Tuesday, July 08, 2008

The nature of man


Tonight ABC News broadcast a program on the slave trade. They flew from New York to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and within a few hours had made a deal to "buy" a 10 year old girl. It's sad to see how bad we can be when money is on the line.
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Having been to Haiti many times I know this country as a desperately poor nation with more than 85% unemployment. They have nothing, and live day to day. It is the saddest place I have ever traveled to.
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What will we do when we are desperate to live, when we are willing to do almost anything to eat? History has shown that we will do anything to live and be fed....even to the death of our own children! (Read 2 Kings 6 in the Old Testament) I'm not surprised that they could find the slave trade in Haiti. When you have nothing then everything is for sale....even your own children. It simply shows the very heart of man....the nature of man at its worst. It's our dark side that none of us want to admit we have, and yet any one of us could do the same thing in the right situation.
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Jeremiah described it this way,
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Jer 17:9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
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What makes a good news story for ABC is simply an up close look at the heart of each of us at our worst. The only solution for Haiti or for us is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Paul described this change well,
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2Co 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

4 comments:

Schweers' Mom said...

I have learned (in my old age) to never say "never" as in "I would NEVER". Frankly, nothing shocks me anymore (at least nothing that I am capapble of doing.) I think what I look forward to most in heaven is being free of this wicked heart that is capable of such sin. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Unknown said...

WOW! I went and watched all 3 ABC News episodes and I have to say that this is true and goes on all over the country. I know for a fact that most of the pastors in our Haitian sister churches have one of these "restovek" kids in their home. I praise God that the children in the pastor's homes are much better off than Ti-Sur and are treated in a much more humane fashion. It saddens me to see the other side of the situations where children are kept in non-christian homes and how they are treated. The name for these children is "Restovek". If someone would like to read more on this, there is a book by the same name. Being gone from Haiti for these last few month,it has been easy to forget how tough life there is. Thanks Mike for this link to view life again in my adopted home.

Brandon and Jenny said...

Goodness, how horrible. And yet there is nothing new under the sun, right? Amen sister - Come, Lord Jesus!

cookiehawk77 said...

I praise God that I have never been in a position to have to choose to sell or give away my child because I felt there was no way that I could feed him. I think there are some loving parents who choose to give up their children in hopes they will get a better life. I think there are others who do not care and only want the money that the sale of the child will bring. We may not sell our children here, but many suffer from neglect or abuse. Around the world, "the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked."