A Facebook Shocker...

This morning I gasped when I saw a poster appear on my laptop screen whilst scrolling down the Facebook wall. It was an advert posted by someone I knew personally. He is to appear this evening on a Channel 4 chat show to talk about his knowledge of recent Middle East history, focusing on the wars and political unrest which had taken place there in the past seventy years.

And I will honestly admit that I have a pinch of envy for him. Appearing on national television. Wow! He even asked us to ignore the football which will be shown concurrently and instead, tune in to his interview on the commercial channel. Does he mean Match of the Day on the BBC, a popular sports programme, especially for male viewers?

Meanwhile, I sit alone at home typing this blog. Alone. For yet again, my beloved wife is in a ward at Frimley Park Hospital. She was taken there by ambulance late last night after spending hours suffering intense pain in her abdomen. Early this morning, news came in. Apparently, she was diagnosed with possible Pancreatitis, a serious illness caused, so I'm told, by the presence of stones in her gall bladder.

In one sense, having a diagnosis is very helpful. Therefore, she will be given the appropriate treatment. Actually, I do recall seeing the presence of a gall bladder stone on an X-Ray image way back in 2007 at John Radcliffe Hospital, after developing unrelated symptoms following the birth of our third daughter. But although the medical staff was aware of the presence of a stone, they decided to ignore it. This might have been due to their assumption that over time it will dissolve into the bile the bladder produces.

Whether this lies behind her health problems, other than her breast cancer, or not, remains to be seen. But here, I would like to highlight a contrast between this fellow on TV and seems to enjoy life to the full, and our own lives of prolonged health anxieties, frequent hospital visits and an uncertain future.

It looks to me that the key to a fulfilled life all comes down to a high education level. The person referred is actually one of a twin. His brother had graduated to be a medical doctor. Also, I have met and spoken to their parents (but had so far, I never met the other sibling.) I wonder how proud this elderly couple were of their son's academic achievements? Their sense of successful upbringing of their twin sons to reach such an academic goal, and thus providing a useful service to their communities - was quite a contrast to the way my own parents felt about me during my teenage years as a slow learner. The resulting boyhood retardation meant that I was one of those 1960s school-leavers who walked into the world of work with absolutely nothing academic to show. Therefore, I have always looked upon a graduate as an icon for a richly fulfilled life and deserving of a higher level of respect from the rest of us.

Yet, despite the slight sense of envy I may feel about his television appearance - and thus a gateway to fame - I wish him well. As a historian, he is also the author of two published books on the Middle East. And that is after cautioning him that specialising in a single overseas location could restrict the numbers of those interested. Unless told specifically otherwise, I will never know whether my word of caution had ever held true or not.

It's this level of education that had made him one of several lay-preachers in our church - this cultural preference presenting a phenomenon I had seen many times before in different churches. For example, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, attended Eton College, followed by gaining a MA at the University of Cambridge, and a BA at the University of Durham. And I once read that Cambridge, in particular, holds a "gene pool" of undergrads from whom the Church of England draws for its future clergy. Rather different from Jesus' selection of his twelve from a more rabble background!

It's this high level of education elevating the student to a higher status in his social life, attaining respect, even admiration from the church elders as well as from the rest of the congregation, along with the rest of the world. Like, during one Summer Sunday morning several years ago, when it was officially announced that a "seminar of Creation" - delivered by this same academic - was to be held that same evening. And I was there to hear the announcement.

And so I attended, only to end up listening to our hero's denial of the historicity of the first chapter of Genesis and reducing the chapter to the level of myth. By mythologising history - that is presenting Scripture as if the events written therein had never occurred - is making ineffective one of the major foundation stones on which the Gospel of Jesus Christ rests. Yes, the same person denying the historic truthfulness of the Bible - appearing on a chat show on TV - whilst at the same time, another person who is a true believer and an advocate for Scriptural truthfulness, carries his cross so heavy and burdensome, that he emotionally breaks as he watches his beloved being carted away to the hospital for the umpteenth time.

As I wrote on my Facebook page, I would be more than willing to jump into his shoes, but would the very thought of jumping into my shoes be a source of terror for anyone? This sense of unfairness - why is one person so blessed, due to his excelling at school, while another has to drag his feet each morning to a monotonous, dead-end and dirty, low-paid job where he also suffers from being bullied by his colleagues? An accurate description of the early days of my work life soon after leaving school. And indeed, quite a good metaphor. While I was experiencing such humiliating conditions around 1970, someone from the Midlands, who I will get to know many years later, had just graduated from University and will be flying off to Africa on a voluntary project. 

