Dear Editor,
In the Jamaica Observer of Tuesday 27th August, 2013, Roger Goodwill, in a letter to the editor, asks the question, "Ja, where did we really go wrong?" It is a deep and vital question because, as a nation, we have certainly gone wrong.
The regrettable truth, however, is that we seem to be trying to evade the obvious answer. It is this: Jamaica has turned to vice instead of virtue.
In his poem, Paradise Lost, Milton has Satan saying, "Evil, be thou my good". This reflects the last state of moral degradation — the inability to recognise the difference between good and evil.
When God created human beings, He gave them a distinct difference from other animals. Man alone was created "in the image and likeness of God". In other words, man was given a moral sense. He could distinguish between good and bad. A dog cannot. Man therefore had the ability to choose between competing ways of conduct. Man could choose virtue as against vice.
Jamaica, as a young independent country, had to choose the kind of foundations on which to build the new nation. What has been chosen? Gambling, gangs and garrisons, godlessness, and it is now being recommended, ganja. Jamaica has opted for vice. That is where we have gone wrong. It is in our moral choice.
Why has this happened? What is the justification offered? Like the young man just leaving home and going out into independent living, the first aim would automatically seem to be to get money. At present, anything is justified in the nation's life if it claims to bring in money. The young man was wrong. His first aim should have been character and conduct, not money. If he displayed sound character and good conduct, money would follow.
Jamaica has not learnt the lesson that it is righteousness which exalts a nation, not sin. Vice has triumphed over virtue. The sad fact is that many of those who are advocates of vice are outstanding citizens. It was Shakespeare who said, in King Lear: "The prince of darkness is a gentleman." The bitter truth is that there will be consequences, dire consequences.
Rev Earl Thames
Spalding PO
Vice vs Virtue
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In the Jamaica Observer of Tuesday 27th August, 2013, Roger Goodwill, in a letter to the editor, asks the question, "Ja, where did we really go wrong?" It is a deep and vital question because, as a nation, we have certainly gone wrong.
The regrettable truth, however, is that we seem to be trying to evade the obvious answer. It is this: Jamaica has turned to vice instead of virtue.
In his poem, Paradise Lost, Milton has Satan saying, "Evil, be thou my good". This reflects the last state of moral degradation — the inability to recognise the difference between good and evil.
When God created human beings, He gave them a distinct difference from other animals. Man alone was created "in the image and likeness of God". In other words, man was given a moral sense. He could distinguish between good and bad. A dog cannot. Man therefore had the ability to choose between competing ways of conduct. Man could choose virtue as against vice.
Jamaica, as a young independent country, had to choose the kind of foundations on which to build the new nation. What has been chosen? Gambling, gangs and garrisons, godlessness, and it is now being recommended, ganja. Jamaica has opted for vice. That is where we have gone wrong. It is in our moral choice.
Why has this happened? What is the justification offered? Like the young man just leaving home and going out into independent living, the first aim would automatically seem to be to get money. At present, anything is justified in the nation's life if it claims to bring in money. The young man was wrong. His first aim should have been character and conduct, not money. If he displayed sound character and good conduct, money would follow.
Jamaica has not learnt the lesson that it is righteousness which exalts a nation, not sin. Vice has triumphed over virtue. The sad fact is that many of those who are advocates of vice are outstanding citizens. It was Shakespeare who said, in King Lear: "The prince of darkness is a gentleman." The bitter truth is that there will be consequences, dire consequences.
Rev Earl Thames
Spalding PO
Vice vs Virtue
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