Cap in hand?

There’s an interesting article on the BBC website today (click here) in which the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, criticises some bishops in the church of England because they have sought to prevent the government from introducing a benefits cap.

I haven’t read Lord Carey’s comments in full, but I agree with him inasmuch as the BBC report tells the story. It is scandalous that idleness, slothfulness, laziness – call it what you will, is encouraged through the benefit system. No family ought to be able to receive more in benefits than the average salaried family in the country, because that will encourage people to give up working and take the benefits instead.

Speaking as one whose salary is less than the national average (£26,000 p/a), I find it morally disturbing that people who do nothing can receive more than me, someone who works as best I can for the money I earn, contrasted with those who sit around doing nothing.

Its also disturbing that Church of England bishops would oppose setting limits on how much families can receive in funding from those who are working. Especially in light of God’s word which clearly states:

2Th. 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, we did not eat any one’s bread without paying, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you. It was not because we have not that right, but to give you in our conduct an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If any one will not work, let him not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living.

The apostle says he was not idle when he was with them, they didn’t eat anything without paying for it, they toiled and laboured and expressly taught that ‘if any one will not work, let him not eat.’

We all agree that people who are unable to work ought to receive assistance in some form or another. But most men are able-bodied and ought to work at something. A welfare system must never encourage the sin of idleness, nor promiscuity (because it should be recognised that some girls specifically have babies in order to get the welfare cheque), because that leads to a lazy people and children without fathers.

As long as the state sponsors sin, sin will grow. As Christians we ought always to love our neighbours, but we’re not doing that if we actively encourage our neighbours pocket to be picked (by the tax-man) so that others can sit around and do nothing all day. A cap on the amount a family can get in benefits is not only practical, it strikes me as morally right. Who in their right mind would give someone money so they can squander it on themselves, without ever lifting a finger to earn the things they are enjoying?

Our Lord teaches that we will always have the poor with us, and we can help them whenever we want to. And that is very true. But there is a clear distinction between those who are poor because their circumstances have made them so, and those who are just plain idle.

Now such people we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living.

Thanks for stopping by.

Make school longer?

Should school-days be lengthened? That’s a suggestion made by Labour’s education spokesman, quoted in the BBC today (click here for the story).

It’s an interesting idea, and one which could, in theory, lift educational standards in the Kingdom. But the fundamental problem in classrooms is not the amount of time spent there, but the learning environment within the classroom. There is no point increasing the length of time a youngster spends in class, if the classroom is not conducive to learning.

And sadly, in too many cases, the classroom is not conducive to learning because discipline is not applied.

There is a fundamental problem which underlies many schools in the United Kingdom. This is the view that children do want to learn, and all they need to do is be shown how to learn, and what to learn, and they will learn it. But the reality is that human nature is fallen, the default position is ‘folly’ not ‘wisdom.’ Students would prefer to fool around than work hard writing essays or learning algebra. In their world such abilities are not necessary, (and in reality they won't be until later life). But this is a message they have to receive on faith – that "it will be for your good later in life, if you learn this (knowledge or skill) now."

The default human position is towards laziness. Students are no different. Only discipline can overcome our natural disposition to do as little as possible for as long as possible.

Therefore, I conclude that the place to begin improving education in her Majesty’s kingdom is not by lengthening the school day, but by re-introducing effective means of discipline (and yes, that includes the possibility of being ‘birched’ or ‘expelled’).

The Bible teaches us that fathers discipline the sons whom they love. And as long as schools are without discipline (starting with a fixed routine, better known as an effective timetable) children will not grow in knowledge or wisdom as they otherwise would. And the absence of discipline means an absence of love.

I’m all for improving educational standards in the Kingdom, but lengthening the school days is not the solution, because it is not the quantity but the quality of the classroom which is conducive to right and successful learning.

Prov. 3:11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

Thanks for stopping by.

A prayer answered.

Happy New Year to you!

