"Coincidences are God's way of remaining anonymous."
Albert Einstein.
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Assisted Dying - A Balanced and Nuanced Article.
The assisted dying debate is complicated, says Chris Goswami. Christians should approach it with compassion and a healthy fear of the slippery slope that legalising it may put us on.
I remember reading of Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor of French fashion magazine Elle. Dominique suffered a stroke, aged 42, that left him paralysed, speechless and only able to move his left eyelid. He used this rudimentary movement to dictate his powerful and moving memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Vintage). In it, he describes an occasion where he is taken out in his wheelchair with his two children on Father’s Day:
“While I have become something of a zombie father, Theophile and Celeste are very much flesh and blood, energetic and noisy. I will never tire of seeing them…As we walk, Theophile dabs with a Kleenex at the thread of saliva escaping my closed lips. His movements are tentative, at once tender and fearful as if he were dealing with an unpredictable animal. As soon as we slow down Celeste cradles my head in her bare arms, covers my forehead with noisy kisses and says over and over ‘you’re my dad, you’re my dad’ as if in an incantation. Today is Father’s Day. Until my stroke we had felt no need to fit this made-up holiday into our emotional calendar. But this time we spend the whole of this symbolic day together, affirming that even a rough sketch, a shadow, a tiny fragment of a dad, is still a dad.”
It is heart-rending, and made me realise that the value of a human life is sometimes only fully realised by those who love us.
EVEN A TINY FRAGMENT OF A DAD IS STILL A DAD
But the heartache extends in both directions. In 2015 well-known campaigner, Bob Cole, travelled from Chester to Switzerland to end his life at the Dignitas Clinic. He suffered from aggressive lung cancer, was bent double in pain, crouching like an animal. “That’s no life,” he said, “I should be able to die with dignity in my own country, in my own bed. The law needs to change.”
Cole was followed by many others suffering terrible and incurable illnesses. But there are even more who, due to their condition, could not make the journey to Switzerland. So why can’t a person of sound mind, in terrible suffering and close to death, end their own life? After all, we wouldn’t allow an animal to suffer in this way.
That’s the position of UK parliamentarian Baroness Meacher who, on October 25th, achieved a second reading of her bill in the House of Lords. The bill, which would provide adults who are terminally ill help to die, is strongly supported by others, including Lord Field of Birkenhead, himself terminally ill. Field is now in a hospice and was too ill to attend parliament, so his words were read out by Baroness Meacher.
This summer, doctors at the British Medical Association (BMA) voted to change their position on assisted dying from “we are against” to “we are neutral”. The motion was narrowly carried by 49 per cent for, 48 per cent against.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS BILL?
In some cases, there may be nothing wrong with it. But, changing the law often leads to further changes. In 2002, when euthanasia was legalised in Holland, nobody imagined that, some years later, a mother suffering severe tinnitus and with two children would be legally killed. There’s always a slippery slope.
I believe it’s valid to compare this bill with the 1967 Abortion Act. Initially also brought in as a last resort for exceptional cases, today, we are all aware of the high rates of abortion, even at late stages in pregnancy. Euthanasia may start off as the exception, but it runs the high risk of becoming normalised - or even expected of people. Imagine an elderly or terminally ill person feeling under pressure to relieve their family and friends of the financial and emotional cost of caring for them?
But there is a second, simpler reason why we should not pass this bill: people change their minds. There are cases of dementia sufferers who willingly sign a directive to be euthanised but, when their situation deteriorates to a point where the directive is about to be applied, change their mind or are no longer able to confirm their wishes. Even people with all their faculties change their minds: Alison Davies wanted to die for ten years but had a change of heart even though her suffering continued.
As the above article in The Guardian says: “legalising euthanasia might resolve one ethical conundrum, but it opens a can of others – most importantly, where the limits of the practice should be drawn.” In a recent letter to The Times, experts from hospitals and universities in Oregon and Canada, where assisted dying has been legal for years, highlight a problem of unintended coercion.
3 REASONS WHY IS THIS A DISCUSSION FOR OUR TIME:
Western countries that now allow Euthanasia include Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Spain and several US states.
DOES THE BIBLE OFFER AN ANSWER?
In this case, I don’t think it does, and there are purposeful, conscientious people of faith on both sides of the debate (although most seem to oppose any change in the law).
But one thing that we must never do is oversimplify the discussion, which risks minimising people’s suffering. It’s very easy to quote clichés like “life is sacred” but this phrase, which does not occur in the Bible, can be unhelpful and simplistic. Similarly, the commandment “thou shalt not kill” was never meant for situations where a person is asking to die.
