The 2015 UK General Election -A Christian Perspective.

Posted on May 24, 2015 by davidgrose

To many the result of the General Election was surprising, the Conservative Party achieving an overall majority and the SNP with a landslide in Scotland. The two are not entirely unconnected. The was a lot of rhetoric from Conservative politicians stating the dangers, as they saw it, of a Labour Party dependent on Scottish National Party support to get their programme of legislation through Parliament. Now, the leadership of the SNP were asking the Scottish electorate to vote for them so they could act in Scotland’s interest. Clearly there are those in England who think that Scottish MPs should not act in the interests of their constituents. The longer these attacks went on the more the people of Scotland found they were drawn to vote SNP. Indeed there was an experiment where Scottish voters able to listen to what the various parties said. In one group the anti-Scottish comments were omitted and in the other group they were included. It was found that those who heard the anti-Scottish comments were more likely to vote SNP than the other group. At the same time this anti-Scottish sentiment was obviously going down well on the doorsteps in England. It is all very well to use the slogan of “English Votes for English Laws” but there are many issues where the lines become blurred. The Conservatives are prepared to devolve all matters concerning Income Tax to Scotland, though one could regard this cynically as the SNP as well as the Labour Party were in favour of a higher top rate of Tax for the rich. Though Income Tax is not one of the items at the top of the SNP’s list of new powers and preparatory work into its devolving has raised a number of issues, not least that being that most large companies employ people on both sides of the border. Some people live on one side of the border and work on the other – where will they pay their tax? Officials have been reported to have had difficulties in sorting this out. It would be more simple to devolve those taxes and revenues where production can be more readily identified such as whisky and North Sea oil but that is not on the Conservative Party’s agenda.
There have been a number of comments concerning the fact that with the first past the post system of voting that the SNP has 56 seats while UKIP which polled about three times as much has only one seat. Funny how it was alright when the SNP was under-represented by the system and bad when they are over-represented. The fact is that many of those who voted SNP in Scotland in this election had not voted in the last election in 2010. Then there had been concerns about the low turnout in many of the safe Labour seats in the Central Belt. Disillusioned voters tended not to vote where they regarded the outcome in that seat seat as a foregone conclusion that it would be returning a Labour MP. The Referendum changed that and created an army of political activists. But that does not answer the question as to why the SNP? One part of the answer is the “Cash for Peerages” scandal that Tony Blair was accused of nearly a decade ago now. The law in Britain forbids the selling of honours, including peerages, but political parties require money to operate and the Labour Party was in debt. The Labour Party got round this by asking for loans rather donations and it just so happened that some of those whose loaned large amounts of money happened to get either a knighthood or a peerage. It certainly broke the spirit of the law if it did not break the letter. Most MPs failed to think there was anything wrong with this and it was left to Angus MacNeil MP of the SNP to report the matter to the police. The police thought there was a probability of wrongdoing and passed the file to the Crown Prosecution Service. The secretary to Tony Blair who dealt with the matter was asked to turn Queen’s Evidence, but she refused and the prosecution was abandoned. Tony Blair said he was vindicated, though nobody actually said he was innocent. Meanwhile a rain-bearing weather system that had been passing over the British Isles ground to a halt over the West Midlands and started to pour down incessantly for several days without moving causing massive flooding that had not been seen on such a scale in living memory. It was as if the heavens were crying lamenting the injustice. When the SNP tabled a motion censuring Tony Blair for his part in the scandal, not a single member of three big parties supported it. It was even reported that some MPs thought Angus MacNeil should be prosecuted for wasting police time. Since that time all those Unionist MPs who represented Scottish constituencies and refused to condemn Tony Blair over ‘Cash for Honours’ have either retired or lost their seats except Alastair Carmichael the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland. Now he has been found guilty of dirty tricks over a leak to the media, against Nicola Sturgeon, which he was responsible for during the election but denied having anything to do with it. His credibility is in tatters now. Is this just a coincidence, or a God-incidence?
There has been an increasing feeling of disenfranchisement among many voters south of the Border. The democratic system seems to assume that everyone works Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and has evenings and weekends to be free to attend political meetings. As we tend towards the 24/7 society it is increasingly difficult for those of working age to find themselves free to attend these meetings. For those with children or other dependents that tend to soak up spare time and money, adding to the problems. One of the candidates for the Labour Party’s leadership contest withdrew because of family pressures. So even those who have climbed part-way up the political ladder can find it difficult, how much more are the odds against others with families from getting involved in the political process in the first place. There was also an article that stated that this current Parliament had the highest percentage of members who are openly ‘gay’ of any country in the world. Though I hasten to add I have nothing against any of the individuals concerned. The question is bound to be raised as to the extent they are representing the views of the heterosexual majority. In recent years legislation has become increasingly opposed to Biblical values and it looks as if the situation will get worse. The perception is that non-heterosexuals are more equal than others. The slightest questioning of a statement about homosexuality is treated as homophobic, this has the effect of stifling reasoned debate. Helping to create a sense of disconnect with those who hold more traditional views.
Where will it all end up – watch this space.
David Rose 2015.