Over the last seven years I have regularly read through the Bible in its entirety each year. On the 28th or 29th of December (i.e. 3 or 4 days ago) I prayed the Lord would make me learn something new from Jesus in 2012. I prayed that I would be a better disciple. The next day a book came through the post, it was a gift from the company my wife and I use as our home-school curriculum.

That book, which I read in less that 24 hours, has radically shaped my thinking on what it means to be a Christian. And if you will read the information below, and then click on the link, you might find your discipleship completely changed too. Because who wants to be a vanilla disciple of Jesus, when He is so great, and being in His kingdom is so fantastic?

I want to be obedient to Christ, and to see what a difference He can make in me.

So here's the blurb:

"What does it actually mean to follow Jesus? Simply put, it means to believe Jesus’ message and obey it. So, why is it we don’t obey more often than we do?

Years ago I noticed that during the course of my day I’d have an impression from the Holy Spirit to do something I was reasonably certain Jesus wanted me to do. It would be an impression to either do something good for someone or refrain from doing something wrong. It might be to stop for a car broken down on the highway, speak to a co-worker about Jesus, or simply turn off my computer before I ended up at a site where no Christian should go.

Almost simultaneously I would sense another voice whispering to discourage me. “You don’t have time to do that – helping that person could get messy – you can’t afford to help them right now – stand up for your rights – you deserve it – it’s okay, once more won’t kill you.” If I listened to this other voice and thought about it long enough, the moment for obedience would pass, often to my relief. It finally dawned on me that by procrastinating on being obedient to Jesus, I was unintentionally teaching myself the habit of disobedience. Why is that?

Why did I hesitate? Because I knew that most decisions to obey would cost me something – time, money, embarrassment, inconvenience, or a momentary pleasure denied. By choosing not to obey Jesus, I avoided all of that! So the reason I wasn’t more obedient to God? Without hardly thinking about it, I automatically counted the cost and the price seemed too high for me. Then a decade ago a lay pastor from China taught me a simple rule that could break that cycle:"

You can find out more here:

I can assure you, my life has changed already. I don't want to be just a Sunday Christian, I want to be a DISCIPLE of JESUS CHRIST.

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
-John 14:15

Thanks for stopping by!

Nature heralds the passing of a leader? No, but it heralded the birth of the true one.

The BBC carries a story from North Korea today, in which the North Korean State News agency claims that there have been 'freak' natural events occurring in the wake of the death of Kim Jong-il's death (click here for more).

It is difficult of course to trust the news reports coming from North Korea, which is a despotic state. But it has made me think about the birth and death of a far greater, far more influential, far more powerful leader than Kim Jong-il. I refer of course to our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Jesus was born, Matthew records in his gospel that a star heralded his birth, and that wise men travelled from the east to find the new king as a result of this star. This of course, is absolutely remarkable - to think that a star would show the way to a young boy. However, the star had been prophesied years before Jesus was born, as we read in Numbers 24:17

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh: There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, And shall smite through the corners of Moab, And break down all the sons of tumult.

And then, thinking further on natural phenomena, we are told that at the death of our Lord, the sun was darkened for three hours and several earthquakes took place over the three days between Jesus' death and resurrection.

What then are we take make of this? Shall we conclude that the gospel writers fictionalised their accounts, to give Jesus more splendour than He actually deserves? Such a conclusion might be drawn, but only by someone wishing to deny the greatness of Jesus Christ and the historical evidence. The sign which stands above all others, as far as faith in Jesus Christ is concerned, is the sign of His resurrection.

Matt 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Three questions remain unanswered with respect to Jesus' resurrection, compelling me to believe He is risen from the dead.

i) What happened to Jesus' body?

ii) Whom did the disciples see?

iii) Why did the church begin?

I commend to you Frank Morrison's book 'Who moved the Stone?' (an online version is available here.) In his work, Morrison presents the evidence so clearly that the reader can only conclude that the one who moved the stone was none other than an angel of God. There can be no other credible explanation...

