public affairs

Wisdom for Politics

/ sweetpeacardco

My default Bible translation is the English Standard Version (ESV). However, as I read the Bible to my 6 month old son I am reading from the International Children’s Bible (ICB) at his bedtime readings. At the moment I am reading to him the wisdom of Proverbs. This book has a lot to say about leadership and politics, from a spiritual perspective. One proverb that had never registered with me before, and perhaps did so because I re-encountered it in a children’s translation, is Proverbs 28:2a. This is what says in the ICB:

When a country is disobedient, it has one ruler after another.

[The ESV renders this verse: When a land transgresses, it has many rulers.]

Another way of putting this would be:

“When a country so blatantly sins against the Lord, its politics will be unstable.”

A child is wiser than a godless leader. Such is the case we find our Parliament in at this juncture in history—political deadlock, little faith in its leaders, instability, little seeking of the King of kings. How much good it would be for each Parliamentarian to have a Bible, read Proverbs, believe what it says and in faith put it into practice.

Years ago I read in Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President how former President Jimmy Carter (1977–81) read the book of Proverbs each month (that’s a chapter a day), every year for the four years that he was in office (He also wrote: Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President, which though it has been some time since I read both books, I did generally profit from reading them).

The pursuit of the wisdom of this world has clearly proven how inferior it is to the wisdom that is from above.

The verse, however, not only speaks to leaders who’ve enacted a string of godless legislation in recent years but also the wicked populace who’ve elected them. Saving faith in Jesus is at, arguably, an historic low. We have the Parliament that we deserved. I expect that the last time an official national day of prayer was called was probably during WWII. When will we cease to seek the face of our rulers and know that justice comes from the Lord? (Prov 29:26).

Yet despite all this, as Christians, even though we be in the minority as Abraham and Lot were in Sodom, may we call out to the Lord to have mercy on our land for the sake of His faithful remnant. May the Lord raise up strong and godly leadership (read the second half of our verse).

The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings,

Pastor Chris

What does the Bible say about the Death Penalty?

/ sweetpeacardco

This was not a question raised in this summer’s People’s Choice sermon series but one that a news article I read about the Pope sparked. Pope Francis, a progressive and liberal pope, changed Catholicism’s official teaching on the death penalty to hold that it is now “inadmissible” because it “attacks” the “inherent dignity of all humans.”[1] This has caused praise from some RC’s and criticism from others.

Yet any Pope, who RC’s believe has “papal infallibility” in his pronouncements (1870) should not be our guide to this subject, nor should subjective contemporary feelings about justice, but rather what God has to say about the matter.

Before we turn to that, it is interesting that 2015 was the first year more people in the UK were against capital punishment than for it. Interestingly, when it was officially struck off the books by MP’s in 1998 the popular support for it was much higher than 50% (higher still when MP’s ended the practice in the 1965).[2]

Many Christians have bought into a faulty view of God’s love and justice and divine order for human affairs that would see them heartily agree with the Pope’s decision (forgetting government authorities are appointed by God and “do not bear the sword in vain” [Ro 13:4]). One can interestingly note a corresponding tie between the decline of Christianity and Christian values in the UK and the corresponding decline in support for the death penalty.

Much of our British legal heritage stems from the wisdom of the Law of Moses. Though this was intended for the theocracy of Israel it was applied to national legal systems across the West. It was the bedrock upon which Western civilization was built. Those Christians who oppose capital punishment, however, often cite that Christians are no longer under the Law of Moses, particularly its legal provisions. In this, aside from moral obligations, I would agree as they were fulfilled in Christ. HOWEVER, the biblical mandate FOR the death penalty precedes the Law of Moses, meaning that its application is universal. God instituted the just practice in Genesis 9:6:

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God has made man in his own image.

There is obviously much more that could be said about the Biblical parametres around and wisdom for the practice of capital punishment, but what is ultimately ‘inadmissible’ and something which attacks the ‘inherent dignity of all humans’ is when governments fail to fulfil their God given mandate of bearing the sword as He instructs and thus be His instruments for justice and for the punishment and curtailing of evil.

The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings,

Pastor Chris

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45042130

[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32061822

Children, a blessing

/ sweetpeacardco

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:3–5).

Rebekah and I continue to give thanks for our new son. We are very grateful for the flood of cards and small gifts we’ve received from family, friends, Chapel and community (in fact we have never received so many cards!). We also gave thanks for him in the presence of the Lord recently with a special service of dedication on the Lord’s Day (NB-not infant baptism).

The most basic view of children in the Bible is that they are a gift, a blessing and a delight. Indeed, having children is one of the great callings of a husband and wife in the creation mandate (Gen 1:28, “be fruitful and multiply” [sexuality is not only about pleasure but procreation and the calling and joy God intends in this]). If someone jadedly or sarcastically thinks contrary they have a wrong way of thinking and need to renew their mind to conform with God’s will on the subject (Ro 12:1). Many people today think children a drudge, something that is the unwanted fruit of lust, something that gets in the way of having the newest car or biggest house (itself an indicator that marketers have done a fabulous job duping many parents so that they think they have to have everything for their children and so they become expensive and so is generated the myth that children need to be costly). Many people have children as the last item in their checklist because it is the done thing (and their life checklist is also often out of whack in terms of order and priorities). Ironically, there would be no immigration crisis in most Western nations today if people had retained a biblical view of children because the birth-death ration would be stable and allow the welfare states that have been created to sustain themselves, and thus we’d have no need of mass immigration. I digress. Now, getting back on track, to be sure there are many parents who do have children because of that innate desire to fulfil Gen 1:28, but I am especially drawing attention to extremes. For some parents children are a burden, and yet for others they become a burden because they pander to them excessively—creating little devils—all under the false cultural teaching that a parents job is to ‘make them happy’ (which is foolish because we all know that is a mirage we can never arrive at).

The Bible balances these two extremes. It counters the first example by teaching children are a blessing from the Lord, and the second by stipulating that parents spiritual commission is to raise their child to love and fear the Lord and walk in His ways (Deut 6:1–10).

Further reflection on text: Behold, listen, says the Bible. Children are a heritage, a gift, from God. It commends having 7 of them (the traditional number of arrows in a quiver and the number of perfection, but which ultimately means many, i.e. more than one or two [if possible]!). And here also is parental responsibility and investment (any fool can make a baby, it takes a man to raise a child), for these are needed to turn children into mature and useful godly adults (children of one’s youth). When you stand with your grown children at the gate, the place of justice and community decision making in the ancient world, you will have no shame in your children. You will love and respect them and they you, and as their father (or mother), you’ll stand at the front of a unified and respectful family, united against any enemies and held in honour and respect.

This is the Biblical vision for parenting and may it be wonderful in our eyes!

The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings,

Pastor Chris