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New Birth Should Lead to Growth and Maturity.

Posted on May 3, 2015 by davidgrose

This weekend the world has been talking about the birth of a royal baby, and before I left for work on Saturday morning I was watching the television news and witnessing the media scrum outside the hospital. At that point nobody knew at what stage of labour the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate) was in. There were the usual ‘experts’ to whom reporters could turn to pad out the wait with waffle. I had to go off to work before the birth was announced. On the way back home after work in the early evening I called in at the home of the leader of the fellowship I belong to. Coincidentally, his wife has also recently given birth to another child, a boy, who was fast asleep when I was there. The next youngest of their four children is only about eighteen months old. Not so long ago he was as small as the bundle of joy that was in his mother’s arms. Now he seems big and mature in comparison. Yet it would be most surprising if this was not the case and he hadn’t grown in size or was unable to walk. The same should be equally true in the spiritual realm, but how often is it not the case? Too often we hear of Christians who rarely read the Bible from one Sunday to the next. Yet even Paul had Christians in his day that he reckoned that were dependent on spiritual milk and not solids.
It was only after I got home that I had heard that the royal baby had been born. It was only after the details were being repeated that I realised the baby princess had actually been born before I left for work. It was just that nobody outside the hospital knew and it must have surprised them. The only guide they had was Kate’s previous pregnancy which led them to expect a wait until early evening before a public announcement was given. The past is not always a good guide to the future. Too often the secular media speak in ignorance when they talk about spiritual things. They are on the outside unaware when God is at work on the inside of people. They have rationalised God out of existence so they are capable of getting things wrong, sometimes very wrong.
David Rose. 2015.

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Could Matthew Have Been A Victim of Student Debt?