So we return the greatest sign of all. If it be true that Christ is risen, that the Lord Jesus really did rise from the grave, then we see that God has the power to raise the dead, He has the power to reverse and change the forces of nature. And if that be the case (and it is), then it is not hard to believe that God caused a star to shine, and the sun to darken, at Jesus' birth and death respectively.

So I do not conclude that the gospel writers fictionalised their accounts, to give Jesus more splendour than he actually deserved. No, I conclude that Kim Jong-il tried, throughout his life, to be a great man. He tried to be an object of worship. The state media have tried to make him out to be as great as Jesus Christ. But the difference between Jesus Christ and Kim Jong-il can hardly be measured, for the vastness of it is so great. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh - Kim Jong-il was a mere man, just like you and me. Kim Jong-il was a man who forced others to bow down to him, whereas Jesus Christ invites people into His Father's kingdom, and by his life and death makes it possible for us to enter in. Finally, Kim Jon-il is dead, and will soon be forgotten. But Jesus Christ is alive, and in a few days his birth will be remembered yet again, as it will be, no doubt, in 2012, 2013, 2014 and indeed, until He comes again.

I don't believe North Korean state media, it's notoriously unreliable. But I do believe the Bible - because it is, and always will be, completely trustworthy (as I blogged once before). Having looked into the question, I can be surer of no greater historical fact than that Jesus Christ rose from the dead some 1975 years ago (probably in the year A.D. 27). Of that I am certain, and that is why I have no trouble believing a star heralded His birth, and darkness His death.

May I take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.

And thanks for stopping by today, and throughout the year.

Some Christmas reading.

A few years back the lovely Mrs Cameron and I were reading a book together (this, of course, was before we had children!) The book in question was Tom Brown’s Schooldays, which is an excellent story in which the hero Tom Brown finds out how hard it is to become and continue as a Christian in an English public school - namely, Rugby. If your spouse is pestering you what to get you for Christmas, I commend to you this book. Well worth reading in 2012.

At the beginning of the final chapter, the author begins to reminisce on his own school days, and these paragraphs caught my eye. For some time I have wanted to blog on them, so here we are:

Not but what there has been a solemn and a sad side to [thinking on my schooldays]. As the old scenes became living, and the actors in them became living too, many a grave in Crimea and distant India, as well as in the quiet churchyards of our dear old country, seemed to open and send forth their dead, and their voices and looks and ways were again in one’s ears and eyes, as in the old School-days. But this was not sad; how should it be, if we believe as our Lord has taught us? How should it be, when one more turn of the wheel, and we shall be by their sides again, learning from them again, perhaps, as we did when we were new boys.

Then there were others of the old faces so dear to us once, who had somehow or another just gone clean out of sight - are they dead or living? We know not, but the thought of them brings no sadness with it. Wherever they are, we can well believe they are doing God’s work and getting His wages.

But are there not some, whom we still see sometimes in the streets, whose haunts and homes we know, whom we could probably find almost any day in the week if we were set to do it, yet from whom we are really farther than we are from the dead, and from those who have gone out of our ken? Yes, there are and must be such; and therein lies the sadness of old School memories. Yet of these our old comrades, from whom more than time and space separate us, there are some, by whose sides we can feel sure that we shall stand again when time shall be no more. We may think of one another now as dangerous fanatics or narrow bigots, with whom no truce is possible, from whom we shall only sever more and more to the end of our lives, whom it would be our respective duties to imprison or hang, if we had the power. We must go our way, and they theirs, as long as flesh and spirit hold together.

[But for these] we must mourn and pray without sure hope and without light; trusting only that He, in whose hands they as well as we are, who has died for them as well as for us, who sees all His creatures ... will, in His own way and at His own time, lead them also home.

Tis a funny thing, old friendships. People we were so close to once, like brothers perhaps, where are they now? Some dead, some we don’t know if they are still living, others perhaps close by, and yet we never stop to see them anymore. What has happened to all our old friends?