It also opens the question: “Why should such a statement only cover the length of life?” In other words: why is only the quantity of life sacred? Why isn’t quality of life also sacred?
‘LIFE IS SACRED’ IS NOT A PHRASE THAT OCCURS IN THE BIBLE
What we do get from the Bible is the utmost need for compassion and the understanding that giving compassion will often be at our cost. All sides in this debate agree that the law should minimise suffering and maximise wellbeing. But we must choose between the rock and the hard place. Our current laws on assisted dying are imperfect but, perhaps, they are as good as they can be. Palliative care is not perfect, but it is often extremely effective at minimising physical suffering. Even though assisted dying is illegal, it is often possible through methods such as increased dosages of morphine. To date, several hundred Britons have broken UK law by helping relatives go to Switzerland for an assisted death, but none has been prosecuted.
The slippery slope always starts with a small shift which changes people’s perceptions slightly. We begin to view those with devastating illnesses differently, and they begin to view themselves differently.
We can live without that.
For another perspective on this story, see Heather Tomlinson’s recent feature: Euthanasia: In search of a compassionate response
Chris Goswami is an award winning blogger and Associate Minister at Lymm Baptist Church. For more information visit his website 7minutes.net.PC.
I Had Intended To Write Something Like This But Melanie's Writing Is Far Superior To My Own.
Bowling the googly of identity politics.
People shouldn't be shoehorned into categories which either damn or absolve them
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It’s a fair bet that Azeem Rafiq is ruing the day that he transfixed the nation by telling a parliamentary committee about the racism he had faced as a Yorkshire cricketer.
He produced shocking claims of racial abuse, dressing-room bullying and discriminatory policies that he said had been inflicted on him as a player with Yorkshire County Cricket Club. His evidence resulted in resignations and suspensions, with both Yorkshire and the ethos of cricket itself plunged into crisis and disgrace.
Two days afterwards, however, a ten year-old exchange between Rafiq and the Leicestershire professional cricketer Ateeq Javid came to light. In this, Rafiq referred to another Asian cricketer as “a Jew” because he was tight with his money. In a further comment, he joked that this person would “probs go after my 2nds again ha… Only jews do tht sort of sh**.”
Further information then came to light which led to claims that Rafiq had sent inappropriate sexual messages to a teenage girl and posted a meme on Instagram denigrating Africans.
Let’s park judgement for the moment on Rafiq himself. What was striking was the sharp difference in reaction to the claims of racism against him and odious behaviour by him.
His racism claims led to instant anathema being pronounced upon the cricketing personalities he named. Yet the revelation of his past antisemitism — for which he instantly and abjectly apologised to the Jewish community — produced no such reaction.
It was downplayed or even ignored. There were no explosions of outrage. The Labour MP Stella Creasy even praised “this poor young man” for his “powerful, clear and compelling” apology.
Generous-minded people will want to believe that Rafiq is genuinely sorry for his past anti-Jewish prejudice. But the Yorkshire cricketers weren’t given the benefit of the doubt for their own shows of contrition. They were hung out to dry, with speaking engagements and radio appearances cancelled.
So why the difference? People have pointed out the distressing fact that antisemitism isn’t treated as bigotry because so many actually believe the trope that the Jews are a conspiracy against the rest of the world.
However, that can’t be the whole explanation. After all, two weeks ago Yorkshire’s first team coach, Andrew Gale, was suspended over an 11-year-old tweet in which he had said: “Button it, Yid!”
Gale has said he hadn’t known the word was offensive and removed the tweet immediately this was explained to him. “I would never have used the word had I been aware of its offensive meaning and I have never used it since,” he said. So why was he suspended but Rafiq instantly forgiven?
The real reason is surely the widespread refusal to acknowledge that Muslims might harbour bigoted attitudes. This is despite repeated evidence that a disproportionate number of Muslims hold anti-Jewish views.
In 2019, a worldwide poll commissioned by the US Anti-Defamation League found that Muslims in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK were on average almost three times more likely than the general population to accept antisemitic stereotypes.
Last year, a poll by the Henry Jackson Society found that nearly half of British Muslims endorsed some antisemitic conspiracy theories, with roughly twice as many Muslims as others believing that Jews had too much control over politics and the global banking system.
Yet in all the recent sound and fury over antisemitism, this factor has almost never been mentioned. This is because of the “intersectionality” dogma that black or brown-skinned people can’t be racists. And so those drawing attention to Muslim antisemitism find themselves anathematised instead as “Islamophobes”.
