George's Blog
I long for a just society is where each member of the community cares for the rights of each other member. This sounds a little idealistic but we can hunger and thirst to live in a world where this ideal for humanity is paramount. Jesus told us that God blesses those who seek justice for their fellow-man.
“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6 New Living Translation)
In 1990, the Voyager 1 space probe took a picture of the earth, named as the “Pale Blue Dot” from 3.7 billion miles away. This earth, home to mankind for thousands of years, is smaller than a speck of dust in the immensity of space. We can feel so insignificant, and yet we cannot place limits on what mankind is meant to achieve. Just what is our destiny? Let’s explore the vastness of the universe but also look at how unimaginably large we are compared with the infinitesimally tiny. [Read more…]
Once again we hear of kids being massacred at a school by a man with a gun. Most people I know who live in Britain rather than America are horrified and puzzled by the American obsession with gun ownership. The statistics clearly point to drastically reduced gun related deaths when there is strong gun ownership control. But strong government control is anathema to many citizens in the ‘land of the free”.
Viewed the situation from the outside, I and many others, can be judgemental of our American cousins. We are actually in danger of being hypocritical, bearing in mind how much money Britain makes by selling weapons around the world. [Read more…]
The Bible is not a rule book. It says very little about lots of issues which affect us today. If we look hard we may find ‘proof texts’ to support a particular moral stance but they might be reliant on the Old Testament and maybe contradicted elsewhere. Even Jesus contradicted or brought new light on an old saying. (For example ‘eye for an eye’ in Matthew 5.) Here are some examples of current issues in a somewhat random order.
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An incredible thing happened to me the other day which restored my faith in human nature.
I went for a walk with my wife, son, daughter-in law and one of my grandsons. We walked from Tilford along some very muddy paths. We came out to a main road about a mile from the cars and because I was worn out and had walked far enough I sat on a road sign and waited while the others walked back to collect the cars.
Ninety-nine lost sheep, nine lost coins and a son excluded from his family. These are the stories that Jesus didn’t tell.
A shepherd had 100 sheep. He let them out one morning to roam at will on the mountain side. Because they had free wills he allowed them to go wherever they fancied. As evening time approached he set off to find his sheep but he couldn’t see them anywhere. He despaired of finding any at all but eventually found one. The lost sheep signed a quick form and received a guarantee certificate of a nights safe keeping in the sheep fold.
Did Jesus come to save the whole world or just come to save a minority who believe in him? I am posing this question and suggest that we look at the question carefully without being dogmatic. If you had asked me this question 20 years ago I would have said the only way to be saved, was to believe in Jesus and look to him for our salvation. There are scriptures which support this view but there is a great deal of biblical evidence that it has always been God’s intention and plan to save every man and women — indeed the whole earth (and the whole of creation).
I am now inclined to believe that God will save everyone, but dare not be too assertive on this issue as greater minds than mine have grappled with this question. So, I am not asking you to say, “I agree with George”, but to look at the following passages from The Bible and come to your own position on the subject.
