Marbaniang, Domenic

The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. (Lev 25:23 NIV) The pages of human history are red with the blood of the poor who became poor and were never again given the opportunity to be restored again because of laws or polities that prevented the redemption or restoration of their land to them. In India, for ages, the zamindars (zamin=land; land holders) held large portions of local lands keeping poor peasants in subjection to them. The British colonialists made use of the zamindari system to collect taxes and revenues. After Independence, several land reforms have been attempted to relieve the poor and the oppressed classes. Still, there are millions who continue to be landless and homeless. In Leviticus 25, God pronounces His principles of land acquisition and ownership for the Israelites, with provisions of both redemption and restoration. Of course, selfish humans do not appreciate the divine heart very much when...

If a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath, and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter; if he does not tell it, he bears guilt. (NKJV) If a person sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen or learned about, he will be held responsible. (NIV) If you sin by not stepping up and offering yourself as a witness to something you've heard or seen in cases of wrongdoing, you'll be held responsible. (MSG) A popular quote, usually attributed to Edmund Burke rightly or wrongly, says "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." In the same vein, Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." While the right to silence is a right that citizens have in order to guard against false self-incrimination, a witness...