A Foolish Omission
Two boys of ten lured two other boys into a secluded place and then subjected them to extreme violence and harm. These same two boys had done the same with another boy. No doubt everyone who read and heard the story was profoundly shocked that such things can happen. The Times newspaper had an editorial which it headed “Uncommon Evil”. The essence of what the editorial said was that the problem lies in the values and ethics that now predominate in our society. At the same time the now retired Bishop, Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali has pointed out that Britain’s Christian values are being further squeezed out by the strong influence of Islam and “aggressive secularism”.
Dr. Nazir-Ali warned that Christianity was being sidelined by “secularist agendas”. So in Britain today people are censured and even disciplined for talking about Christianity in their workplace but not for speaking about politics, sport or even other religious ideologies. Christian marriage counsellors are removed because they believe in Christian marriage and Christian adoption agencies cannot be publicly funded because they believe that children are best brought up in a family with a mother and father to look after them. In Britain, which was once famed for freedom of speech and liberty of conscience, it is possible to do and say all sorts of things and be accepted but not to speak out Christian values or seek to live by them and encourage others to do the same.
What we find is that we live in a hedonistic society with almost no influences counteracting the strong materialistic and relativistic culture. So, in many areas of public life there are evidences of an absence of strong moral and ethical values. Instead we have politicians who pursue votes and a self-seeking agenda. In education the sole object seems to be to turn out children who can pass exams and are useful to the economy, but where the ability to choose right from wrong is woefully underdeveloped. The popular agenda is dominated by the emptiness of the celebrity culture and a simplistic analysis of what is wrong. Drugs and alcohol are a major problem with the attendant violence and crime. But when it is suggested that we are a broken society there is an outcry against “devaluing people”. As if telling the truth was to be avoided at all costs lest people be upset and made to examine themselves. Yet the evidence for the deficiency of the values and ethical standards that now operate within our society is overwhelming.
Of course, the very idea of “examining ourselves” is very much out of favour. In consequence the one place where people can be helped to do that in a tender and sympathetic environment where answers are provided is deprecated and devalued. Going to Church is very much a no-no for most people. Yet there they would learn the very things that would help them to understand themselves and put life into context, give meaning to their daily lives, give hope and value to them as people made in God’s image, and provide the most amazing solutions to the deep problems in their hearts.
The reason people do not go to church is that they have believed the propaganda from the secularists that claim the Bible is untrue and Christianity is based on a load of errors. And yet the evidence is totally against those charges. Anyone who has read the transcripts of the series of debates between Dr. Michael Poole, a scientist and Christian, and Professor Richard Dawkins will see just how flimsy the arguments against Christianity are. This has recently been reinforced by a similar series of debates between Christopher Hitchens and Pastor Doug Wilson. In both sets of debates the cogency, relevance, accuracy, validity and reliability of the Christian message was powerfully established. Of course, the media gave no attention to either of these events. It would cut across the emphasis they seek to bring.
People have also increasingly listened to the false arguments about the Bible produced by Muslim teachers over the centuries. Yet the fact is that it is very clear that the New Testament was written during the sixty years that followed the death of Christ by eyewitnesses or those who knew eyewitnesses, and that the form we have it in today is the same as that which the first Christians were reading in those early years. That means that the claim that Jesus is God, truly has been the message of the Church down the centuries without alteration. And the evidence of His life, teachings, death and resurrection indubitably proves He is God and the Saviour of all who will trust Him. That is what our society needs to hear.
Throughout our nation there are churches where these truths are taught and lived out by the members, but they are sidelined in the thinking of so many. Sadly I must admit there are far too many churches where these truths are not taught or practised and those places do so much damage to the nation. But the wise in our society will realise that the time has come to hear again the great message of Jesus Christ as taught in the Bible and to follow through the values and way of life that He taught. I call on all who read this to think again about what they do on Sunday morning and to make their way to a Bible-teaching Church. The benefit you will gain from that will be incalculable.