Habitat for Humanity
- Thread starter Lanolin
- Start date
The book was not fiction it was written by someone who lived it.
Communes chasing utopia in Aotearoa by Olive Jones
Another book I read was about Gloriavale by someone who grew up in it and left it. This was a christian commune, or rather, a permanent camp. I am not a fan of camp style living.
I have been on a few Christian camps and festivals but only a for a couple of days I can't imagine living like that permanently.
In Olive's commune there was no one leader but they did have problems with hepatitis and people would follow gurus.
At Gloriavale was a Bible cult and women were treated no better. The leaders were the other extreme and people may have wanted to leave but couldn't and leaders guilted families into staying women there were treated like harems for the men. If they did leave they were treated as evil.
I've been to see a place that used to be a former commune called Centrepoint. The place looked really lush and had wonderful greenery but this was also a place where sexual abuse was rife and the founder bedded all the women. It got closed down and turned into a retreat centre so the wealthy could drop out there for a few weeks at a time.
I've been asked to be a navigator, working with the very poor who need washing machines, beds, furniture. Because last year Cyclone Gabrielle has left many with nothing, floods have washed away/damaged homes, and renters now need emergency housing. This is for Ministry of health, I am not sure about it yet - does God want me to help with this?
But it might be something. If people don't have the basics (clean clothes, somewhere to sleep) they'll have more health problems later on. We have refugees/migrants in our own country, never mind those who come from other countries for a new or better life. Of course people are people, made in God's image no matter who or what they believe.
We have a lot of homeless people now since there are literally no homes to put people in, and it may be many now living in 'housing projects' like as seen in the US - huge homes/tenenments/slums where you don't have a backyard and you can be on the 16th floor with no space for your children or any family.
In NZ, there had been enough land for a 1/4 acre 'paradise' which led to a lot of urban sprawl, but, at least there was room. The other alternative was packing everyone into towers. Rural is rural and city is city. Leaky homes were a huge problem (and still are) though am not sure what the solution is. Our infrastructure is packing up, there are sinkholes now and some cities experiencing water shortages while others have sewage overflows. We don't have large areas of flat land that can just expand forever, maybe the land just can't support that many people? But then there's people with huge holiday homes sitting empty and not being used for half the year because the owner has so many residences that they can't be in 5 places at once.
Govts are told they need to buyout people's homes because the land they gave consent to build on was not stable. The RMA (resource management act) had been revoked and now everyones frantically building but its always a case of catch up. I think unless the Lord builds the house, we labour in vain.
And I've had enough of labouring in vain. I remember praying for these problems we were facing many years ago when first home buyers were facing huge debts and obstacles. I know many young people counted the cost and decided no, there is no way we can ever afford one. Boomer generation are fine, govt has always looked after them (fancy luxury apartments are their lot now they have equity) but that has left subsequent generations with nothing.
Sorry if I'm going on about it. I'd just like to know what God's solution to those facing hardship is. Do we make friends with mammon of unrighteousness so we can be let into their lasting habitations? What does that really mean. Many people have extra homes..do we need better landlords or what. We have landlords renting out substandard homes to people and not maintaining them and charging them exorbitant rent, and then foreign buyers buying 'investment property' but failing to look after their tenants and they push up rents and prices. But then some tenants can be really bad. So I don't know the answers.
But it might be something. If people don't have the basics (clean clothes, somewhere to sleep) they'll have more health problems later on. We have refugees/migrants in our own country, never mind those who come from other countries for a new or better life. Of course people are people, made in God's image no matter who or what they believe.
We have a lot of homeless people now since there are literally no homes to put people in, and it may be many now living in 'housing projects' like as seen in the US - huge homes/tenenments/slums where you don't have a backyard and you can be on the 16th floor with no space for your children or any family.
In NZ, there had been enough land for a 1/4 acre 'paradise' which led to a lot of urban sprawl, but, at least there was room. The other alternative was packing everyone into towers. Rural is rural and city is city. Leaky homes were a huge problem (and still are) though am not sure what the solution is. Our infrastructure is packing up, there are sinkholes now and some cities experiencing water shortages while others have sewage overflows. We don't have large areas of flat land that can just expand forever, maybe the land just can't support that many people? But then there's people with huge holiday homes sitting empty and not being used for half the year because the owner has so many residences that they can't be in 5 places at once.
Govts are told they need to buyout people's homes because the land they gave consent to build on was not stable. The RMA (resource management act) had been revoked and now everyones frantically building but its always a case of catch up. I think unless the Lord builds the house, we labour in vain.
And I've had enough of labouring in vain. I remember praying for these problems we were facing many years ago when first home buyers were facing huge debts and obstacles. I know many young people counted the cost and decided no, there is no way we can ever afford one. Boomer generation are fine, govt has always looked after them (fancy luxury apartments are their lot now they have equity) but that has left subsequent generations with nothing.
Sorry if I'm going on about it. I'd just like to know what God's solution to those facing hardship is. Do we make friends with mammon of unrighteousness so we can be let into their lasting habitations? What does that really mean. Many people have extra homes..do we need better landlords or what. We have landlords renting out substandard homes to people and not maintaining them and charging them exorbitant rent, and then foreign buyers buying 'investment property' but failing to look after their tenants and they push up rents and prices. But then some tenants can be really bad. So I don't know the answers.