A pastor’s suggestion and a reiteration by Minister of National Security Peter Bunting that the country needs divine intervention to tame the crime monster have come in for ridicule from Jamaica Observer online readers. At a service at the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester on Saturday, Pastor Greg Baldeo several incidence of crime, particularly in recent days, have underscroved the need for God’s intervention. Bunting, meanwhile, said he had no apology for making the statement in April, which generated much controversy. The story was published in yesterday’s Observer. Here are some edited comments:
castroFaith (prayer) without work is dead. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say, “depart in peace and be filled”, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit? Praying for divine intervention without putting in place tangible and workable policies to fight crime is like praying in vain.Louis LawrenceMr Pastor, show or tell me one country anywhere where crime was reduced due to divine intervention and I can show you large cities that reduced or eliminated crime by designing and implementing a comprehensive crime-reduction plan. Our politicians are either incompetent or lazy or both. The pastors really just need to wake up, some statements are really just good for the headlines.Carlos KingJamaica is a “so-called” Christian country but when we were called to stand up for God, when it was voiced that in order to solve our crime problems we need divine intervention, civil society leaders and followers rubbished the statement and called for the messenger’s resignation! When it mattered “Christian” Jamaica turned its back on God. But God will never turn His back on Jamaica.johnchristianThere has been hundreds of calls For divine intervention for all the ills of Jamaica… to date the “divine” seems to be not paying attention to us. May I suggest that the brains given to us by the alleged “divine” be used to solve these issues. This mixture of religion and politics is not working.Fabian WilliamsBefore the election he had a plan, where is it now?AckeepegWe are becoming a country of God haters and are reaping the whirlwind.lenatStart the prevention measures and see if we will not have good results. They are failing desperately at fixing.rasbenjiA story rife with discomfort. A pastor who proudly declares he’s never voted in an election. Who also declares that the cure for the nation’s ill is to arrive through divine intervention. In a public prayer with/for a minister of Government charged with the job of ensuring national security who declares (without apology) that he’s incapable of doing his job without the intervention of God. A public display of partiality with the choice of which denomination/religion is the path of that ‘intervention’.BLACKHAWKDivine intervention is needed to get rid of the politics as we know it, after which everything else will fall in place. The egotists seeking self-glorification are to be made aware.Enos AndersonI wish these pastors would stop misleading the people and desist from giving them false hope.If God was in control of crime and criminals we would have a crime-free world; if prayer breakfast or otherwise could curb crime, we would not need police officers and a minister of national security.What we need is to enforce the laws of the land, we need to make criminals tremble in their boots at the thought of being caught, we need parents to bring up their children to respect the law, we need politicians who are respectful, honest and law-abidingPastor of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester Greg Baldeo prays with Minister of National Security Peter Bunting during a prayer for the nation at the Independence Service held at the Mandeville Church on Saturday.
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"Faith without work is dead"
