Sleeping with a Rapist

Would you rather sleep with a rapist, or freeze?

The Livermore Homeless Refuge is seasonal. It runs from November 1 through April 30. It is open on nights on which the weather is predicted to be below 40 Degrees Fahrenheit or has a 20% Chance of Rain. (Pretty sure that's correct, it might be 10%... but I'm pretty sure it's 20%). It's not open nightly. The Guests, or as the public at large call them: The Homeless, call this operation The Warming Centre.

Last season the operation moved between four churches. Holy Cross Lutheran on Mocho Street, Asbury Methodist on East Avenue, Vineyard Christian Fellowship on North Livermore Avenue and, on Saturday and Sunday Night only, First Presbyterian Church on 4th and L street. In the first three the operation will spend two or three weeks (depending) before moving to the next location.

The rules have been pretty simple. Sign in is between 6pm and 8pm, nobody gets in after 8pm. Lights out at 10pm. No roaming around, no playing on computers or gameboys, and cell phones better durn well be OFF after that. Yes, you can use the bathroom.... don't camp in it! Wake up at 6am. Stow sleeping gear, gather your stuff and be gone, as in off Church property, by 7am. Get caught with Drugs or Alcohol: go sleep outside.

Wandering around at night was forbidden this last season. With everyone sleeping in one big, communal room, having people wandering around is a little creepy. It also disrupts sleep for those of us who are light sleepers. It's difficult enough to sleep in this environment in the first place. Because of this some actually wait till it gets down to 32 degrees before biting the bullet and going to the Warming Centre.

So, you arrive, Bob gets you a mat, a sleeping bag and a blanket (Unless you're Princess Paul, then you build a kit that's 20 feather beds and 20 mattresses). You set up your spot, and Donna finds a way to stuff your face full of food. We call her the Taxidermist. She stuffs people for fun. Food gets put away at 8pm. There's a 42” flatscreen TV that travels with the Warming Centre. On it are shown DVDs that are borrowed from the Library usually, or whatever someone else brings in. You can actually hear it if the loud folks aren't being too rude about the volume of their voices...

Over this last winter, a lot of things happened. Adam Parris, who I've mentioned in a prior blog, was one of several to be booted out of the Warming Centre. He was tolerated for quite a long time. But in tolerating people like Adam Parris, a man who at least two women have claimed raped them, the guests which spend the night sleeping in the same room with him are... what? His equals?

Boston Bill was never welcomed back. At Christmas there was no Warming Centre for one night. Rooms were rented at a local motel for several of the people and Boston Bill brought a lot of beer, smoked a lot of cigarettes, and refused to leave till four hours past the 11am check out time. The room couldn't be rented out for days after because of all the smoking Bill did in it.

Popeye is a notorious alcoholic, and flaunted the rules on alcohol in the Warming Centre repeatedly for several years. He had been given chance after chance after chance till, finally, the volunteers had had enough, and aced him.

In the meantime, people are forced to sleep in the same room with alcoholics, malcontents and sex offenders, or endure the elements.

The biggest issue is the way many Christians interpret the idea of Christian Mercy. All must be forgiven, and forgiveness is free. Scrutiny of the Bible reveals this to be a misinterpretation, but no matter, it's inarguable. You will, as a Christian, forgive everyone of everything or you're not a Christian, regardless of how sorry, or not sorry, they are. And, therefore, Christian Mercy is all about... wait for it... TOLERANCE!

Yes, folks... there's that word again... Tolerance... My God, how I do hate that word...

You will sometimes hear a homeless person complain that all homeless get lumped into one big category. They're all bums. They're all lazy, no good, worthless types who expect the world handed to them, and cry when they don't get it. While it is true that there are a few out in the public at large that do believe this to be true, the vast majority I meet stop believing it when they meet some of the people I know. (Like Pat from my previous blog, or Gary, Nick, Kenny, Roger, or John and Ricky... from blogs prior to that).

I've already mentioned many names (Keith and Nancy) of people who are exactly the type of person that truly believes the world should give them a life of luxury. They're out there, to be sure.

But there are also drunks and drug addicts. There are sex offenders, and some who are truly violent. Many of the drug addicts are thieves. Did I mention Leonard Mooney? Tried to steel my bike twice, and has stolen bicycles from several of my friends already? He sells those to feed his addiction to methamphetamine.

The problem with the interpretation of Christian Mercy I describe above is that it truly does put all of us in one big boat. Christians provide almost all the services available to the homeless of Livermore. It's the Church People, folks, that do. Others do not. Christians Do, because God tells Christians to Do right there in the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 25 verse 40, you guys are honouring God when you take care of the poor. How beautiful is that? I've never heard of this in any other religious doctrine... (not saying it's exclusive to Christians, just that I've never heard of it being part of any other doctrine).

But it is because of this whole notion of Free Forgiveness that it's almost considered un-Christian to have any kind of standards. Nothing bears consequence.

Let me be perfectly clear on this: when you have no standards, you create chaos. Any rule that is unenforced is meaningless. Any protection that is not acted upon is no protection at all.

For a lot of Christians, this is a huge theological struggle, especially when they realize that their lack of standards enables very bad people to victimize others.

So, back to my original question: Would you rather sleep with a rapist, or freeze?