Heart

I read an article yesterday. Someone basically slammed the school uniforms we have in Malaysia. I suppose she means the government school ones. She said that they are too ‘sexy’, as the colour (white) makes the uniforms transparent.

She goes on to say that this ‘indecent clothing’ will encourage rape, premarital sex, illegitimate pregnancies and even prostitution.

Hmm..Interesting isn’t it? For the sake of discussion and debate, how does a transparent or translucent blouse encourage premarital sex? As far as I know, premarital sex is a consensual thing. Will swathing women in 3 layers of cloth help in any way? I kind of doubt it. After all, even if women are wrapped up like dumplings, we live in an age where pornography is so freely available. We would know what’s underneath those wrappings anyway.

And as for rape, well if a man is hell-bent on rape, it doesn’t really matter if the woman is wearing a bikini or a school uniform, does it? Don’t think it would make a difference.

So where am I going with this post? I’m trying to say that you cannot treat problems in such a way. You can dump more ‘controls’ and ‘rules’ and ‘laws’ and ‘regulations’ and it won’t change a single thing. Wrapping women up will not reduce a man’s lust, or a woman’s, as things go these days. What is going to prevent premarital sex and pregnancies is not more rules.

Problems need to be fixed at the core, which is right down in people’s hearts. No matter how many laws are imposed, if people believe something is right, they’ll keep doing it. It doesn’t matter if it’s stealing or murder. If they buy the story that it’s ok, they’ll do it.

Interestingly, this situation happened 2,000 years ago. Back in the time of Jesus. The Pharisees (lawmakers) at that time were rigid disciplinarians. They followed the law to the letter. And the gospel that Jesus came to bring was about freedom and forgiveness. But these Pharisees could not accept it. They were so caught up with the law that they failed to see the truth.

And indeed, 2,000 years later, we have those among us who are so blinded by laws and regulations that they fail to see the truth. Evil springs up from our hearts. And no amount of laws will improve morals. We are a decadent society. And rules really don’t hinder us from doing much.

Yes, I agree a change is needed. But it’s not a change of school uniforms to prevent rape. It’s not a ruling to ban gay marriages to prevent homosexuality. It’s not a punishment imposed on broken families and divorces. It’s not more rules. A change of heart is what the world needs. We don’t need more logic. We need more heart. We need pure hearts.

And this applies to everything. If we had a change of heart, would we not be more loving? Would we not be more against infidelity and adultery? Would we not be less angry and less stressed and less disappointed and depressed? We have a whole beautiful world created by the hands of God for us. And all we do is rush about, part of a massive rat race that chases all the smallest things in life.

Life does not consist of the things one possesses. That’s a quote out of the Bible. The reason God gave us a heart is s owe can feel. So we can live. So we can hear when He whispers that there’s more to life than this.

But I digress..Let us set our hearts right. Life is not a game of rules. There is freedom in doing the right thing, but rules alone will never ‘make’ us do the right thing. A righteous heart will. A pure heart will. Heart. That’s where it starts.