Posted on April 26, 2015 by davidgrose

Some years ago a read a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew that some scholars had noticed that the way that it has been set out was rabbinic in nature that would suggest that the author had studied to be a rabbi as a result some questioned the authorship of the Gospel. Funny how some people are always looking for some reason or another not to believe the truth of Scripture. Their argument is that as tax-collectors were anathema to Pharisees and other religious Jews there is no way that anybody who had trained to be a rabbi would want to become a tax-collector in 1st Century Israel. The flaw in this argument is that there is a possibility that Matthew could have become a tax-collector against his will.
A short explanation about Roman tax-collection is required. Julius Caesar had the bright idea of privatising tax collection throughout the Roman Empire. Basically, a potential bidder would guarantee to supply the Empire with a certain amount of revenue from a province. The successful bidder had to pay the cost of collecting these taxes himself therefore he had to raise more than the Empire received or he would be bankrupt. The chief tax-collector would then sub-contract collection into districts and so on down to the village level. The system could easily be abused, and was with tax-collectors being accused of extortion and lining their own pockets at the expense of others. Roman tax-collectors are often depicted as bullies or thugs using violence to take every last coin. True, tax-collecting would have been unpopular and revenues collected would also need protection from thieves and zealots, but tax-collecting would also require literacy in accounting from where the revenues had come from. Add to this the fact that writing materials were expensive and Hebrew because it leaves out the vowels is more concise than either Greek or Latin anybody who read and write in Hebrew would be a desirable employee for a tax-collector. Though trying to recruit directly from the nearest yeshiva would likely be given short shrift. However, students would have to pay fees, so it is quite possible that a relative might be approached to help out. In turn he might find that he has difficulty paying his taxes, at which point the tax-collector says he is prepared to accept the loan to the student as payment of the taxes and the student becomes indebted to the tax-collector rather than his relative. The tax-collector then asks for the debt to be settled and as the student cannot afford to pay it back in full he finds himself working for the tax-collector and thus become labelled as a “sinner” by his former fellow students and teachers without any hope of redemption in their eyes. The only crumb of comfort had been given by John the Baptist who said that they should only collect what they needed to (Luke Chapter 3). You might have expected him to say that they should leave tax-collecting for the Romans, this might suggest that for them that would not have been an option, which would have been the case if they were indebted to their employers. Matthew’s Gospel contains a lot of Hebraisms which puzzles those scholars who believe that in Jesus’ time on earth the ordinary people would have spoken Aramaic. The answer being that the source materials were written in Hebrew for the economical use of writing materials. While permanent records were kept on papyrus or parchment day to day transactions would have been written on wax covered wooden tablets, such as those found at the site of the Roman fort of Vindolanda, south of Hadrian’s Wall. These would often be used for dictation, and could easily have been used by anyone listening to one of Jesus’ sermons to record his words, though only a limited amount of script could be inscribed on each pair of tablets. Allowing for the fact that Hebrew takes up about half the space of Greek to write, also that someone like Matthew would have been sufficiently skilled as a scribe to write as small as possible then some of the sections within the Sermon on the Mount could approximately fit on a pair of tablets. Matthew records his calling by Jesus (Chapter 9) after the Sermon on the Mount suggesting that he had listened to it. A cynical bystander might have assumed that he was taking down details in order to report Jesus to the Romans. So when Jesus called Matthew at his seat of custom, his other disciples may have thought of him as a quisling, whereas Jesus could see him as someone trapped in a job he did not want to do and was desperate to get out of. Now how many people find themselves in a similar situation today.
David Rose 2015

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The Bible A. D. – Are Biblical Themed Films A Good Thing?

Posted on April 14, 2015 by davidgrose

There have been a number of films in the last year or two, some have tried desperately to play down the role of God in any Bible story. The film “Noah” being a case in point, the trailer and other publicity material seemed okay, until Christians saw the actual film and were bemused as to the additions to the plot that contradicted the Biblical account. Now you can expect that sort of thing from people who are not claiming to be Christians but when the “Bible Series” appeared on television I found that I could not watch it for more than a couple of minutes at a time. I found that having switched to the channel it was showing on and I worked out which Bible story was being depicted in that episode then I would notice some Biblical error or more than one passage being conflated together. One example, was their version of the resurrection had Mary Magdalene witnessing the risen Lord before she told Peter and John of the empty grave, which is the wrong sequence of events according to John’s Gospel. The danger is that sometimes more serious programmes will use excerpts from these films or programmes to illustrate Biblical points leaving viewers who lack Biblical knowledge confused as to what the Bible actually says. When unbelievers get it wrong that is understandable, but when producers of such dramas claim that the Bible is true why do they feel the need to alter it so much for dramatic effect? Now, you I might read the same passage of Scripture and both come away with different ideas as to how to dramatise it. The producers of a film are looking for about 90 minutes or longer of material, and for some Bible stories that occur over several chapters the problem may what to leave out whereas other subjects are relatively short and then there is pressure to pad the story out. There are warnings in Scripture against adding and subtracting from the Word of God. There was a time when knowledge of Scripture was considered a basic part of our education but today Christianity is often taught as one of many religions. So the average member of the audience in the past would have an idea where artistic licence was being used in a scene whereas today this is increasingly unlikely.
It is all too easy to dismiss such films as idolatrous, especially if they depict the person of Jesus, without looking for positives. In an age when the mainstream media tries to ignore the existence of God, then at the very least they raise the profile of the Bible. The danger is that the audience gets a very negative view of a judgemental God, which justifies their negative stereotype of Christianity and never is inspired to pick up a Bible and read it for themselves. Alternatively, in reaction to this Christians may try and over compensate for this and portray Christ as being naive and incapable of seeing anything bad in anybody. Neither is correct. I know understand that the producers of The Bible series have produced a series on the early Church called “The Bible – A. D.” I have not seen any excerpts of it yet so I can only hope it is more accurate than the previous series, but I am not holding my breath. One would hope that they would stick to what the Bible actually says and not some dubious “early Christian tradition.” After all Jesus said he was the Truth and not the half-truth so we should at least strive for 100% accuracy in our depiction of Him and His Gospel.
David Rose, 2015

