Let me share a story. Once a man had a pet parrot that sang well. When the summer season came he took the pet parrot outside his house and hung its cage on a huge banyan tree that grew in front of the house. The man thought that fresh air and sunlight would rejuvenate the parrot and make it happy. In the rainy season the man took the parrot inside the house again. The parrot forgot how to sing. Its voice was no longer sweet to hear. The parrot now had a hoarse call, like that of a crow. It was then that the man saw that the banyan tree on which he had hung the cage was home to crows. the parrot in the company of crows forgot how to sing, instead learnt how to crow. Hence, this story teaches us that no matter it is a parrot or a human. The company which we keep affects and influences our personality.
Let us see two happenings:
Genesis 34, begins with Dinah, Jacob’s daughter going out of her tent to befriend the Shechemites women. The result, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her and raped her. He was drawn towards her and wanted to make her his wife. But her brothers deceitfully killed every male in the city while showing the hand of friendship. Here we saw the result of Dinah’s actions, where she went outside in the absence of her brothers and father into an unknown land to make friends.
2 Samuel 13, In this passage we read about a friendship that led to ruin. Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David. Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her. His adviser named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother advised him to trick Tamar to come near him. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. He plotted a plan. He asked Amnon to pretend to be sick and have Tamar tend to him. He grabbed her forcefully, Tamar said to him that if he asked David, they would be married off. But he did not pay heed to her words. He forced himself on her and raped her. After his lust had been fulfilled he hated her and refused to marry her. Being disgraced, Tamar told the truth to Absalom, her brother. Absalom asked her to keep quiet about this at that time. Looking for the right opportunity, however, he killed Amnon and avenged his sister.
Deuteronomy 22:29, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. This was the law as mentioned in Old testament. But Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a desolate woman.
We have read two happenings from the Bible. In the first one the foolishness of Dinah, caused the brothers kill every male in the city. In the second, Absalom was waiting for the right moment to kill Amnon. The atrocities against women is not something new or unheard of. It’s been happening since time itself. Today a lot is being said about women’s liberation. Yet there is scarcity in rape or sexual assault cases across ages. There is no restrictions in age anymore. There are infants to old ladies being raped across the world.
One thing that can be observed in some cases is that it is due to friends that the girl fall into trap and get cheated/raped. There are instances when boys engage in dirty talk among friends and also watch nude pictures and **ue films. Instead of engaging in such behaviour, if the youth earnest wishes they can bring about a change. For eg: In a city, three young boys were living together as flat mates. In that city it was known that **ue films and nude pics were circulated on the sly. The youth being pained by the action, went to the shopkeeper and requested him not to sell those anymore. But it was in vain. Yet the boys were not ready to give up.
The boy bought the full stock from the shopkeeper and burnt it in the city center. A huge crowd gathered there on hearing about this. Their act of bravery and principles/values inspired many other youth to follow suit. It brought about a change in the city. Many shopkeepers stopped selling such stuff. The young men and women in the city gave up things that polluted the eyes, heart, mind and soul. The brave act of the three cleared the atmosphere of the whole city. Romans 12:21, 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Jehovah Roi 