As a follower of Jesus Christ I want to follow his plan for my life and do not want to displease God in any way by my actions, speech or thoughts. I may judge for myself what is right for and what is wrong for me, but I have no right to judge other people or to impose my standards or my morality on another human being.
Continue reading “Knowing right from wrong”
Author: George Dowdell
I was the founder of Karuna Action (formerly Kingscare) and was the director for 24 years. I have now handed control over to younger people but continue as an advisor and trustee.
My passion is to see extreme poverty eliminated and to see justice for the powerless.
The struggle for change
Why does Christianity, as a religion, seem to lag behind society in its lack of acceptance of people who are different in some way? When confronted with truth we can listen to reason, even change our minds on an issue, but dealing with the emotional impact of a new way of thinking takes time before we can whole heartedly embrace the truth. What am I talking about? Take the abolition of slavery as an example. Continue reading “The struggle for change”
Hunger for justice
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)
The Pale Blue Dot
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. Continue reading “The Pale Blue Dot”
Guns, Kids and the Arms Trade
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. Continue reading “Guns, Kids and the Arms Trade”
Is the Bible God’s final word?
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.
- Slavery – in it’s institutionalised and modern forms
- The death penalty or capital punishment
- Global warming or looking after the earth
Faith in human nature
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.
Fake Good News
Ninety-nine lost sheep, nine lost coins and a son excluded from his family. These are the stories that Jesus didn’t tell.
Ninety-nine lost sheep
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.
Compassion and Justice 