Jesus Army: Magazine - Rant and rave

“Those who breach an ASBO need to receive a substantial sentence that impacts on their freedom.” [Northampton Chronicle and Echo]

WE HAVE a new scourge in society with their hoodies and baseball caps, rebels without a cause – ASBOs the media calls them: Anti Social Behaviour Orders.

Many fit the basic criteria: wear the wrong clothes and look offensive. Hoodies are banned. All those “worthless human beings”, “clearly up to no good”, these “yobs”, these “problem youths”. “They’re bad, they’re sick, they’re dirt! Give them what they deserve!”

What about taking action to give them something better rather than spending months or even years just trying to name and shame?

Attention is now also steering towards what are known as BABY ASBOs for children under the age of ten.

Unloved, from broken families, gangs on large council estates – does anyone care?

The eyes and ears of the respectable community see them as yobs and hate them; they want their names on a list and to see these young men arrested – just wearing the wrong clothes? Hanging around? No wonder the lads feel they’ve been rejected, placed low and therefore they fight for space, sorting out their own status, doing what they want.

“It’s not just about curtailing these young people, it’s about letting the community know that we are taking their concerns seriously and that action will be taken.” [Northampton Chronicle and Echo]

So what about us loving them instead of just “curtailing” them? What about “taking action” to give them something better?

Jesus loves and forgives. He’s a friend of the ASBOs. He wants to give them all a new style. And it’s a better style than the stuck up, self-righteous hypocrisy of many lawyers, Home Secretaries, most MPs, some senior police officers, and countless local government authorities.