PREAMBLE

PREAMBLE

“Teach a child in the way he should go;

And when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

These words taken from Proverb 22:6 speak loudly of the responsibility of parents and caregivers to the children entrusted to them. In these modern days with the advent of such a large and diverse selection of electronic gadgets, our children are bombarded with so many distractions from every direction that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with their spiritual development.

We as adults, often overwhelmed by the demands for survival, are guilty of neglecting our responsibilities of ensuring our children’s growth. We are losing sight of the fact that at this stage children are at their most receptive phase for absorbing information and unless we make an effort to help them, they are likely to acquire wrong information from other sources.

I believe no one is better equipped or better placed to do the job than the parent or the caregiver. By making use of every opportunity to teach the words of Jesus Christ, to read the Holy Bible as well as by setting personal examples we can build our children’s faith and offer them alternative examples to live by. In this way we can prepare them to deal with the many and varied temptations they will face in life as they go forward.

These stories under the banner “The Old Lady and Ana” grew out of a discussion I had with my cousin Starr Sabga during which we lamented that our children are not being exposed to reading and discussing the bible as we were. We both felt that as a result of this we are missing a very important opportunity to expose them to God’s words and running the risk of losing them.

The stories are strictly my interpretation of selected passages from the Bible based on my Christian education and on my own life experience. They are meant for the younger child, as examples of how we may use day to day experiences to learn about God’s word. They are by no means exhaustive but I trust they may serve to get other parents and caregivers to do the same.

If this happens, then I would consider myself fully rewarded.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

29. THE OLD LADY AND ANA-PROVERBS 6:16-19(The Seven Detestable Sins)

Ana approached her grand mother, who was sitting on her favorite chair working at her latest crochet project and asked her;
“Gramma, I know God is a God of love and that he loves us all, but does he ever hate anybody?”
The old lady stopped her crochet and wondering what could have prompted this question, replied to her grand child:
“Yes indeed my child, although God is all loving and will do anything to help anyone of us, he has made it very clear that there are certain actions that he hates, even detests, whenever anyone of us try to use them. This is clearly recorded in Proverbs Chapter 6, Verses 16-19. Let me read them to you:


There are six things the LORD hates,


Seven that are detestable to him:


haughty eyes,


a lying tongue,


hands that shed innocent blood,


a heart that devises wicked schemes,


feet that are quick to rush into evil,


a false witness who pours out lies


and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
“You see Ana, he specified seven things which cause him to become upset whenever we use them. Let me discuss each one of them in the order he stated them;

First, he spoke of “Haughty Eyes.”:
That refers to those people who go around with a sense of arrogance and contempt toward others, who a guilty of the sin of pride and look down upon them. In God’s eyes we are all equal and he expects us all to respect this and lead our lives with humility and love to all our brethren.

Second, he referred to people with "Lying Tongues”:
People who lie, go against God’s character. God is a God of truth and his Gospel is founded on proclaiming the message of truth. Therefore we cannot consider ourselves followers of Christ while knowingly living lives of lies. By lying, we not only are guilty of misleading others into believing wrong, but we also give others the wrong impression of ourselves. God resents this and expects us to replace this with truth and honesty.”

The old lady paused to allow her young charge assimilate the information and then continued:

“Third, he described the “Shedding of Innocent Blood”:
This not only refers to the obvious, that God abhors the shedding of any blood, especially the blood of innocent people, but it also refers to the thousand other ways that we can destroy a person’s good name by our action. We can do as much damage as killing someone by assassinating his character or destroying his good name. These are all against the teaching of God, who instructs as to do the very opposite, to love and forgive our enemies and to help and pray for those who persecute us.”

Fourth, he stressed a ”Heart that devises Wicked Schemes”:
This is the greatest insult to God’s goodness, when we knowingly use our free will to plan against the welfare of others. Often we compound this by fooling the individual while planning our wicked intent. Even if we do not commit the action ourselves, we are just as guilty if we knowingly allow others to do so. God totally rejects this behavior and we should always be on our guard to, not only reject this action, but also reject anyone who knowingly tries to do so.”

Fifth, was a reference to “Feet Rushing into Evil”:
This is just as bad in God’s eyes. To be quick to commit evil, or even to quickly pass judgment on others or even to delight in the suffering of others are all against God’s expectation, or the teachings of his son, Jesus Christ. Instead, we must at all times exercise the spirit of control and good judgment in all we do, or think or say.”

At this point, the old lady rested awhile and closed her eyes as she prayed quietly that her words are helping her young grand child to learn the true meaning of living the Christian life. Then opening her eyes, she continued:

“Sixth, he singled out, ”False Witnesses who pour out Lies”:
Being a false witness is more serious than Lying, for by doing so you not only hurt the innocent, but you also shield the guilty. Even more so because, by using God’s name to hide behind, you call on his sense of justice while committing perjury. This is a double lie which God detests and expects us all to avoid at all times. And last and perhaps the worst:

Seventh, a “Person who Stirs Conflict in the Community”:
This is the worst of all the sins, for by stirring contention, by deceiving people into believing your lies you create strife among the people and cause serious harm, whether this be within your family, among your friends or your society. This is happening continuously around us and is one of the major causes of pain and suffering. They cause God the greatest grief for they have forgotten or rejected what Jesus taught us all in “the Beatitudes” as reported in Matthew 5:9:


“Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God"


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