Ms Natalie Harewood is a self-confessed prostitute, seeking to unseat Colonel Jeffrey Bostic as the parliamentarian for the City of Bridgetown in the General Elections.
If it is as she says, that she is a prostitute who has cleaned up her act, and even if she did not clean up her act, she is legally entitled to walk up the steps of parliament. But who beside her knows that she is a prostitute?
There are two instances in the New Testament when Jesus told someone to “sin no more”, and they were each under different circumstances. The first is the famous story of the woman caught in adultery found in John 8:1-11. Jesus pricked the conscience of the accusers to such an extent that they left the scene one by one until the accused was left alone with Jesus.
The penalty for adultery in Jesus’ day was death. Jesus did not say or do anything to show that the law of adultery was not in force, but He did not condemn her to death. He used His power to forgive sins and told her: “Go, and sin no more.”
The problem with the Scribes and Pharisees was that they brought the woman to Jesus without one iota of evidence that the woman was a prostitute. She could not commit the act alone and Jesus knew that.
Natalie Harewood cannot commit an act of prostitution alone. Before anyone has the legal right to call her a prostitute, she will have to be convicted in a court of law for the act of prostitution, along with the other person or people found in the act.
Prostitution in Barbados is a criminal offence and a person convicted of prostitution cannot serve in the House of Assembly in Barbados. So let us see Ms Harewood as an unlabelled, uncondemned, ordinary citizen, who, like everyone else, has broken God’s laws and needs to do what is right and turn to God as our only Saviour.
The second is when Jesus healed the invalid by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15). After the man was healed, Jesus found him in the temple and told him: “Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” Jesus knew what caused the man’s condition. The context implies it was caused by the man’s sinful actions.
Ms Mia Mottley’s friend and former Cabinet colleague, Ms Elizabeth Thompson, gave a testimony that Ms Mottley is “a sinner” on the way to reform, seeking grace like the rest of us.
I am happy that Ms Mottley found the bosom of a friend on whom she could have laid her burden and receive comfort.
Ms Thompson is right when she said all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s righteous requirements. Each of us must approach God’s throne of grace and mercy and confess our sins to Him alone.
– ALGERNON ATHERLEY