There have been two questions I’ve been asked more than any others in the last few weeks. First, what do you think about assisted suicide? And second, what do you think about Justin Welby? There’s plenty that could be said in answer to both. But at heart, the answer I want to give is the same: It’s all about God.
Of course we want to talk about the ethics of medicine, the sanctity of life, the devaluing of the weak, the protection of the vulnerable, the application of justice to the wicked, the goodness of marriage, the sinfulness of sexual immorality, and many more things beside. But they are, in a sense, derivative; for all of God’s laws flow from God Himself. When terrible ethical failures happen, it is because there is first a failure to know and love the one true God.
Many people were understandably horrified when the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics included sacrilegious mockery of our Lord’s Last Supper.
Perhaps you saw it: the scene was obviously blasphemous, and was taken as a grave insult by Christians all over the world. Why, many people wondered, would the organisers of the Olympic Games want to offend so many people?
Christianity appears to be having a little cultural recovery.
I don’t mean for a moment that the general hostility in society to Christianity is lessening. But it is true that a growing number of secular commentators are realising that Christianity is, in some sense, a thing which we cannot do without.
The cheesy ABBA-shaped musical Mamma Mia has, as you’ll know if you’ve seen it, a rather peculiar ending.
At the climax of the film, as the bride and groom stand side by side, they suddenly decide not to get married after all. Instead, they realise that the truly romantic thing would be to travel the world (together) rather than settle down to marriage – which, it is implied, would be far too dull for them to start right now. The structure of marriage would, perhaps, stifle their love; what real love needs is shapeless, limitless freedom. Solid boundaries and hard edges, duties and necessities, are the opposite of what love is about.
One of the most memorable moments of our late Queen’s funeral was when the orb and sceptre which had been given to her at her Coronation were removed from her coffin and placed on the table in St George’s Chapel.
While evangelicals would rightly quibble at some of the ceremonial, the basic theological point is true: ‘There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God’ (Rom.13:2). Queen Elizabeth’s authority to reign was granted to her (symbolised by the sceptre) by Christ, who has been given all authority in heaven and earth (symbolised by the orb topped with a cross). God the Father has placed all things under his feet (Eph.1:20-22). All earthly rulers derive their authority solely from Him; they hold it for a time, and in time it is removed from them by Him again.
The recent vote in the General Synod of the Church of England on women bishops has thrown the issue of how Christians view the roles of men and women into the public arena.
It has suddenly become much more likely that we will be asked what we think by friends and relatives. Our response, even when we are trying to be biblical, can too often sound as if deep down we wish the Bible said something different to what it does! It seems to me we can do better than that.
Assisted suicide? Justin Welby? It’s all about God
There have been two questions I’ve been asked more than any others in the last few weeks. First, what do you think about assisted suicide? And second, what do you think about Justin Welby? There’s plenty that could be said in answer to both. But at heart, the answer I want to give is the same: It’s all about God.
Of course we want to talk about the ethics of medicine, the sanctity of life, the devaluing of the weak, the protection of the vulnerable, the application of justice to the wicked, the goodness of marriage, the sinfulness of sexual immorality, and many more things beside. But they are, in a sense, derivative; for all of God’s laws flow from God Himself. When terrible ethical failures happen, it is because there is first a failure to know and love the one true God.