Symptoms of Spiritual and Moral Decay
The common tendency is to bemoan, and rightly so, the ills of society but to fail to go behind them to their spiritual and moral root causes. For example, politicians complain that we are an ageing population with a decreasing number of younger people, who have to support the pensions, social services and benefits of an increasing number of elderly people. Employers allege that the small pool of suitable workers necessitates immigration from within and out-with the European Community. Is consideration given for a moment to how many more younger people there would be, and potentially how many more native contributors to the economy and suitable recruits for the labour market, had there not been such a slaughter of the unborn over recent decades? How many recognise that this situation is consequent upon the legalised breach of the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”? Disregard for this commandment, together with ignorance of God’s right to determine the duration of our lives and ignorance of the solemn realities of judgement and eternity, is also manifest in discussions regarding euthanasia and assisted suicide.
There are frequent complaints about the lack of affordable housing. There are those for whom circumstances beyond their control, and contrary to what they would desire, mean that they do not enjoy family life based on the biblical pattern of husband and wife, father and mother and children, together at home. But does not disregard for the marriage ordinance established at the beginning of human history, expressed in such ways as casual relationships, single parenting, easy divorce, considerably account for, among many other even more serious consequences, the fact that many more homes are required than would otherwise be the case? Disregard for the Seventh Commandment is also evidenced in such legalised aberrations from the Divine order as civil partnerships, and it accounts for many children being brought up in ways that deprive them of a stable home and a moral compass.
The precarious condition of the economy preoccupies the minds of many, together with the sometimes-indecent gap between the financial status of the
very rich and the very poor. Is it not the case that the situation itself, and also much of the dissatisfaction with it, spring from greed? Disregard for God’s commandments, “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not covet”, understood in their full Biblical extent, as expounded helpfully in The Larger Catechism, accounts for much of this situation. The love of money accounts for all kinds of evil in society.
Behind these and other breaches of the commandments, which are intended to regulate relations between human beings, is disregard for the First Commandment. It requires us “to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify Him accordingly”, and forbids “the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God, and our God; and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to Him alone” (Shorter Catechism, Answers 46,47).
We earnestly hope that we have not yet reached the situation of Judah in the days of Jeremiah: “Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth” (Jer 15:1). There is hope, as long as the Lord gives His people a mind to pray, that He may yet return to us in power to work that change in hearts and minds which can alone turn us again to Him and away from the paths of destruction along which we rush at present. As His people we need to look beyond the sad symptoms to the spiritual and moral roots of our decay and make His name’s glory our chief concern. HMC
Blows Against Religious Freedom
Two high-level decisions, one in America and the other in Europe, have attacked freedom of religion. In the USA, the Supreme Court has ruled that a student group, the Christian Legal Society (CLS), does not have the right to restrict its membership to practising Christians. The CLS refuses to let
non-Christians and those engaging in a “sexually immoral lifestyle” to become voting members.
The liberals on the Supreme Court, says one report, upheld the rights of sexual orientation over the rights of religious freedom by comparing Christian beliefs to racist beliefs. The dissenting judges on the Court put on record their view that the majority decision “is a serious setback for freedom of expression in this country”, and the American Center for Law and Justice said the decision “significantly damages the constitutional rights of religious organisations.”
The second decision was by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (EUAFR), which rejected the application of a Romanian Christian pro-family group, the Alliance of Romania’s Families (ARF) to join it. It also denounced the Alliance as promoters of hate because it states on its website: “So-called alternatives such as ‘families’ consisting of same-sex partners, are nothing but expressions of human degeneration”. The Alliance responded by saying that the EUAFR decision against them “evinces an attempt to weed out organisations that express, based on their freedom of expression and religion, views that are different from those officially espoused by the Agency”. At the same time, the EUAFR has shown its anti-Christian bias by granting membership to the British Humanist Association, one of Britain’s most outspokenly anti-Christian lobby groups, bent on removing all signs of Christianity from public life in Britain.
Governments and their agencies may curtail religious freedom, and undoubtedly will do so increasingly, but when God, according to His promise, will send forth His gospel with power among the nations, it will be wonderfully seen that “the word of God is not bound” (2 Tim 2:9). NMR
Israel’s Unrelenting Enemies and Her Greatest Need
An Israeli newspaper reports that a United Nations organisation teaches jihad in textbooks in schools in the capital of Israel. The textbooks, supplied by the Palestinian Authority (PA), are used by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in its schools in Jerusalem and not only incite young schoolchildren to armed struggle against Israel but also praise terrorists as “martyrs” if they are killed while attacking Israel. UNRWA is funded primarily by the United States and the European Union.
The PA Minister of Education Lamis al-Alami, in a frank interview with the newspaper, stated that the textbooks provided by the PA for UNRWA schools are precisely the same in Jerusalem as in Ramallah, Shechem and Gaza, where Palestinian school children have been incited against Israel for many years. The newspaper comments that this is “the first education system
since the Third Reich which prepares its pupils to demonize Jews and to wage war against the Jews”.
At the same time the main stated objective of the United Nations is to facilitate “a more peaceful, prosperous and just world”. But it betrays its double standards by giving such practical support to a Palestinian terrorist organisation which, as the UN well knows, has its own main objective to bring the existence of Israel to an end.
While it is our duty to pray that God’s ancient people will be preserved from both evil enemies and false friends, our primary petition must be that they would see the glory of Christ and turn to Him as the Messiah who has already come and broken down the middle wall of partition (Eph 2:14). It is said of the Jews that “even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it [that nation] shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away” (2 Cor 3:15,16). NMR