Act Your Age

by Steven Clark Goad

In one area I am delighted our practice has not caught up with what we preach. It has to do with how we treat others in light of some of the things we have said the Bible teaches.

I am eager to search for truth in the Bible, but I am not all that eager to believe what every Tom, Dick, and Harry says the Bible teaches. For I have heard a lot of harebrained ideas come from the mouths of few Tom’s and Harry’s. Would a false teaching Harry be a Harrytic?

Back to my point. The Bible is a lot like those Rorschach ink blot tests. You show one ink blot to someone and he says it reminds him of a giant panda bear. You show the same ink blot to another person and she says it looks just like the shadow of cloud over a wheat field. One lad went to a shrink who showed him ink blot after ink blot. The kid kept saying they reminded him of pizza. Finally his psychiatrist showed him one more ink blot in desperation. Again the young man said, “It looks like a pepperoni pizza with green olives and mushrooms.” The doctor sighed and said out loud, “You must have a one track mind, son.” To this the lad replied, “Hey, I’m not the one with all the pictures of pizza!” Good point.

Where was I? Oh, yes. Practice. We didn’t practice what we preached all those years of discontent. We circled the ecclesiastical wagons and excluded not only the Indians, but one another as well. Some fellowships claiming to have a genuine interest in unity kept drawing lines of demarcation that excluded so many others that the denominations grew smaller and smaller with more and more litmus tests of fidelity to God. Let me give you a few examples to make myself clear. Some of us claimed to have the exact and proper name for the body of Christ on earth. All others had the wrong names. We asserted that our number and choice of how worship may be rightfully offered to God were straight from the Scriptures, while all the other fellowships were polluted in the proper rituals to include. Oh, yes. We interpreted Scripture correctly. Others did not. We sort of had a monopoly on truth.

How pathetically arrogant! And I guess here is where I sit down on my major point in this little rambling essay. I thank almighty God we behaved better than we wrote in our brotherhood journals and church bulletins. I am glad we acted properly toward our neighbors rather than ranting some of the diatribes fired in staccato fashion from the pulpits of our churches. That we did generally treat people better than we preached is telling. Very telling.

Our behavior, being better than our theology, meant we knew better than to take some of the outrageous stands some of us took. Stands like “you can’t fellowship someone who thinks differently than you on a doctrinal matter.” Or how about “fellowship means endorsement”? Then there is the, often spoken in hushed tones, “We are the only ones going to heaven. All others are either lost or on the verge.”

Be not many of you teachers. Judge not that you not be judged. Stop it. “God forgive us for not practicing what we preached. And thank you for giving us the wisdom to do so. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“Let us stop passing judgment on one another” (Romans 14:13).

\

MUSIC ANNOUNCEMENT

As was stated late last week, I am in the process of putting up another website..Hosting ONLY , Jamaican music and press releases.  The fee is $10.99 for each video posted. The site will not have news , suss, or any other music but those from Jamaica. For artists, your music will not be commented on, they will be rated.There will be a poll with suggestions, at the end of each week the video that  scores the highest will be featured for free the following week. If a video or song remains consistent for three weeks the artist will get an interview  for free in which their work will be show cased. This site will only feature music for 2012 .  Please submit your videos/songs to [email protected] or[email protected]

PEOPLE MI CYAA PUT IT PAN YOUCHOOBZ BEKAWSIN SEH DEM GWINE BAN MI ACCOUNT WHEN DEM SI SEH DI SHAWTS COME OFF

Human trafficking rampant in Zimbabwe
Saturday, 03 March 2012 19:13
BY PATRICE MAKOVA
THE International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says human trafficking deserves attention in Zimbabwe as more people are falling prey to the problem due to socio-economic challenges.
IOM spokesperson, Folen Murapa told The Standard that while Zimbabwe was a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the Palermo protocol, the country is yet to domesticate these key international instruments.

“The 2011 Trafficking in Persons report notes that Zimbabwe is a source, transit and destination for human trafficking given its central geographical position in southern Africa among other factors,” she said.

Murapa said although the magnitude of human trafficking was difficult to ascertain due to the clandestine nature of the phenomenon, government recognised the problem and is currently in the process of tabling in Parliament a bill on Human Trafficking.

Chinese citizens have joined the list of nationals being trafficked to Zimbabwe where they are illegally working in restaurants, mines and other businesses.
The department of immigration recently said over 100 foreigners mostly Chinese and Nigerians were arrested and deported for illegally operating businesses, with some of them believed to be victims of human trafficking.

But Murapa said anyone could be a victim of trafficking regardless of nationality, sex, age and profession. She said trafficking in general was driven by various factors, among them promises for better economic opportunities, perception of greener pastures among other push and pull factors, depending on the origin and destination of the victims.

“Victims of trafficking to South Africa, Mozambique and Angola are reportedly being forced to perform duties against their will for the benefit of the trafficker,” said Murapa. “These include sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude — under horrific, ruthless and hazardous working conditions.”

She said the IOM in conjunction with its partners in both the public sector and the civic sector has several programmes to prevent and protect people from human trafficking. These include awareness initiatives, provision of direct support to victims of trafficking and reintegration assistance.

On Zimbabweans who continue to be deported from South Africa, Murapa said between October 7 2011 and February 10 this year, IOM had assisted 10 000 returnees.

The United States 2011 trafficking report notes that Zimbabwean women were being lured to China, Egypt and Canada for prostitution.

Men on the other hand were being lured for labour to countries such as South Africa, Malaysia, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates on false offers of good employment in the construction, agriculture and hospitality sectors.
Comments (0)