Given the scale of Muslim antisemitism, one might think this would be a major cause of concern for Britain’s Jewish community. Yet Jewish leaders almost never mention it.
The Board of Deputies rushed to accept Rafiq’s apology as “completely sincere”. Yet when Gale’s “Yid” comment came to light, the Board’s vice-president Amanda Bowman said it “reinforces the fact that the club needs to seriously reconsider its culture and values”.
Not that this double standard — dismaying as it is — neutralises in any way the odious bigotry to which Rafiq was subjected. Nor is it to say that the players accused of racially abusing him don’t deserve to be disciplined or shamed.
But what this whole episode shows is that it is perfectly possible to be the victim of bigotry and yet be bigoted yourself.
Muslims and other Asians face racial prejudice. Yet Muslims are also disproportionately likely to be antisemites.
Prejudice is to be found in every group. Yet identity politics holds that victims cannot be victimisers. Only those groups deemed powerless can be victimised, and only by those deemed powerful. And power is defined by money — or just by dint of having a white skin.
All human beings are capable of both good and bad. In shoehorning people into categories which either damn or absolve them, identity politics not only divides people — it dehumanises them. And maybe that’s the real significance of this whole Azeem Rafiq affair.
Police Procedural Fiction.
As one who is rather fond of detective fiction, both in books and on TV, I really must complain at how many authors write with such extreme inaccuracy as well as in the usual formulaic fashion.
It would help if some knew what 'police procedures' actually are!
The thing that bugs me most is when you have anything from a Chief Inspector to a Superintendent riding around in a car with 'their sergeant' and virtually no others to be seen on a major murder enquiry. Remarkably, they do almost all the door knocking and tedious footwork.
Let me explain. The SIO may well be anything within the range above but any enquiry with fewer than 30 detectives is unlikely and 20 is somewhat improbable.
Constables do all the grunt work and 90% of the interviewing. Sergeants do most of the rest with Detective Inspectors only becoming seriously involved at the formal interviews in police stations.
Those above sergeant only tend to appear at the initial crime scene and to talk to reporters. They may occasionally pop out to gee up the troops but a huge proportion of their work is overseeing the collating of countless amounts of evidence and materials.
They do not attend autopsies as these only take place in other countries and the USA. They do not eagerly attend the post mortems being undertaken in the UK either - it is one real perk of rank!
Another such is that detective sergeants and inspectors do NOT do surveillance.
Chief superintendents do not say, "You've got the rest of the day to arrest the guilty party or you are off the case," because:
a) Murders are always a very long and complex form of investigation.
b) In any case, 'Off the case' is an American expression and, even there, is probably as rare as UK cuckoos in December!
IMHO - even The Bill used to fall into these traps on occasion but was streets ahead of all other sorts of fiction in its portrayals of policework.
My Dad was a copper and The Bill was the only police show he would watch.
I once asked him how real was DI Burnside and he replied,
"He's the living image of every DI I ever worked with!"
Monday, November 29, 2021
The Church Must Fight The Abomination of Abortion.
The Pro-Life Cause Is Now a Lower Priority for Christians. That’s Bad News for Everybody.
Human dignity is not an earned right but a signpost to God.
A True Christian Thinker.
The legacy of Melvin Tinker.
"Then the king said to his men, "Do you not realize that a commander and a great man has fallen in Israel this day?" (2 Samuel 3:38).
These words came to mind as news came of the death of our dear brother Melvin Tinker. It's strange how someone you have never met can have such an impact on your life. Melvin (as other testimonies on this website have indicated), will be sorely missed. He is deeply loved not only by his family and congregation, but by many of us in the wider Church. He showed us how to stand for truth graciously.
I know that it is customary for people to speak well of the dead – and it is sometimes hard to distinguish the bland and the waffle from the genuine – but believe me when I say that there are many of us who are heartbroken that a great man has fallen, and that the Church in the UK is poorer for that.
Melvin's outstanding legacy – apart from his family (pray for his widow Heather and their three sons, Christopher, Michael and Philip) and congregation (St John's in Hull which grew to 500 people and was one of the largest in the north of England) – are his writings, especially That Hideous Strength: How the West was Lost.
The genius of the book, which was just 117 pages (although the second edition was expanded to 177), is that it takes CS Lewis's prophetic novel, That Hideous Strength, and shows how prescient Lewis was.
Tinker applies the biblical teaching about the Tower of Babel and shows how we can bring down Babel today. He identifies 'cultural Marxism' as the principal ideology of That Hideous Strength (the anti-God alternative) in today's West. It is ironic that the rot is sometimes so deep into the Church that even using the phrase 'cultural Marxism' has been mocked and derided by some Christians.
