’s very sensitive of this in his writings.

5. A doctor who leads a person to believe that he is more ill than he really is in order to increase the number of visits and bills. Are there healthcare providers more concerned with private wealth than public health? Are there obvious cases of overcharging for healthcare? Can one be refused medical help because one is financially compromised? How can a doctor chat with you for 10 minutes, take your temperature, then charge you $60? Is this just? Or a dentist who pretends to do more work on your teeth than he actually does? What about a lawyer who charges hundreds of dollars for consultation? Ever wonder why a poor man dies and the rich man lives, or the poor goes to jail and the affluent walks free? The cards are stacked against the poor man.

6. A politician who peddles influence, then rips you off with your eyes wide open. Is bribery still a reality in our national life?
   
   

7. A receiver of stolen goods/money. Is the receiver just as bad as the thief? Yes, lawyers defend thieves and drug lords, then take the stolen or drug money as pay.

8. A worker who fails to give the full amount of work they are capable of for a full day’s pay. Work begins at 9am and finishes at 5pm; lunch is one hour only. How much of this time is taken at liberty; how many of us flaunt long breaks and telephone gossip time? Surely this is a rip-off.

9. Ticket agents who bump passengers so as to collect pay to get another one on?

10. Removal of landmarks. Encroaching upon another’s property; pushing your boundary another feet or two on the neighbour’s and building thereon.

Do we ever remotely associate this commandment with these issues, so small is our understanding. The greatest incident of theft in our Bahamas, though, is stealing some one’s good name and character. In this corrupt state, is honesty still the best policy? Proverbs 6:30 says: “Do not despise a thief if he seeks to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.” It doesn’t justify it, but helps with our attitude and outlook, probably supports Professor Joseph Fletcher’s idea of situation ethics.

What, then, is the most Christian way to go? Let’s look at some instances:

• In Mexico, a first offender when it comes to stealing food goes free.

• In Sweden, a poor man is allowed three opportunities to steal to feed his family.

• In some Muslim countries they will not cut off the hand that steals perishable food, because it might be stolen to satisfy immediate hunger.

• In China they believe never convict a hungry thief.

Can the Christian view be christianised so that we can more fairly define the real thieves of society? For if we don’t, the small man will always carry the stigma that a thief is always a thief and a thief is a murderer, while the “muck-a-muck” thief is the one clothed in fine linen and hailed as Mr Respectable.

Can you now answer what constitutes theft?