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Absalom as a Type of the Antichrist.

Posted on April 5, 2015 by davidgrose

As I write this in Britain we are in the run up to a General Election. Despite this being Easter I found myself thinking how some politicians seem to be manipulate people’s view of themselves to make it that they are better people than they really are. The man the Bible calls the Antichrist also appears to have this attribute. I also remembered that that Absalom, one of King David’s sons, was very persuasive in stealing the hearts of the people before he tried to usurp the throne. Maybe there are clues about the antichrist in Absalom’s story which occurs in 2 Samuel chapters 13-18. Absalom would approach those who were trying to petition to King David about some injustice or other, and he would be sympathetic to their claims and say that if only he was king things would be so much better. But if he had succeeded would there have been a reign of justice? Absalom was a very vain man who was proud of his looks, the sort of man who these days would court the media. Equally he would be the sort of man the media would love as he would always be good copy. But he had his flaws, he murdered his half-brother Amnon in revenge for his rape of Tamar. After a period of exile he returned to Jerusalem though he was still persona non grata with the king. In order to attract the attention of Joab, so that Joab would intercede with King David on his behalf, Absalom set fire to Joab’s barley crop. Joab helped him to be restored to the King David’s presence. But Absalom had made an enemy of Joab in the process. This enabled Absalom to pretend he was loyal to the king while all the time he was plotting to usurp him.
The rebellion that ensued was predicted as a consequence of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. But the Lord also promised that Bathsheba’s son Solomon would in turn become the king who would build the Temple. So Absalom’s rebellion if it succeeded would have prevented the construction of the Temple. The people who supported Absalom may not have seen it as such, but his vanity alone would have led to him in time abandon the worship of the Lord. The problem with types in Scripture is that there is only so far that you can take them and I admit there are limits. Both Absalom and the Antichrist appear to be successful but ultimately fail even if the time scales are different. Absalom’s death would make easier for Solomon to become king. The demise of the Antichrist will in turn usher in the reign of Millennium Christ.
David Rose, 2015.

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Reflections on the Cross. Part 2:The Penitent Thief.

Posted on March 30, 2015 by davidgrose

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The story of the penitent thief is recorded in only one of the Gospels – that of Luke in chapter 23, if you are unfamiliar with it here it is:-

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him:”Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. Don’t you fear God,” he said “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what are deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”” 23:39-43.

Have you ever considered that the only person to have accepted Christ as their Saviour on the day of the crucifixion was a “thief”?

The word usually translated thief suggests a political dimension to the…

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Reflections on the Cross – Part 7 The Spear in His Side.