Tinker talks about how language has been changed and abused; and how authoritarianism and intolerance have come in, in the name of tolerance. His summary of how political discourse is conducted today is brilliant – especially as it pertains to social media: "Forget argument and reason, assume your opponent is just wrong or stupid (or both) and explain his ideas away by appealing to pseudoscience."
The book goes on to look at the gender agenda, education, the destruction of the family, and how biblical cosmology is being taken over by a pagan one. He finally goes on to helpfully, practically and biblically demonstrate how we can challenge this evil with the truth of the Gospel. We should commend the truth, culturally engage, and courageously refuse! We need faithful Christian communities that are a praying people, a literate leadership (biblically and culturally) and a changed community.
"Wilberforce used both hands, the right hand of proclaiming the gospel, and the left hand of refuting present-day ideas and values, using all the means at his disposal to effect change. This took great courage," he writes.
David Wells calls it "a very brave, fine book written with keen insight", andI totally agree. As I wrote in commendation, That Hideous Strength is an essential primer for any Christian in seeking to understand what is going on in society today. The first edition was outstanding but limited because of its size. The newly expanded edition overcame these limitations without becoming unwieldy or too heavy. It is a book that should be on every church bookstall and every Christian's bookshelf.
When a famous singer dies, often their albums will enjoy a boost in sales, and they will re-enter the charts. What a fitting tribute it would be if the publishers had to reprint many times That Hideous Strength, not for the money but for the glory - the glory of Jesus!
I was so impressed by this book that I did a series of articles based upon it. And then discovered how courageous Melvin was because shortly after I wrote the first one, he was banned from speaking at the Derby Christian Union carol service.
As Jesus reminds us in John 15:18, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." Sadly, if the Church is worldly then it too joins in that hatred. No matter how mild, gracious and loving Melvin was, those in the Church who could not bear truth, banned him. He was not welcome in several cathedrals and was a thorn in the side of the Establishment until he left the Church of England a year before his retirement.
As well as his 17 books, Melvin's work will live on through YouTube. There are many examples, but I loved doing this discussion with him and Steve McAlpine about the church. It was such an encouragement. As it happens, I was preparing to do another video with him on his latest book, The First and the Last: The Comfort of the Triune God in Revelation. He wanted to do it knowing he was dying. That discussion will have to wait till eternity!
At the end of this book, Melvin cites Jonathan Edwards in a quotation that beautifully sums up his current state: "God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honour and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world ... the glorious excellencies and the beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast."
Amen. Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus. CT.
Migrants Do Not ...
Migrants do not:
Have any right to enter the UK because a few family members happen to be here.
Because they know some English.
Because they feel like we are the softest touch in all of Europe.
Because their country - long granted independence - was historically part of The British Empire a number of generations ago.
Because their country was/is part of the Commonwealth.
Because their country was never part of the Commonwealth or British Empire.
Because their acts to enter are illegal.
Because the UN has told them not to cross boundaries if they are refugees.
Because many claim to be Christian. (Let them be tested if all these other points do not apply. (Have them deny the Koran as a partial proof.)
Because they want to better themselves at our expense.
Because they are jihadis wishing to infiltrate our nation.
This is not a lack of Christian compassion but a question of respect for the Law and the people of the UK.
This Blog suggests that all genuine refugees which the UK might be prepared to take - should make proper applications - and from a distance.
Every channel-crosser or visa-hopper should know that there is a 100% guarantee of deportation when discovered.
Suranne Jones.
Who are these TV directors who think that Suranne Jones can act?
(We all know that she can certainly overact.)
Sunday, November 28, 2021
Aussie Knowhow.
Australia allows no people to settle who arrive illegally.
Boats will either not be allowed to land or if they do, all occupants are deported.
No illegal is ever granted the right to become legal having arrived illegally.
Time for the UK to do the same. Any who have already arrived illegally should never be allowed citizenship.
We should help refugees and not criminals.
Righteousness.
Righteousness from God and for man is played down in so many modern churches. This Blog has recently dwelled on a veritable plethora of Scriptures explaining what God is and what Man must strive towards.
American Thanksgiving: William Bradford - A Great Man of Faith.
William Bradford
Description
Born: 19 March 1590, Austerfield
Died: 9 May 1657, Plymouth Colony
Spouse: Alice Carpenter (m. 1623–1657), Dorothy Bradford (m. 1613–1620)
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