Tag Archives: rights

Stand Off!

     The protest in our capital city shows no sign of abating, with both sides determined not to give in. The protestors are being very vocal, determined to make their presence noticed, while the other side is equally determined to not allow their adversaries the satisfaction of seeing them face to face. The general  media did its best to keep out of the fray, reporting only the bare minimum, but this did not stop the protestors the full use of social media online, and comments were flying up on this non stop.

     More and more people were making their way to support the hecklers, and still other groups were forming in smaller centres around the country, all determined to make their voices and feelings heard and seen. Both sides wanted the freedom to make their own choices regarding the way to tackle the current pandemic.

      It seemed obvious that if this were the case, then free choice brings responsibility for the consequences of this. It brought to mind, that the inevitability of choice is consequences. If we choose to drive on the wrong side of the road, there will be a car crash sooner or later. If we jump off the top of a cliff, there will be broken bones, or worse still, a dead body at the bottom! Any foolish action incurs the risk of a dangerous end. Yet, even in knowing this, people want to be free to make these choices for themselves.

    We might not realise this, but this desire for freedom is a God-given thing. Choice is something we all have had given to us, right from the time we were born. We can choose to do the right thing, what we are told to do, and be safe, or we can choose to disobey, and suffer the consequences!

     This is just as plain in spiritual things as it is in physical things. The only difference is that spiritual things go on for eternity, while physical things come to an end in this life. The problem that most people don’t seem to realise, is that whether we like to face it or not, we ALL have a spiritual side to our life, a dimension that goes on for eternity. This is where the biggest choice we have to make comes in….do we want to face this or not??? We cannot sit on the fence in this matter, we have to make the choice between light and darkness, between life and death. Let’s be brave and face up to this choice now!

Tolerance of Others’ Rights

Brief time at Home     I’ve been thinking about this for a while, especially since our boat was stolen from our front yard one night while we slept. We had bought this boat only ten days before, and had it parked beside the house with a chain securely fastening (we thought) the wheel of the trailer.

When we looked out the window  one morning, the yard was empty. It took a while to register, and then we wailed, “The boat isn’t there!”

There was all the fuss of contacting the police and the insurance company and all that goes with these things. The police eventually tracked it down some weeks later minus the motor, but it got me thinking.

Surely we had the right to safely park our boat on our own property and see it still there every morning! But then the man who stole it felt he had the right to take it and sell it to give him some extra money. Fortunately for us (unfortunately for him) the law of the land said our “right” over-rode his “right”.

We hear so much about being tolerant these days. Should we have been tolerant of his “right” to our property? Perhaps we should be tolerant of some things, but we can never be tolerant of blatant wrong. We cannot be tolerant of those who harm others, either physically or mentally. How far do we take these “rights”?

People are entitled to their opinions…whose opinion is more “right” than others? My adult grandson, when losing in a discussion, immediately hides behind “Well, that’s just your opinion Gran”!

I’m still thinking this one out, and came to this conclusion…unless there is an unchanging standard of what is right and wrong, there will never be an answer. For me, that standard is God’s Word, the Bible from which stems all the laws of decency and reasonableness. What is your standard?