Sin of Omission
Well I was just chilling over the weekend and reflecting on the achievements of my very busy week, when I stumbled upon a very thought provoking article about omission. It somewhat confirmed my thoughts on a few things that had bothered me in the news last week and whether I was doing enough to make a difference.
Now there are times when we all beat ourselves up for doing stuff we did and shouldn’t have done and, there are always consequences to our actions. But what about the things we should have done and didn’t, the times when we were silent and should have spoken up, when we could have done more but couldn’t be bothered. When we were selfish, yes we have all been there; – it doesn’t affect me, I’m all right!
I was so disturbed about the 27 year old woman in Sudan, (as reported in the Telegraph) who has been sentenced to death by hanging because she refuses to convert to Islam and deny her Christian faith. Apparently, she has a stay of execution until after the birth of the baby!
Then I found an article by Cristina Odone, also in the Telegraph dated May 1st 2013, quote ‘more than 70 per cent of Saudis believe an apostate (someone who leaves their Muslim faith) should be executed while only 13 per cent of those in South Eastern Europe do.’
I hear of this horrendous scenario all too often and in this case the young woman said she had never practiced as a Muslim and though she had a Muslim father she had been raised by her Christian mother and was brought up with her mother’s faith, in her father’s absence. Complicated!
So what do ordinary folk like you and I do? I suppose whatever we can, be that little in many cases. Shout loud, send an email, share a tweet or a facebook story. Register our concern and pressurise those who can make a difference. And of course pray about it if you have the faith to do so.
If you’re like me you want to know what’s going on in the world and then after a news update you wish you didn’t know.
So let’s at least stand up for what is right when we are faced with a situation in our locality. Let’s insist on our ‘rights’ as a human being to choose.
I would hate to leave this world to be faced with the sin of omission, wouldn’t you?
On that note do something special and unexpected for someone in need this week.
God Bless
Anna
