A call for action to aid the less fortunate
REVEREND JAN SCHOLTZ WRITES:
The ideas that Martin Luther King addressed back in the 1960's was not just issues of society and culture, they were issues of equality. The same challenges are still prevalent today.
The call to respect and care for each other as sisters and brothers isn't just political or a sociological statement. Jesus once said, “If you love me, feed my sheep”.
One of the greatest commandments is to love God with all our hearts and minds. But immediately after that we are told to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Yet we as a nation proclaiming to be over 90% Christian seem to fall short exceedingly on this core facet of our religion; being our brother's keeper.
With the advent of modernization and globalization, there is significant rise in the population, while resources are being exhausted in the same process, meaning that some way or the other poverty is a by-product. So may factors can trap people in mire of endless poverty, especially lack of education.
Some religious folk, especially those ingrained in monastic tradition, praise and uphold the simplicity of life. They profess that it is biblically sound for the poor to exist and that living in poverty is an ideal to live by. Other believe it is divine ordainment that allows for such to take place. This is a fallacy as we are called his children and it does not make sense that “HE THROUGH WHOM ALL THINGS ARE GRANTED” would permit his children to live in penury.
Other believe that poverty is as a result of other sins or unsuitability. This is even further from the truth.
The fact remains that Jesus asked his followers to follow his example. “Anybody who as much does this to these my little ones has done it unto me”.
As a community we must do all that we can to alleviate and eradicate poverty. We must use everything at our disposal to enhance the life of the poor and to enable them to rediscover their dignity which they have lost though deprivation. While rediscovering their dignity we as a community will also discover who our neighbour is. One way to discover this is through giving back as community and with giving back comes our blessings.
Our government has created auspicious plans and agencies to reduce and eradicate the impact of poverty in Namibia: the Harambee Prosperity Plan and the Ministry of Poverty Eradication & Social Welfare. We as Christians are to emulate the acts of our leadership and aid these initiatives to exceed their present potential. We should all buy-in and drive these initiatives so that our poor are empowered and enabled to become productive members of society by being self-sufficient.
Acts of selflessness on our part is required. Let us avail time to train and educate those less fortunate.
The thinkers among us can create structured means through which those less fortunate can band together to become more economically sound. When we begin to live a life of giving and charitable acts, that one encounters God. It is then that we will begin to see things in perspective and hear the inner voice.
The community, whether on a national, regional or local level, down to a homestead, should empower its people to come alive! It should empower all its inhabitants to reach full potential.
We will meet the poor in our streets and help restore or guide them to attain their God given potential. We must get them to proclaim their own liberation for it is only the people themselves who can restore their own lives. As a God-Cantered and Spirit filled community we should be able to do these things without hesitation “although the Bible says the poor will always be there”.
It is by a close identification and giving oneself in compassion and not through condescending pity we can evaluate ourselves as a nation that is intent on seeing positive change. We must all inculcate the spirit, the spirit of grace and mercy. Let a new era commence and in this we work towards a better future and with the power of Jesus Christ, will make changes happen in the lives of our less fortunate brothers and sisters all over Namibia.
* Scholtz is the Regional Councillor for !Nami#nus Constituency and Chairperson of the //Kharas Regional Council.
The ideas that Martin Luther King addressed back in the 1960's was not just issues of society and culture, they were issues of equality. The same challenges are still prevalent today.
The call to respect and care for each other as sisters and brothers isn't just political or a sociological statement. Jesus once said, “If you love me, feed my sheep”.
One of the greatest commandments is to love God with all our hearts and minds. But immediately after that we are told to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Yet we as a nation proclaiming to be over 90% Christian seem to fall short exceedingly on this core facet of our religion; being our brother's keeper.
With the advent of modernization and globalization, there is significant rise in the population, while resources are being exhausted in the same process, meaning that some way or the other poverty is a by-product. So may factors can trap people in mire of endless poverty, especially lack of education.
Some religious folk, especially those ingrained in monastic tradition, praise and uphold the simplicity of life. They profess that it is biblically sound for the poor to exist and that living in poverty is an ideal to live by. Other believe it is divine ordainment that allows for such to take place. This is a fallacy as we are called his children and it does not make sense that “HE THROUGH WHOM ALL THINGS ARE GRANTED” would permit his children to live in penury.
Other believe that poverty is as a result of other sins or unsuitability. This is even further from the truth.
The fact remains that Jesus asked his followers to follow his example. “Anybody who as much does this to these my little ones has done it unto me”.
As a community we must do all that we can to alleviate and eradicate poverty. We must use everything at our disposal to enhance the life of the poor and to enable them to rediscover their dignity which they have lost though deprivation. While rediscovering their dignity we as a community will also discover who our neighbour is. One way to discover this is through giving back as community and with giving back comes our blessings.
Our government has created auspicious plans and agencies to reduce and eradicate the impact of poverty in Namibia: the Harambee Prosperity Plan and the Ministry of Poverty Eradication & Social Welfare. We as Christians are to emulate the acts of our leadership and aid these initiatives to exceed their present potential. We should all buy-in and drive these initiatives so that our poor are empowered and enabled to become productive members of society by being self-sufficient.
Acts of selflessness on our part is required. Let us avail time to train and educate those less fortunate.
The thinkers among us can create structured means through which those less fortunate can band together to become more economically sound. When we begin to live a life of giving and charitable acts, that one encounters God. It is then that we will begin to see things in perspective and hear the inner voice.
The community, whether on a national, regional or local level, down to a homestead, should empower its people to come alive! It should empower all its inhabitants to reach full potential.
We will meet the poor in our streets and help restore or guide them to attain their God given potential. We must get them to proclaim their own liberation for it is only the people themselves who can restore their own lives. As a God-Cantered and Spirit filled community we should be able to do these things without hesitation “although the Bible says the poor will always be there”.
It is by a close identification and giving oneself in compassion and not through condescending pity we can evaluate ourselves as a nation that is intent on seeing positive change. We must all inculcate the spirit, the spirit of grace and mercy. Let a new era commence and in this we work towards a better future and with the power of Jesus Christ, will make changes happen in the lives of our less fortunate brothers and sisters all over Namibia.
* Scholtz is the Regional Councillor for !Nami#nus Constituency and Chairperson of the //Kharas Regional Council.
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