Whores, outrage and fly-by-night pastors

THE EDITOR, Sir:

"You foolish Galatians (and Jamaicans, and American pastors, who try to live by the letter of the law and condemn women who dress in a particular way or place too great a focus on keeping the Sabbath)! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

"I would like to learn just one thing from you : Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing - if it really was for nothing. Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law, or because you believe what you heard?" (Galatians 3:1-5)

This passage of Scripture came into my head as I woke up this morning, giving thanks to God in Christ for another day; and thought about the conversation on #BeyondTheHeadlines yesterday between Earl Moxam and the pastor who represented Pastor Gino Jennings, who reportedly likened women who did not observe the dress code (the law of the Bible) in his church to whores.

Media firestorm

Those comments have provoked a firestorm of protest on social media, yet the views enjoyed some support in a vox pop sample on #RJRFM94.

Clearly, the foundation of the Christian faith is to live by the Spirit of the Resurrected Christ and not by the law (Mosaic or otherwise), which no one can keep, has been seriously eroded in my country.

And perhaps the reason why the Church has become less relevant and less engaged than in a previous era, when the miracles of Emancipation, free villages, education and health care for the newly freed slaves, were being performed in the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is something for us as Church, media and a nation to seriously consider and discuss. Who and what is the Church? Certainly not every fly-by-night pastor who acts as if he is bewitched and gains public attention by outrageous claims.

LUCIEN JONES