It would seem that I should make this a regular installment on my blog. The Prague Post, the English paper in Prague, has kept me informed since I left the Czech Republic and at least weekly gives me reminders to why God has called me there. Not to long ago I posted on a very paradoxical ruling that had been passed that made it illegal to create child pornography, but you can still own it. Which doesn’t help the problem, because there is still a market for it that is legal! Anyway, if you want to read it click here. Well this morning I was working through my daily blog roll and I found an interesting article about prostitution in the Czech Republic. Some of you who have spoken with me about Czech, or have been there, have heard it said that in many way Prague is becoming another Amsterdam. So when I read an article entitled “Prostitution ban is constitutional” I was excited and hopeful about things changing in the country that I love and really call home. But as I read the article I realized that it is but a band-aid approach and it really won’t solve the problem. However, there were some things that brought some optimism:
The breakthrough March 8 ruling from the Constitutional Court in Brno gives local municipalities the right to regulate where prostitutes find clients, to protect the “moral development†of children who witness streetwalkers.
Okay maybe there weren’t things but a thing. I was encouraged that they are actually concerned about the “‘moral development’ of children” but it doesn’t solve the overarching issue at large. Here is the gist of the law:
Citing potential damage to the moral development of children, who may see prostitutes offering their services, the court ruled that towns may take one of three tacks: ban sex services in all public areas, create zones where street prostitution is allowed, or not regulate it at all.
Needless to say that wasn’t what I was hoping to read. But at least it is a small step and it will regulate prostitution to a degree, BUT it doesn’t solve the problem of women being used, abused, degraded, and treated like an animal, or something less than human, in many ways. After living in Prague for nearly 2 years I learned where the “streetwalkers” were and where to avoid, but it isn’t near as bad in Prague as it on in the border cities. It is in these cities along the German and Austrian borders where hundreds, if not thousands, of women are regulated to an existence that is less than human. Many of them are girls and women from the east that are promised a life in the West and get duped into the sex slave industry.
I pray that as you have read this post and the article on Prague Post that God stirs your heart to pray for the Czech Republic and that the Kingdom of God would continue to break into this country is spite of itself! As I read this article and thought about Czech I was reminded of Jesus’ reaction as he approached Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-42):
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
Or Nehemiah’s reaction when he heard a report of the state of Jerusalem (Take note that this is 141 years after Jerusalem was sacked, but the news hits Nehemiah in a new way. He has the heart of Jesus from the passage above.)
And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Neh. 1:3-4
God, it would seem, has given me the heart of Jesus, which Nehemiah exhibited as well, for the Czech Republic and Prague. I pray that God would give you the same, or at least a fraction for this country and its people, but moreover I pray that you would have the heart of Jesus for a people and that you would weep over them and cry out to the God of heaven! Praying for a revolution in Czech…