Hold on to purity and peace
Sadly, we are living in unprecedented days in our country, where there is pressure to introduce an ‘a-sexual’ society; where there are unending legal wranglings to accept assisted suicide which would leave many vulnerable people unprotected and where gambling, especially online, is ruining millions of lives.
There are proposals in the pipeline to ban smacking children in Wales and Scotland; to teach five year-olds about homosexuality and transgenderism. The laws of our country already accept same-sex marriage and worldwide 56 million babies have been aborted and one in four people think ‘sexting’ it is OK and pornography is now seen by millions of young people and children on their mobile phones.
Reading such a list of indicators of the moral decline in our nation, will produce a variety of responses. Some, sadly, call this progress and freedom while others see it as an abandonment of our Christian values; while others sit on the fence, shrug their shoulders and do nothing. However, I feel that we have a great responsibility to help our floundering young people. Where should they turn for acceptable standards and hope in this sea of declining standards and values?
Unhesitatingly, I would commend them to the values of the Bible which have stood the test of time for the past 2,000 years. Some who oppose these standards accuse us of lacking in compassion, cause people to lose their jobs as they stand up for the truth and resort to saying hateful things and even death threats to those who believe them and seek to uphold them.
Should we be surprised by this? In reality, we are not, because in the first century, readers of the New Testament were warned that ‘in the last days there will be difficult times. For people will love themselves and their money. They will be boastful and scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good… they will love pleasure rather than God’.
I believe that there are still millions who still hold to traditional Christian values even though they do not go to church. We do not resort to hatred, retaliation, greed and criticism. Instead, we seek to love those who oppose us, be generous to those who attack us and to do as Jesus commanded us and to love our enemies. Our general disposition is one of sadness that it has come to this. I believe that God still loves us all and He is still being patient with us and giving us space and time to change.
May we all seek to hold on to purity and peace and to stand on our guard against the sinister attacks on our country, our young people and our great history in the UK before it is too late.
Roy Whittall, Oswestry
