2 Likes
The history of Geology is interesting, because basically everyone started from the premise of having a relatively young earth, and a world wide flood causing many geological features. It was through study and gathering of evidence that they concluded that the earth was extremely old, most features were from processes that took millions of years, and while there were examples of catastrophic events that created geological features, there wasn’t a world wide one at any one point.
I like to point this out to people who have doubts about the age of the earth and think it is just atheists trying to deny God. These people were all (or at least mostly) Christians who started with this belief, but had to change it as the evidence became clear they were wrong.
4 Likes
Wiki on Babylonian 7 day week (circa 2400BCE):
" Counting from the new moon, the Babylonians celebrated the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th as “holy days”, also called “evil days” (meaning inauspicious for certain activities). On these days, officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to “make a wish”, and at least the 28th was known as a “rest day”.[16] On each of them, offerings were made to a different god and goddess." So the seventh day thing most certainly did exist before that was written.
1 Like
I can’t imagine what the Thruway authority was thinking when they gave GFA this contract.
I have a rule of thumb. For any “why” question that you don’t seem to understand the answer, the likely answer is money.
I get it this question include the word “why,” but my head parses this as: “Why did the Thruway authority give GFA this contract”
1 Like
I should think this would be obvious, but whether Saturday or Sunday counts as the seventh day of the week depends entirely on which day you started counting on.
Jewish tradition holds Saturday as the seventh day of the week, Christian tradition holds Sunday as the seventh. Neither is objectively right or wrong.
2 Likes
As do observant Jews, and they’ve been around for longer than 'Murrican Jebus.
2 Likes
But Jesus says it’s OK to break into a closed Chick-fil-A and take food on the Sabbath.
12 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Likes
But not Saturday. I was going to comment in detail about pre-Judaism origins of much of Jewish beliefs, customs, stories, and prayers earlier but I thought it was overkill. I’m sure most people have some idea of it.
2 Likes
Looking at the posted hours by the thruway authority, the current Chic-fil-a locations are open 95 hours per week (with one location only 90).
The Panera locations are open 91 hours per week.
Popeyes locations are 73.5, 87.5, and 84 hours per week.
The “Auntie Ann’s” locations are 56 hours per week.
1 Like
The issue is not one of total hours but also total days. The concessions granted by the state are required to be open seven days a week.
4 Likes
If this law passes and Chick-fil-A is compelled to stay open on Sunday, whom will Johnson put to death?
The workers, and when they’re gone, the customers.
1 Like
Reading my local Facebook pages, it seems no one actually read the article.
They’re very upset that after the chicken joint the government is coming after Hobby Lobby to force them to open on Sundays and we need trump back in office to stop that.
Guess the thread is done now…
3 Likes
The issue is not one of total hours but also total days
“Every private concession in a state-monopoly space must be open all the time when there are travellers there” seems to be a common theme of many comments above as well as many of the ones yeeted to the other thread.
What I’m seeing is a proposed (not yet passed) law that has language which the current contract would meet.
The state contracted with a special-purpose company controlled by the Irish firm Applegreens for the reconstruction and operation of the thruway plazas.
Applegreens is to provide a variety of food options & brands.
This contract already specifies that hot food options are available at each refurbished/reopened plaza 24/7. The plazas are spaced out about 3 every hundred miles for each direction and adjacent plazas in the same direction of travel have different brand choices.
Are there thruway plazas where there is a Chick-fil-A that’s closed on Sunday, where there’s not a co-located Burger King or Shake Shack that’s also serving hot chicken sandwiches/nuggets and open equivalent hours on Sunday?
I’m suspecting that the law’s sponsors are hoping to get press, accolades, and support from those who are offended that Chick-fil-A is present at all. They therefore they didn’t particularly care that their law as proposed doesn’t actually anything in practice, because they don’t expect anyone to read past the headlines.
1 Like
Or perhaps the law was written as a response to Chick-fil-A trying to weasel out of its obligations under the existing contract requirements. The company likes to tout and virtue-signal its founders’ Xtianism, and no doubt any such move would allow them to squeeze out some extra profits in the process.
ETA:
Looking at the link you provided, this just seems to be a case of enshrining one of the very reasonable contractual requirements between the Port Authority and concessionaires into law.
As to why it’s being done now, my guess is that one of the bill’s sponsors found out that Chick-fil-A was one of the Applegreen’s brands, knew about their Sunday closing policy, and didn’t want the parties to come to some kind of deal to the detriment of consumers and taxpayers (not to mention the Establishment Clause). It’s tougher to negotiate a change to a contract when there’s a law blocking it.
3 Likes
Mark, you’re quoting from the Old Testament, which is the Law for the Israelites. Old Testament laws - like not working on the Sabbath - don’t apply to Christians who believe Jesus fulfilled the Law. This comes up frequently when people say “Christians can’t eat shellfish or wear clothes made of more than one type of material!” Those are Jewish laws, not Christian ones.
1 Like
Christians have been picking and choosing which old Testament laws to obey since the beginning. That’s why modern Evangelicals use the book of Leviticus to condemn homosexuality, but have no qualms against wearing mixed fiber or eating shellfish.
Anyone with a basic knowledge of Christian history knows that “no work on the sabbath” was strictly enforced doctrine in many Christian societies over the centuries.
Of course, everyone is free to come up with their own interpretations of their own religious texts. They just can’t impose those beliefs on everyone else.
8 Likes
This is great news for all the people some Christians discriminate against, justifying it based on OT scripture! I mean, just taking Leviticus off the table means no more discrimination against LGBTQ people, BIPOC, and a complete re-evaluation of anti-abortion stances.
8 Likes
3 Likes
Not sure if you are serious or not, but the Sabbath is objectively Saturday. The last day of the week. Christians switched to Sunday (the first day of the week) for various reasons, but partly to make life difficult for the Jewish population inside the Roman Empire, who were more serious about observing the last day of the week.
