legal eye
To have and to hold –
and then bin?
Nicola Laver
A few days on from 6 April 2022, I was
browsing on Facebook – and always being
curious about people – clicked on the name
of someone who had recently married. I
didn’t know the couple and the wedding
picture was, naturally, a beautiful image
from a memorable day.
The bride captioned it with: ‘I promise
to love you ’til I take my last breath and
beyond’. But I have to confess that the cynic
in me thought – how long will it last?
legal eye
Christian care workers
may face sex dilemma
Nicola Laver
Readers need to know that in the foreseeable
future, paid carers of adults who lack mental
capacity could be expected to arrange visits
with a sex worker.
Earlier this year, the Court of Protection
handed down an alarming ruling that ought
to
concern Christians. The
case
shines
a
spotlight on
the
tensions between an
individual’s human rights, the criminal law
and Biblical sexual morality.
Reconciliation and justice in action
Reconciliation is at the core of the gospel; God reconciled the world to Himself through Christ. Thus, as followers of Christ, we ought to bear this message of reconciliation and apply it in our lives. In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Paul expands on this responsibility and asserts that we ought to be ambassadors of reconciliation to the world through His justice.
This was and still is the calling that inspired me 30 years ago to establish ‘Musalaha’ (reconciliation in Arabic). Over the years, I have learned a great deal about reconciliation and was thrilled with the opportunity to expand Musalaha’s reconciliation teachings through the Peace and Reconciliation Network of the World Evangelical Alliance. Despite the many conflicts in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, the few churches and organisations to partner with, I have been researching and exploring the main actors of peace and reconciliation with the desire of familiarising ourselves with our reconciliation MENA network.
Social justice, political differences & the church
At a recent event, I was accosted by a younger Christian who spoke to me of the challenge of being an ethnic minority in her church.
In our conversation, she mentioned that recently she had had a conversation with a fellow church member who'd said to her something to the effect that "social justice" was a product of people with a lasting sense of victimhood, and that they were glad of more recent developments in politics and culture.