Christmas always brings for me a time of reflection - particularly as I write Christmas cards and think on the person receiving the card. Each year I say a little prayer for him or her, that the recipient might know Him, and be known by Him, whose birth we are celebrating.

For me, although Christmas brings many cards to write, presents to buy, messages to script, parties to attend and sermons to preach, for me Christmas is a time to thank God for all his wonderful gifts, most especially for His Son, without whom all these others would ultimately be cruel jokes and passing shadows.

But with Christ as Lord, every good gift which has come down from the Father of lights, has the potential to be, permanently in our Father’s house - to be enjoyed forever.

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:9-11)

Spreading Christmas cheer

I've been in New Zealand over the last month and blogging has been correspondingly light. But its good to be back in sunny Devon, and the time has come to start preparing in earnest for Christmas.

Next Wednesday (Dec 21st) our church is going Christmas carolling at the local supermarket. We trust the Lord will bless us with cold but dry weather and we’re going to sing his praises.

A while back I heard Chris Rea (pop singer) on Radio 4. He said when he was growing up people stopped fighting in Middlesborough on Christmas day – it was the one day of the year when people made a real effort to get along.

Christmas – it’s a great time of year.

Ok, Jesus wasn’t born on December 25^th, but he was born.

Ok carols have only been around since the 15^th century (so I learnt this morning), but singing praises to God has been happening since creation.

Ok, you can run into a lot of Scrooges at Christmas time – but God is generous.

We’re having carollers back to our place for mince pies after we’ve been singing. We’re having mulled wine. I’m looking forward to it…

And why is it all happening?

It’s happening because God sent his only son into the world.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Well I can’t stop and dawdle. There's sermons to write and jet-lag to overcome. But perhaps we can conclude with a little carol.

Today’s Carol:

God Rest you merry Gentlemen

God rest you merry gentlemen,

Let nothing you dismay,

For Jesus Christ our saviour

Was born upon this day,

To save us from Satan’s power

When we were gone astray.

And its tidings of comfort and joy

Comfort and joy

And its tidings of comfort and joy.

On Robin Hood and St. Paul

Recently my wife and I purchased Walt Disney’s ‘Robin Hood’ for our sons. The boys have thoroughly enjoyed watching it, as I did last Saturday. It’s good for the boys to learn something of the history of England, particularly the harsh taxation under Prince John (he of Magna Carta fame), and that Richard the Lionheart was away on the crusades during the alleged time of Robin Hood’s highwayman ways.

But I found myself grappling with a moral issue. In the movie, as in the books, Robin Hood is always presented as an hero. He was standing up for the little guy, redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor. But at the end of the day, one can’t get away from the fact that he was a thief.

Against that, we see that Prince John was also a thief. He taxed the people so heavily that they barely had enough money to buy their own food. The difference between Prince John and Robin Hood seems to come down to little more than one of them (John) plundering the population legally (legalised plunder), and one of them (Robin) plundering the population illegally (illegal plunder).

Ironically this seems to feed into the current debate going on outside St. Paul’s Cathedral. Many bankers are well paid – probably over-paid (although the same might be said of civil servants and football players). For them the lesson is ‘You cannot serve both God and Mammon’ and ‘How difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.’

But I have little sympathy for the ‘occupiers’ at St. Paul’s. They need to learn the lesson that ‘you will always have the poor with you, and you can help them whenever you want.’ (Mark 14:7) The communists and socialists who are protesting outside St. Paul’s would have much greater moral authority if they could demonstrate that they are being generous to the poor with their own money. So often people claim to be speaking for the ‘poor’ (whoever they are), and are urging for higher taxes (just like Prince John), so that those who are working hard for what they have can be taxed all the more, while many lazy, fraudulent people are simply living off benefits. It is a tragedy that outside St. Paul’s people are not listening to something the apostle wrote:

2Th. 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

2Th. 3:11 We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.

Thanks for stopping by.