Posted on March 22, 2015 by davidgrose

In my previous posts I have mentioned that the significance of the blood and water pouring out of Jesus’ side after his side was pierced with a spear to confirm His death. That it was not recognised by the medical profession as a sign of death until the early nineteenth century. That might explain why Luke omitted it from his Gospel but it does not explain why John included in his Gospel. If the only people who noticed the connection between blood and water flowing out separately as a sign of were members of execution parties. Then it begs the question of how John was told of its importance. In Part 4 of this series of posts I speculated that members of the execution party that crucified Jesus would have probably retired to a Roman colonnia or colony such as Philippi where Paul and Luke just happened to turn up. If when Jesus prayed “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” he was primarily referring to His executioners, then God must provide the means for them to receive that forgiveness in order for that prayer to be answered. Of course there were sound reasons for any such persons not to be named as such in Scripture. They would have probably been responsible for the deaths of a large number of Jewish patriots and be the subject of potential vengeance attacks. We do not know John’s itinerary of his life after the early chapters of Acts, so it is quite possible that John also visited Philippi. But there is a tradition that John moved to Ephesus while Mary the mother of Jesus still alive and living in his household. Could it be that a member of the execution squad, (maybe the Philippian gaoler?) instead, travelled across the Aegean Sea to Ephesus to seek out the Lord’s mother’s forgiveness for his part in the Lord’s death? If you find that difficult to believe that Mary might be able to forgive one of her Son’s executioners, is it because you have issues of unforgiveness in your own life? After all, John who before Jesus’ death was know as one of the “Sons of Thunder” had, by the time of his death become known as the “Apostle of Love,” because he would invariably preach on the love of God. Despite the various privations he was supposed to have suffered he appears to have harboured no bitterness. Maybe this was one of the things that John learned from Mary?
David Rose, 2015.

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Using Setbacks as Opportunities.

Posted on March 16, 2015 by davidgrose

SONY DSCLast weekend there was a lot of heavy rainin the north of Scotland and the River Spey flooded its banks to a height not seen for many years. Some roads were inundated, as well as low lying fields. Amongst the areas underwater were large parts of the golf club. Creating several very large water hazards for any golfer foolhardy to play certain holes. But as the rain cleared away and the sun came out the river began to subside. As the river slowly returned towards more normal levels large bodies of water remained behind. As you can see from this photograph there are opportunities to take pictures that would, in normal conditions, be impossible. In this instance where there is water in the foreground is usually just the green grass of the fairway. That particular pond has dried up but there are other larger that remain though decreasing in size.
SONY DSCIf this was not for the trees protruding out from water you might think that this was a permanent body of water. Not so. The far side of the fence should be the driving range but looks more like a diving range. It was a pity that the larger expanse was more open to the wind that it made it more difficult to get good reflections. But it also attracted goldeneye ducks to land on it a couple of days ago. Though they did not let get close enough to take good pictures. Yesterday I hoped if I went early in the morning then it might be calmer and I could get mirror-like reflections. Alas this was not to be the case. But as surveyed the scene I heard birdsong coming from trees to my left and the bird I spotted was a goldcrest, one of the smallest of British birds which is constantly on the move and therefore difficult to get it in focus long enough to take its picture, but I managed to take two or three.SONY DSC
This is the only one that shows its distinctive crest that gives the bird its name. The picture is uncropped which unusual when taking a picture of such a small bird. Yet another example of using a setback as an opportunity. Spiritually they same can apply. How many times have you heard a testimony whereby what appeared to be a setback led to an opportunity that led to the fulfilment of someone’s calling.
David Rose, 2015.

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“All Scripture is God-Breathed.” 2 Timothy 3:16 – part 2

