MONTEGO BAY, St James — President of the West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Churches, Pastor Glen Samuels, has challenged mothers to set their priorities straight, arguing that instead of spending lavishly on things such as expensive hairstyles, they should purchase their children’s textbooks.

“I say to my young sisters, before you hand over $30,000 for a good hairstyle, take $1,500 and buy a book for your child and one for yourself. Because [I am] without fear, I will say it again: that which is inside your head must be more important than that which is on top of the head. You can’t go to the hairdresser today and spend $30,000 and then tomorrow you ask the Church to give you lunch money for the child. That is misplaced priority,” the clergyman remarked.

“And part of the problem affecting the youngsters of our country is that they have not ordered their priorities right.”

Pastor Samuels argued that “the heart of the problem in our country can be traced to the heart of home life in this nation”.

“Most of those who are guilty of anti-social behaviour and vicious barbaric crimes are youngsters who have never been properly parented. And until we fix the problem in our homes to the extent, more bloodshed will soak Jamaica, land we love,” bemoaned the churchman.

Samuels was speaking at the annual West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Churches Leadership Conference at the Mount Salem headquarters on Sunday.

He argued that churches play a significant role in transforming the lives of youngsters as well as mentoring parents, including fathers “to stand up to the responsibility and provide solid leadership for the child”.

He chided individuals who question if the Church is doing enough to fight crime, arguing that hadn’t it been for the Church, the crime issue would be far worse.

“I speak as a proud churchman that had it not been for the Jamaican church, our problems would be 10 times worst than they are,” the man of the cloth proclaimed.

“We are not a crime-fighting agency, but it is my opinion that the successful work of the Church significantly reduces crime in Jamaica.”