The Rev Justin Welby

Could this sense of unfairness and insecurity be behind many cases of domestic abuse? I wonder how many husbands, boyfriends, or partners feel their egos under threat by their partner's level of education, wealth, or professional career? And then develop a controlling streak within the relationship that could end up in a violent assault, even death? And so the Media keeps reporting violent assaults of females in the hands of very insecure and egotistical males. And such could be exacerbated by the annual reports that girls are doing better than boys at school and therefore have a wider career opportunity. And so, a Christless soul moves on before being caught and brought to justice - only to end up behind bars with very low self-esteem that often leads to prison violence.

A Christless soul? Indeed, if my own experience can prove anything, to know God through faith in Jesus Christ is like a picture more worthy than a thousand words, or like the beauty of a face launching a thousand ships. But I need to be real here. There are many occasions when I doubted God, His love or Sovereign power. Or when the chips are down, wondering where God is or which direction our future will take into the unknown.

As one who has been acquainted with the Bible for several decades, our friend's preach posed no threat to my faith. Rather, I stood up to him after the service to defend the historicity of this early chapter of Genesis after dismissing the factual side of the book for his support for science. For example, according to him, how could the Earth possibly exist four days before the rest of the Universe was created, including the Sun, Moon and Stars? It's this rhetoric that brings the atheist to laugh at us as Creationists living in a land of make-believe, instead of facing hard facts of life, that is, believing in Darwin's Evolutionary theories and Charles Lyell's Uniformitarian Geology. 

Too bad I don't have all the answers! Did light exist before the start of Day 1? For God said, "Let there be light" and there was light. And God saw that the light was very good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day", and the darkness He called "night". And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day - Genesis 1:3-5. Could this be a hint that the Earth was already rotating before the 4th Day of Creation?

But the beauty of the Gospel remains standing on the firm and historic foundation of Genesis. The Fall was indeed an Earth-shaking event, this separation of man from God through sin, and the death of the spirit - that part of him where he communicates freely with God - had done nothing less than erect a barrier consisting of four large stones which had blocked man from God, and unless God acts, man is destined to remain separated from God forever.

Although some Christian leaders might have said that it was God who built the wall, actually, it was the man, Adam, who built it. It was Adam who fell, not God.

The topmost boulder is the character of God - including perfection and holiness.

The next boulder is the debt of sin that cannot be repaid, as God's holiness demands absolute perfection.

The third boulder is slavery to Satan. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he sold himself and all his descendants to the Devil, who became "the father of all mankind", according to John 8:43-44.

The fourth block in the wall is spiritual death - the loss of communication with God.

Thus, a very thick barrier exists between a sinful man and God. So strong is that wall, no man can demolish it. No works done by sinful men to earn salvation can knock the barrier down. Our acceptance of Creation and the Fall as historic are absolute necessities to establish this statement of faith. The events surrounding the Fall speaks so clearly of the historicity of the early chapter of Genesis. 

After the Fall, aprons made of sewn fig leaves symbolises man's futile effort to reconcile himself with God. Those leaves were totally ignored by God when He called them to account. The bushes they hid behind is a good illustration of the fourfold barrier now standing between God and man. But God, in His mercy, slays an animal and clothe them - a picture of redemption through the death of an innocent intercessor whose blood was shed to make atonement.

However, eternal redemption was achieved by the Father sending his beloved Son to die in atonement for sin and to bring reconciliation with God, restoring our communication with Him. It's the work of God in its entirety. As the aprons have shown, no man can assist in God's redemption.

By the death of Jesus Christ the Son of God by crucifixion, the wall is demolished in four stages occurring simultaneously: 

God's character ----> Propitiation. The turning away of God's wrath against sin.

The debt of Sin ----> The Certificate of Debt - paid to Infinite Justice by Christ's death.

Slavery to Satan ----> Redemption. Freedom from slavery to sin to that of righteousness.

Spiritual Death ---->Substitutionary Death. Christ died so we might be made alive.

The intricacies between Creation, the Fall, and Redemption forms a triunity of truth that any denial of historic facts cannot find any place in the faith, which, to me, is so glorious to God and vital to my wellbeing. And the wellbeing of all who were at Ascot Life Church on that warm Sunday evening.

I hope our friend's broadcast goes well. Although very patchy in the Facebook advert, I believe it was made to promote his books, which may be flagging in sales.

All the best to him.