Posted on March 9, 2015 by davidgrose

We all live in a tick-box culture these days and most Christians will say that they agree with 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is God-breathed. In my previous post I questioned this. Or rather I questioned the extent to which we regard Scripture as inspired. Do we treat some parts of Scripture as being more authoritative than others? The fact is that most of us find some parts of the Bible as more inspiring than others. There will also be times that some verse or other will leap out from the page at us. Yet other passages send us to sleep. I mean the rules and regulations concerning sacrifices and the like in Leviticus and other books in the Penteteuch or Torah. It is a case of the spirit being willing but the flesh being weak. With our heads we say that all Scripture is inspired but our hearts seem to say otherwise. The danger being that our actions speak louder than words.
The aspect I want to dwell on is when we witness a debate on one of the many matters that can divide the Church. Nominally the debaters will accept the authority of the Bible but the participants trade Bible verses as if the ones that support their position are more inspired than those of their opponents. The issues that could be debated are endless:- End times/eschatology; the role of Israel; the role of women in the Church; the role of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit today; the relationship between faith and works, etc. Concerning the last of those. Luther, having re-established the doctrine of justification by faith he famously dismissed the Letter of James, which argues that we should show our faith by our works, as an “epistle of straw.” Though rarely within Christian circles are whole books are discounted as being less authoritative than others. Usually, it is the subject matter of verses that leads to controversy. Different Christian traditions colour the way people see things. Pentecostals find it difficult to read the words Holy Spirit without reading into it the gift of tongues. Cessationalists reading the same passages see it as being only appropriate for the early years of the Church. Name each controversy and you can find examples. Usually, one can see that if one takes any position to a ridiculous extreme the arguments begin to fall down. That makes it easy to create ‘straw men’ that their opponents can easily knock down. Resulting in those on one side not seeing the merits of those on the other side of the debate. We have to ask ourselves:- “Do we regard those verses that support the side in a debate that we agree with as being more inspired than those which disagree with our side?” So the next you see or hear a debate in the media then think twice whilst listening to it and not treat it as a sporting contest to be won or lost. The truth of Scripture is like a many faceted jewel and it is all too easy to try and see issues as being only two dimensional.
David Rose, 2015.

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“All Scripture is God-Breathed.”

Posted on February 22, 2015 by davidgrose

2 Timothy Chapter 3 verse 16 starts by saying that “all Scripture is God-breathed,” or inspired and most Christians would at least give lip-service to that. If that is the case then why do many believers underline or highlight verses in their Bibles, often at the behest of preachers who will insist that members of their congregations must underline this or that verse? Are we saying that we regard some portions of Scripture as being more inspired than others. Inadvertently that might be the case. I hasten to add that I have heard many fine and solid preachers of the Word tell their listeners to do the above and this is not meant as criticism of any one individual. The question we need to ask ourselves is “Do I regard some of Scripture as being more inspired than others?”
Imagine a diagram or graph, along the base is written the names of the various books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and on the vertical axis the percentage to which we believe the Word of God to be inspired. In theory there should be a straight line at a hundred per cent from one side to the other. But in reality is this the case? I think not. If I am honest then I have to admit that some passages of Scripture leave me rather cold. We can try and argue that verses that excite us are 200 per cent inspired, but surely either a verse of Scripture is inspired or it is not. In arguing that some verses are more inspired, inevitably we are at the same time arguing that some verses are less inspired.
Going back to our imaginary diagram; the Sadducees only believed that the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) were inspired so the diagram for them would be a straight line for the first five books then steeply falling towards zero. The Pharisees believed what is the whole of the Old Testament to be Scripture. In theory the diagram for them would be straight until the New Testament was reached. After Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem he was able to cause division between the two factions largely because of their attitudes to what parts of Scripture were inspired or not. Today when Christians from different strands of Christianity discuss matters they often find themselves talking at cross purposes. How much of this is because we think that Scripture that agrees with our theology is more inspired than that which might challenge it? To simplify matters imagine the discussion between an Orthodox Jew and an Evangelical Christian. Both use verses as if they were playing a card game, hoping that each card they play will win the trick. The Orthodox Jew not regarding the New Testament as Scripture will find the Evangelical’s favourite quotes from either Jesus or Paul as being invalid. Likewise, the Evangelical finds that the Orthodox Jew’s quoting of the Torah as being “Old Covenant,” that has been superceeded by the “New.” The problem being that it is if each other does not recognise the suit which they have called trumps, leading to increasing frustration.
If we do not accept the first part of the verse then it is no use for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” Jesus when arguing with the Sadducees had to quote from the Torah to contradict their unbelief in the concept of resurrection when said “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” thus proving the Lord was the God of the living and not the dead.
David Rose, 2015.

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