Do-Nothing Response to Crime Prevails

Now for the people's response to crime here. This could be a very short entry, because there's not much response!

Here are a few examples:

An employee of our next-door neighbor saw the guy who robbed our house. He had been casing it from their cow pasture. He also saw the man walking away from our house with a suit case. He did not bother to call the police.

A few weeks earlier, another neighbor stood by and watched as a man fitting the same description entered the property of a house across the street and walk away a few minutes later with a number of things he did not possess when he went in. The neighbor did nothing.

A week or so after our house was hit, the next door neighbor's farm hand saw the same man casing another house in the neighborhood. He did call us and followed the man a short distance, but did not call the police.

A few years ago a Costa Rican friend was on a bus trip with us. He saw someone steal a fellow passenger's suit case. He watched the thief walk off the bus with the bag and did nothing. He did, however, learn a lesson. He saw someone stealing a bag on the return trip and called out. The owner of the bag chased the thief down and got his bag back.

Natalia's boyfriend Cesar was murdered in broad daylight at a crowded section in the middle of Tejarcillos. No one saw anything.

Last year a Costa Rican friend who lives in the slums was away from home when gunmen entered and held up his son at their home. The men took everything they could carry from the house, including the food and clothing. They made several trips to and from the house. In full view of the neighborhood, no one saw anything.

One Costa Rican friend had his business broken into, found the culprit, and, knowing that nothing would happen if he called the police, cut a deal with the thief. He paid him off not to burglarize the business again. The thief kept his end of the deal.

The do-nothing mentality is not limited to crime, however. Martha and I have both happened upon dying pedestrians who were hit by trucks. In Martha's case, one man did offer his cell phone, while no one else in the substantial crowd that had gathered tried to help in any way. We had only been here a couple of months, but Martha prayed with and comforted the woman with the little Spanish she knew.

Last fall I came upon a man who was dying in the street after a truck ran him over. A crowd was gathering but no one tried to help. I went over and prayed with and comforted the man until he died.

One day when my parents were visiting we were walking past a field where a large brush fire was burning. Embers were beginning to float across the street where people lived in flimsy houses. Folks were watching the fire from their door steps. So I asked the folks at the first house we passed, "Have you called the fire department?" "No," they said. So I called the same question up to the folks at the next house we passed. Again, the answer was no. My parents were getting pretty stressed by now. I did not have a cell phone. I said to my parents that those people could easily call the fire department if they chose to, and if their houses burned down there wasn't really much we could do about it.

Why are the people here like this? The answer is probably complex, but I believe it boils down to a deep-seated fatalism. We Americans are taught that we are the masters of our destinies. Here, and probably throughout the "two thirds world," the attitude is "lo que sera sera," (whatever will be will be) and "lo que Dios quiera," (whatever God wills). There is a time to be born and a time to die, so no one does much to prevent either event.

More next time. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Exodus International Has Latin America Conference Here

Last week Exodus International had its regional conference for Latin America at a nearby church. Six of us from Nexus, our church's outreach and restoration program for prostitutes, attended.

Exodus International is a controversial, worldwide ministry to persons with same-sex attraction. Why is it so controversial? Because conventional wisdom (i.e., that of the American Psychiatric Association, the gay lobby, Hollywood, and most journalists) says that gays cannot change, and they shouldn't be expected to, because, a) homosexuality is perfectly normal, b)homosexuals are born that way, and c) God made them that way. My purpose in saying this is not to ridicule or shame persons with same-sex attraction. I am, however, criticizing those institutions of our society that accept and propagate such ideas without stopping to examine them critically or consider other perspectives.

Exodus, on the other hand, teaches that, essentially, there is no such thing as a homosexual (hey, I keep trying to tell you it's highly controversial!). All of us are born heterosexuals. That's what God makes. Along the way, people sometimes develop same-sex attraction. This is a feeling. Nothing more or less. Is there any other group in our culture that lobbies for and receives civil rights based on their feelings? What society calls homosexuality is really a displaced sense of identity based on dysfunction and abuse that people suffer growing up.

Contrary to popular belief, Exodus does not try to turn gay people into straight people. The emphasis is on holiness, healing, and learning intimacy. Intimacy with God, that is. As people stop practicing homosexual behavior and heal from their hurts, some, but by no means all, stop experiencing same-sex attraction and begin to be attracted to the opposite sex. Some marry. But that is not the goal.

Ten persons who had come out of homosexuality shared their testimonies. Common threads that ran through all the testimonies were that the people had indeed changed, that they were happier now, and that, the turning point came when they found a church welcomed and did not shun them. Churches often speak of hating the sin and loving the sinner, but few seem to practice it. Evangelicals tend to hate the sin and the sinner, while liberal mainliners often seem to love the sinner and the sin.

One of the biggest things that attracted us to the church we go to here, Comunidad El Camino, is that it welcomes people "tal y como son" (just as they are) without condoning sin. Some guys come in drag. Others are completely restored from homosexuality. A dozen or so are in the process of learning to live as men. Prostitutes can show up without feeling embarrassed. Folks come in straight off of the streets. It's truly a hospital for sinners. Let's not forget that Jesus gravitated towards folks like that and away from religious folks like you and me!