If I say I am seeing red in this season, persons might associate that with some political affiliation, so I will say I am seeing orange. I hope that is neutral enough but I do need something with a little fire in it.
I was flabbergasted, falling out my chair, when I saw on the front of one of the newspapers a picture of gyrating, half-clothed individuals indicating they were having a carnival to celebrate a church in the community.
Now of all the things you can do to celebrate a church, how does having a carnival associated with debauchery – I know that is a strong word but when people are simulating sex acts on the streets, I cannot find a word that better describes it – come into play? What is happening today has gone past “wukking up” or wining; it just does not make sense.
I was trying to imagine the organizers sitting around a table and saying: “You know what, let’s honour the church that represents the body of Jesus Christ by having a massive street fete, but you know the church will not participate because everything that we will do on that day goes against everything they stand for.”
Does it make sense to you? I am still trying to figure out the audacity of it. I must say it is one of those times that the grace of God amazes me because, let me tell you, fire and brimstone would still be raining all now.
Impact
It seems everyone has rights and people should be allowed to live anyhow they feel like and engage in whatever deviance they want to get into. Of course, the consequence of their actions unfortunately does not fall to them alone but the impact is felt by the whole society. Any attempt to impose moral Christian standards results in sustained attacks upon the church and the Bible by those who perceive the teachings and positions of Christianity as antiquated and irrelevant.
Oftentimes these positions are supported by ill-informed reference to Bible passages and scriptures, often without reference to context, language, understanding of who is speaking and, more importantly, not supported by the Holy Spirit who imparts revelation.
In my household we have standards as parents for our child to follow; if she does not follow them, there are consequences. She does not have to understand all of them but she is expected to trust our wisdom sometimes and just follow the rules. It’s the same thing with Christians: our Father sets rules, we live in His Kingdom, we follow His rules and because we receive good guidance, we encourage everyone to do the same because we know the benefits.
When the Bible says to love thy neighbour as thyself, there was no qualification about what the neighbour should look like, or how he should behave. However, this does not mean that we will tolerate deviance. When we have to discipline her or tell her not to do something, it does not mean we do not love her; it just means there are penalties when she does not abide by the rules of house.
There must be rules that we abide by which help to keep the social and moral fabric intact. If some do not want to abide by Christian rules, well, that will be their loss; that is one of the reasons we have free will. Clearly, however, it cannot be what we have now, a wanton abandon and revelry that has gone past any modicum of decency, Christian or non-Christian.
So the next time anyone wants to plan something to celebrate the church, please, we are all up for a Holy Ghost party – well, perhaps I should speak for myself, I certainly am. I can have a good time, enjoy myself and do not have to do the six or seven-thirty or the “brek-down it down” or “brugga down” or whatever. We can still be decent and abide by the rules so that the Father can still say He is well pleased.
• Shantal Munro Knight is a development specialist and deputy coordinator at the Caribbean Policy Development Centre. Email [email protected]
