Dear Editor,
In his Sunday Stabroek column on ‘The progress gap’ (25.5.08), Dr Ian McDonald reminds readers of the world of the difference between what is good for the pocketbook and what is good for the soul of man and the health of the world. He stressed this “sad truth,” while noting the adage that man shall not live by bread alone, “but by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God” (Mathew 4:4). According to the Bible, God’s word is, first, “You shall love The Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind,” and secondly, which is just as important, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
Dr McDonald’s posture seems to suggest that he is in agreement that there is a tried and tested course to be followed in order to close the progress gap. The question then arises, why, in his wisdom, does Dr McDonald not recommend this course of action to the economists and businessmen who will not easily “acknowledge that genuine progress in society cannot be measured by financial success”? It seems that he, like the Apostle Paul, is aware that they are like the natural man who cannot receive the things or the word of God, “for they are foolishness to him; neither can he understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
History and experience have shown that most economists and businessmen will never abandon the philosophy of the bottom line voluntarily, for they are prepared to pay what it costs to gain the whole world, and lose their souls. All is not lost. Good only came out of Nazareth when it became nothing in the sight of man (John 1:46), but precious in the sight of God. So let it be with Guyana. The time has come when the “stone” which most economists and nearly all businessmen have rejected through covetousness has become the cornerstone of the commanding heights of the economy.
Yours faithfully,
Roy Warren
Minister of the Gospel
