Blood Diamond

The Ladies Beyond Diamond conference reminds me of a diamond of another sort and a conference of another kind.

Blood Diamond
Set in Africa and against the backdrop of Sierra Leone's civil war, Blood Diamond is a movie that shows us the workings of the jewelry industry and the human exploitation and bloodshed that's involved and so intricately linked to satisfying the demands in life. Whether it's basic survival (killing for diamonds, exchanging diamonds for money), power (trading diamonds for arms), accomplishing one's ideal (funding civil war with diamonds) or greed (smuggling diamonds, bringing illegal diamonds for higher profits).

Not only the imagery of child soldiers, but what the main character Danny said when he was confronted by his conscience lingered in my head for a while. He was reflecting upon his past and wondered sometimes "if God would forgive what we [Africans white or black] did to each other. And then I realised that God has left this place long time ago." I couldn't help but wonder if God could leave a place full of his creation behind. The country as portrayed in the movie clearly has no fear of God. And it's not hard to find such a place in our world today.

Has God abandoned them? I think not, but He won't and can't interfere when He isn't allowed to. Because they refused even to think about God (Rm 1:28), so God let these people go their own way (Rm 1:24), let them follow their own evil desires (Rm 1:26) and let their useless minds rule over them (Rm 1:28).

Child Soldiers
It's not hard to see how evil manifests itself in kidnapping and turning children into ruthless killers. It's not just in the movie, but in real life, there are up to 200,000 child soldiers in Africa alone.

It's hard to imagine how once happy, innocent and hopeful boys could turn into cruel people disregarding human life and gaining respect by killing. The scriptures came to mind about the influence that the people we surround ourselves with have on us. It says The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray (Prob 12:26) and He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm (Prob 13:20).

This also reminds me of the movie Ripley's Game where in one scene, Ripley said to the "innocent" man he forced into killing that the good thing about doing terrible thing is: you don't remember it after you've done it. It speaks of the state of our evilness as in Romans, the more we entertain it, the easier it gets. And so it's the same in our daily life that the more we focus and surround ourselves with things and thoughts of the world, the easier it gets to be one of them.

Women's Conference
I've been to quite a few women's gatherings, but one that I attended 8 years ago stood out in my mind. In this weekend retreat, all women are divided into groups that they learn and share and look out for one another for the weekend. The talks are by different speakers and topics mirror the stages of our Christian growth followed by a discussion. There are also other activities where all women can have fun together.

I distinctively remember the volume of gifts we received throughout the weekend. We were all showered with gifts constantly and most evidently at the dinning table. But the difference is these gifts all contain messages that reminds us of God. I also remember very well one activity that was very powerful in helping to draw me closer to God.

The talks, the meals, the activities and the gifts during the entire weekend were designed to build up the body of Christ and growing stronger Christian women. To me, that's the kind of gathering that's worth spending my time in. And I wish there are more of this kind of conference in churches today.