Light Engaging Darkness – 9 – 18th September 2017
I thought that I would not be able to do this weeks but in the mercy and providence of God, I got out of hospital early and so whilst I am recuperating – here are a few news items over the past week that caught my eye.
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Death of Nabeel Qureshi –
“In the past few days my spirits have soared and sank as I pursue the Lord’s will and consider what the future might look like, but never once have I doubted this: that Jesus is Lord, His blood has paid my ransom, and by His wounds I am healed. I have firm faith that my soul is saved by the grace and mercy of the Triune God, and not by any accomplishment or merit of my own. I am so thankful that I am a child of the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sealed in the Spirit. No, in the midst of the storm, I do not have to worry about my salvation, and for that I praise you, God. . . .”
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The Death of the Church in Scotland?
The Humanists have been beside themselves with joy – a poll they commissioned of 1,000 people suggests that only 25% of people in Scotland consider themselves religious. As always they have their finger on the pulse of what concerns most Scottish people when they declared this was a reason not to have religious representatives on education committees – although one is tempted to ask, not only whether anyone trusts polls which find exactly what those who pay for them want to find, but also whether the 1% of people who consider themselves to be humanist should have the right to have their secular humanism inflicted on all Scotland’s children. This rather excellent article from Stephen Daisley makes some interesting observations of the state of Christianity in our country – in this article
“ It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a religious man to enter the kingdom of liberal opinion.”
“Faith fills in the gaps where government fails and charity embraces those left behind. Charity is love. The state may feed you, clothe you, put you to work, and even tend your wounds but it cannot love you. Love requires humility and intimacy; it is a choice, not a key performance indicator. That does not mean that the state is unnecessary, only that it is insufficient. It nourishes the body but it cannot feed the soul.”
The debate to which he referred was organised by our friend Katie Forbes, SNP MSP, who proposed the following motion which was accepted by the Scottish Parliament –
“That the Parliament welcomes the establishment of the Serve Scotland coalition of church-based community groups; recognises the positive work undertaken by these groups, providing services such as foodbanks, debt advice, night shelters and refugee support work in communities across Scotland, including in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch; pays tribute to the many thousands of volunteers who provide these services, and believes that such community work undertaken by churches and other faith groups is a mark of a healthy civil society and is to be welcomed as part of a modern, plural Scotland.”
You can watch the whole debate here – and I would certainly recommend watching Kate’s speech at the beginning..
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Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Speaking of Christian influence in politics, Jacob Rees-Mogg continues to lead the way and has a great way of dealing with the patronising and smug superiority of the secular British media –
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The Death of Christian Britain
The situation in the UK is actually much worse than the humanists realise. Would that 25% of the population were Christian! The reality is that ‘Christian’ here is used far too often as shorthand for a cultural and ethnic term – not in the way that the bible uses it.
It was reported in Christian Today (here) that only 6% of British adults read the bible and 55% of Christians don’t ever read the bible. 29% of Christians don’t ever pray. One third of Christians don’t ever attend Church. There is of course a word for which describes those who don’t read the bible, pray or go to church – ‘non-Christian’! It is the height of absolute post-modernist folly for the Church to talk about Christians (followers of Christ) who don’t follow Christ!
Incidentally the poll on which this is based had 51% of Britons claiming to be Christian, contrasted with the British Social Attitudes survey published last week that had the figure at 41%. Which just goes to show with polls that you pays your money and you makes your choice.
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George Osbourne and the Death of Thersea May
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The Hypocrisy of Facebook and Transgender
Speaking of double standards and hypocrisy lets turn to Facebook. Recently this article by Brendan O’Neill on Facebook was banned because ‘it does not meet our community standards”.
The left wing libertarian Marxist, Mr O’Neill, was making the fairly obvious point that it might not be a good idea to put a convicted rapist into a woman’s prison even though they self-identified as transgender. One would hardly have thought it was controversial – but this is the way the new algorithmic censorship works – a few people complain and, especially if it involves Transgender, bingo – you are banned. Because after all you are clearly in the same category of Extremist as an ISIS terrorist who wants to put bomb making info on the web!
