A good friend of AATW, cumlazaro has commented, apropos my last post:
And Christians need to be worried that the government will be coming for our ‘homophobia and misogyny’ next
This is spot on. I get tired of being accused of ‘thin end of the wedge’ arguments; this is because there is a thin end of the wedge, and repeatedly it has been used by the liberal elites to slide something past the electorate which, had they admitted their real agenda, would have been thrown out. So, when they introduced the ‘civil partnerships’ bill, my argument was that whilst fine in itself, it would be used to change the nature of marriage. “Nonsense” I was told, “no, no, quite the opposite, it will settle the issue by giving homosexuals the same legal rights as heterosexuals”; and what happened? What I, and others said would, and what all the wise liberals pooh-poohed. The same was true with the whole issue of freedom of speech. I recall being accused of racism when I opposed the criminalising of so-called “hate speech”. Now it is a catch all for anything which your average Guardian reader finds offensive. As I recently told someone who told me she found something I had said ‘offensive’; that ‘is your problem, deal with it.’
Whatever some of the clever folk who contribute to this blog have written, the plain fact is that Scripture tells us homosexual activity is sinful. I believe that on the basis of Scripture. My own visceral distaste for buggery is neither here nor there; Scripture’s condemnation of it is. If it is, as I suspect it is, ‘hate speech’ to say so, well I dare say it, and if they come to feel my collar, so be it.
The really radical and ‘counter-cultural’ option nowadays is orthodox Christianity. Liberals are explaining it all away, God is love, he loves us all, even those robbing, raping and disobeying his laws? Really? Yes, of course He loves them, but He calls them to repent, and I am performing no act of love towards them by pretending that what they do when they sin is OK. This is not my personal opinion, if it were, it would have the same relativistic force (that is none) as anyone else’s; it is God’s Law. It is a matter of salvation. How shall I stand before my God and say that I was ashamed to confess Him in public because my defence of His laws might have been seen as ‘inappropriate’? (Was there ever a more weasel word?)
I am not saying everyone has to abide by God’s law, but I am warning of the consequences if they don’t; but I’d better not put up a poster in Norfolk saying that as they would come for me and threaten to prosecute me. It may simply be that we have to defend our position and let them prosecute us. Back in 1874 the Disraeli Government passed a very silly law ‘banning; what they called ‘ritualism’; banging up holy parson discredited the act in the eyes of the public and soon they stopped using it. We may have to go in the same direction. If so, bring it on. My ancestors were put in the stocks for denying the Anglican Church; the very least I can do is to follow their example.
British values? Mealy-mouthed conformism, weasel-words and hypocrisy. I reject the lot of them.
Thank you, Geoffrey -and needless to say, once again I completely agree with you.
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We have come to live in a very strange world.
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I too agree completely, which is not overly surprising, we do share a heritage after all, that of free men and Christians. Without going too far with it, it is worthwhile to note this:
“You should know this, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, 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 betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT)
But understand, as I know Geoffrey does, this is in no sense an easy path, and may very come down to:
“…But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a sack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one” (Luke 22:36)” which is the equivalent of a modern battle rifle.”
There is nothing about Christianity that does not involve effort, danger, and risk. Even danger from the government, it has always been so.
Free speech itself, in our context come down all the way from keeping the Lord’s name holy, irregardless of anything.
Of course, these are areas where Americans have often been, and are, radical. But, in truth, we are simply descended from and took our basics from when Britons were at the height of their freedom, and we wrote it down, cherished it, and enforced it.
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Agreed Neo. Our so-called leaders have been singularly useless.
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Yours have indeed been useless, ours lately have been worse. It will eventually work out, although I suspect we will not enjoy the process.
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They all deserve shooting.
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Too honorable, in my mind. And besides, ropes and trees are cheaper.
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Aye, they’ll have to ban them, too, then.
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Just wait till they ban rocks-they’d have to fix the roads.
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Neo, I would prefer to turn them into Soylent Green and feed them to the poor but then again, they would probably be indigestible.
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I’ve no problem with that SF although I think they’d make good fertilizer considering the contents.
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Very true, Neo.
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Unfortunately, indeed, it is.
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I look on in astonishment at England, from my rather peripheral position looking after the needs of four donkeys in Spain, and I remember why I am here.
And I am here because in 2010 the CRB messed up my routine police check and confused my details with a criminal. They thus prevented me from working, from February to June, when they finally admitted seven counts of error in processing my CRB check, and gave me 500 pounds in compensation. Meanwhie I had lost all my credibiity and to this day no teaching colleagues in Canterbury keep in touch (“there’s no smoke without a fire”).
Now that the liberal establishment is attacking the very fabric of the faith, while their institutions like the CRB – or indeed Ofsted – that are entirely lacking in competence continue to mess up the every day trust that parents place in teachers, I regard myself as well out of it.
Four years away from England, and every day’s news convinces me I never want to see the country of my birth again. And I really do mean that.
– From a far away Rabit in a safer place.
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Indeed, it often seems that more harm is done by sheer incompetence than by actual malevolence. There are no real answers that I have found except, to remove the dead hand of the government and privatise all that can be. My guess is that we all have stories, although few that compare to the outline of yours. And here you define the evil of the uncaring civil service, that always comes with big government, always.
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en passent, I had to look up CRB in acronymfinder.com. Please, on both sides of the pond, don’t assume the other knows what you mean by what you think you said.
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Thanks for speaking out of the Bible 🙂
It often seems that non-Christians claim that we Christians are hateful and do not know how to be civil, etc. Yet you look at their comments bashing us, writing words only found on bathroom stalls (and worthy to be in the toilet).
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And thank you for your appreciation. Some of these folk are very odd.
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