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.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

37. 37. THE OLD LADY AND ANA-MATTHEW 19:3-7 (Marraige is Forever)

Ana was visibly perturbed by the words of a very popular and supposedly well-respected religious leader, Reverend Pat Robertson, whom she heard on tonight’s news-broadcast stating quite clearly that it was alright for a man whose wife is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease to divorce her and get another partner so long as he continues to make sure that she is cared for. She could not understand why he could have made a statement like this which she knew, was so much against the sacred marriage vows taken of: ……“In sickness and in health, until death do we part.”
Approaching her grand mother she asked, with a voice that betrayed her disappointment,
“Gramma, is it not true that when a man and a woman get married, the marriage is forever and God never allows any divorce?
The old lady, recognizing the child’s genuine concern over Reverend Robertson’s foolish statement, beckoned her to sit next to her as she opened her Bible and selected the appropriate reading. When Ana was settled next to her she said:
My dear child, people have always tried to get around God’s commandment that the sacrament of marriage is permanent and can only be dissolved by death and nothing else. Let me read to you from the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 19, Verses 3-6:

Some Pharisees came to Jesus to test him. They asked,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“Haven’t you read,” Jesus replied,
“that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female,
and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother,
and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
“You see Ana, Jesus was quite clear and precise in his answer. He offered no alternatives or exceptions whatsoever, when asked if it was ever lawful for the man to divorce his wife and he underlined this by stating that marriage results in transforming husband and wife into one. Jesus went further by reminding us that what God had united then no one can separate. This is not a suggestion, it is a command!”
Ana listened intently to her grandmother then after a short pause asked in a questioning tone:
“But gramma doesn’t the Bible also gives permission for a man to divorce his wife if she does wrong things. Did God change his mind?”
The old lady looked directly at her grand-daughter and with a gentle smile, replied:
“Yes Ana, in a way people might think you are right, because in the early years, especially at the time of the Prophet Moses, permission was granted to a man to divorce his wife and send them away and indeed people have used this as a reason to continue divorces, but let me read the rest of the passage in verses 7-9 for the explanation:”

“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command
that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives
because your hearts were hard.
But it was not this way from the beginning.”
“The Pharisees tried to question Jesus on this subject reminding him that it was permitted by Moses. Jesus replied that from the very beginning God had intended that marriage was permanent and this had not changed. What happened at the time of Moses was the result the hard-hearted behavior of the people at that time. They were behaving badly divorcing for any reason and Moses’ permission was an attempt to set up some type of control. But God never gave his blessing for this behavior."
The old lady raised her head and turned towards Ana and continued:
"We are facing the same situation now, where divorce has become so easy that the sacrament of marriage is in danger of losing its holy, sacred status, and so-called religious leaders are advocating its implementation even for sickness. I would like to remind Reverend Robertson to go back to the Bible and read from Malachi Chapter 2, Verse 16, which simply states:

“I hate divorce,”

says the Lord God of Israel
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