It is time we asserted our right to opt out of trans people’s fantasies. If a man wants to refer to himself as a woman, that is absolutely his business. But there is no reason the rest of us have to accept that he is a woman. There is no reason the birth registrar has to change the sex on his birth certificate (replacing the truth with a lie), or that a women-only college has to accept him as a student, or that the prison system has to place him in a women’s prison. The rise of the trans ideology speaks to a really problematic 21st-century idea: that society has a duty to respect our chosen identities. It doesn’t. Society must only respect our rights — our right to speak, our right to vote and our right to personal autonomy — not what we believe. Society must uphold our freedom, not our feelings. So yes, a man has a right to say, ‘I am a woman’, but society is perfectly within its rights to say: ‘No, you are not.’ And it should say this more often. It is terrifying that nobody in a position of authority thought to say to Ponting: ‘Jessica, you are not a woman, and you will not be going to a women’s prison.’
There are more and more stories coming to our attention of the child abuse that is occurring through this fanatical transgender ideology (incidentally I got another bland meaningless reply from Justine Greenings office – it was a computer writing to someone who they obviously think is a computer – dehumanising, patronising and brain dead!). Take this one in the Guardian where a boy who transitioned to a girl, then woman and has now de-transitioned, talks about the difficulties.
Or this tragic case from Australia of a 12-year-old boy who wanted to be a girl and his body was changed. Two years later he wanted to change back. This again is state sponsored child abuse.
Read these articles and watch this following video before Facebook, Google and Governments ban them as being ‘against community standards’.
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The Other Side of the Rainbow
This is an incredible and brave speech from a girl who was brought up in a Lesbian household who realised that she was missing out on having a father. This is her testimony. Thanks to our friends in the Australian Christian Lobby for facilitating this.
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The McCain ‘Family’
One company which can look forward to their Stonewall Diversity award will be McCain’s – best known for their oven chips. Here is their latest ad…
You get the message – the nice friendly northern voice, the pictures of happy smiling people, the ‘witty’ humour- all used to convey the message that there is no such thing as a normal family. ‘When it comes to family, what is normal?’. ‘Families come in all shapes and sizes”…you can have your ‘weekend daddies’ or your two dads (appropriate picture of two men kissing). It’s all so cute…and cuddly….and normal. Because make no mistake this is the new normal. The Queer theorists fantasy of a society without traditional families is finally coming true.
What is being taught in this advert, and in our TV dramas and media outlets is all the more dangerous because it is partially true. It is the case that families come in many shapes and sizes (not all), but it is not true that all shapes and sizes are equally valid expressions of family which should be desired – and that any difference is just a matter of taste. Yes there will be those who are single mothers or fathers or other variations of family, and they should be supported and helped – but that does not take away from the fact that the best environment for children to grow up in, is one where there is a mum and a dad. Yes there are circumstances which are not ‘normal’, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that there is a norm. This is crucially important. Why?
Because of the child I met who, when I asked him to tell his dad said ‘which one, my Monday dad? My Tuesday dad? My Wednesday, Thursday or Friday dad? Or maybe the man in a court up for assault who had had 15 different children by nine different women and when interviewed said he would continue to do that, because that was his right, and the State would pay anyway! Are all such families ‘normal’? What of the child who is part of an abusive family and is told ‘all families are normal’? What kind of message are they being told? I find it really depressing how the elites and the middle classes are far more likely to live in ‘normal’ families, whilst leaving the poor to suffer the consequences of their disastrous bourgeois morality.
So – no – families are not made at mealtimes – whether we eat McCain chips or not – even though mealtimes are very important. (In fact if we had more parents who could be bothered cooking a meal with love rather than just bunging some ready chips in the oven and dishing them out for a quick TV dinner – maybe all our families would be better off?!). The family as an institution and the bedrock and foundation of society will only survive if we follow the Maker’s instructions. We need to learn fatherhood from the Father – not from corporate sponsors of junk food.
See you next week!