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  • Judging God

    Many Atheists fall into the trap of judging God and his actions by using human logic. This simply does not work. How can any of us , of very limited intelligence try to understand God’s reasoning.

    Let me give you an example. God wanted to show the world how much we are loved. So he sent his son to live and to die by being tortured then crucified. That should do it! I put it to you readers that no set of humans would have come up with that as a plan. In fact the son might not be too impressed with it either.

    However when we look at the outcome of the plan without social media, television, radio etc it change the whole world. Many countries became Christian and their laws reflected the teachings of Christ , if fact, there are probably very few places on Earth that have not heard of Jesus Christ, All come about via a plan that no human would have envisaged,

    So you cannot judge God with human intelligence.

    I often hear it said ” There can’t be a God with all the suffering that’s going on” Stephen Fry is often saying that if God exists then he is very cruel. Who can stand by and watch a young child suffer from cancer to death when you have the power to stop the ongoing suffering” He is also apt for saying that if he ever meets with this God he’ll give him a piece of his mind.

    I can agree with Stephen Fry that the human emotion is such to raise anger and argue what has this child done to deserve this long lingering death. And this is my take on it.

    Again we cannot understand all of God’s actions as he either allows things to happen it or he instigates them, However we do know that through suffering is the forgiveness of sin, his son proved that. But what of a small child suffering and too young to conceive sin, leave alone commit sin. This can be a trial of the people close to the child, how have they reacted to the child’s suffering and death. God watches closely. The same goes for reaction to the elderly and their ailments.

    Now let’s look at the big picture. The child dies the parents mourn. (Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted). The child stands at the gates of St Peter without sin, and having suffered. What do we suppose will happen to the child, of course we expect the child to be welcomed into paradise (hopefully the child was baptised). We have such a short time on this Earth, be it one or ninety one years, but our goal is to advance into paradise at the end of the day, In our example the child reaches paradise the parents mourn and try to get on with their lives and hopefully they will not reject or blame God as his ways and reasons for doing this or that is not our ways.

    Christ before his crucifixion at the garden of Gethsemane cried out. ” My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” I made bold the last statement because at the point of suffering the human Christ asks in a last ditch attempt at another way, another plan , another ending. But he knew that it is his Father’s will that was necessary and nothing else.

  • NDE’s in the News (Must be Halloween)

    It’s Halloween this weekend so the Newspapers are full of articles to do with ghosts, death and the after-life.

    The subject of Near Death Experiences (NDE’s)featured in the Mail on Sunday, NDE is when a person technically dies for a period and then is brought back to life. This happens more often than one would expect, with the advances in modern medicine, we are increasingly able to bring someone back from the brink. It is while the patient is at the brink that the stories begin and a very interesting and thought provoking experiences are had.

    If God’s existence was known and proven as a fact and no ambiguity surrounded it throughout the world, wouldn’t be a very different place. Let me give you an analogy. When you are learning to drive, you drive in a certain way to impress the examiner and pass the driving test, this gains you a licence to drive without restrictions. You have gained entry into a new world for driving. So the World would behave very differently to ensure they passed the after-life test and gained the new world of Heaven.

    From anyone’s view that is a very slim test, so God leaves us with small crumbs of evidence of his existence, from the incorruptible corpses of Bernadette who saw Mary (mother of Jesus) at Lourdes in 1858 and Jacinta who saw Mary at Fatima in 1917 to Near death experiences of ordinary people.

  • Climate Change

    We hear a lot these days about Climate change and how a picture of catastrophe is depicted.

    As a Christian I find it difficult to believe that an environment designed by God could be out balanced by man’s activities in using the elements put there by God to such an extent that all human life could be at risk.

    I do acknowledge that the Earth is warming up and at an alarming rate, however the cause of this may not be wholly due to man’s activities but could be linked to a much more natural process.

    Scientists are generally agreed that at the time of the Dinosaurs the Earth had seven times the amount of carbon in its atmosphere than it has now. So the question is. What happened to reduce the carbon within earth’s atmosphere to the present day levels?

    Scientists ability to accurately measure and trend Climate change has been available for the last 50 years or so, a very short period of time in comparison to the age of the Earth. Therefore, could this be a natural cycle of the Earth spanning many years going from seven times the level, back to less than where it was 50 years ago.

    Taking a local example. Looking back in time there are several reports of the Thames river freezing over and Parties, Circuses and Markets being held on the ice. The last being in 1814. Whether this is significant now or not is debatable, but it is an example nevertheless of changing times. It is no longer expected that the Thames we freeze any year soon.

    So we are left with. Is this cyclic or is it a reaction to an event?

    Recently I watched a documentary on You tube relating to what evidence is there is to support that the Book of Genesis in the Bible as an historic document. https://youtu.be/UM82qxxskZE ( I urge you to watch this ” Is Genesis History” An Hour plus of thought provoking insight). In this documentary it is put forward that the Flood of Noah actually lowered the Earth’s temperature with the hugh volume of water involved and what we see now is the Earth returning to its original state.

    Food for thought!

  • Assisted Dying

    Recently there has been a lot of focus on Assisted Dying as it was debated in the House of Lords.

    Seeing things through human eyes often misses the point of suffering. It is easy to see why, when seeing a loved one suffer, when all hope of a life without pain and dignity is gone, that we feel the best outcome is for a dignified and peaceful end. It is often said that we would put a dog down long before now to lessen its suffering. It is thought to be the best humane approach and yet we allow our loved ones to suffer on.

    We are however not dogs and we possess a soul which lives on eternally after our body’s demise. Suffering, we forget aids the forgiveness of sin, remember how Christ suffered for us. It is this time while we suffer that our sins and the sins of our loved ones can be forgiven. When we go down the assisted dying route we deny that person the opportunity to suffer for their sins.

    God also judges the relatives of the suffering person, what was their response were they willing to suffer to aid that person through time given up. Did they do the God like approach to the suffering one or turn away.

    Assisted dying like Abortion is taking away God’s domain over life and death and putting into our hands.

  • Is God Cruel?

    The Train Journey

    By Louis de Berniers

    Author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

    Today I read how Louis de Berniers lost his faith in God after a train journey accident as a young man.

    The story goes that he went to Columbia at 19 years old and was on a train from Bogata, where he was sat next to a young lady of similar age who was very flirty, they got on very well against the back drop of a language barrier.

    After some time the girl (Maria) suggested she get some drinks and wouldn’t accept Louis’s attempts to pay. Now this meant going from one carriage to another to get to the drinks carriage. This was in the 1970’s and Columbia was far from being an affluent country quite the opposite, so the railway lines were in a poor state with only urgent maintenance being performed. the train would generally bump and Jolt through its journey.

    To get from one carriage to another meant the performance of a precarious step between the carriages. At the time Maria made her step the train jolted and she fell to the side and suffered horrific injuries from which she died some two hours later.

    This had a profound effect on Louis and made him question his faith in God. How cruel can God be to let this happen to such a young girl who he had spent a very pleasant few hours getting to know.

    He ends his narrative by asking to meet with God in an ally where he would ask him where he was when Maria died?

    Well this story is indeed tragic, happenings like this have the capacity can challenge anyone’s belief in God. But is God to blame? What would God say in response?

    In these deliberations we are essentially putting God in the dock and applying our morals and our laws of righteousness, which, when compared to God’s purity and ultimate knowledge of everything is completely flawed

    There could be many approaches to this so we shall put a couple here.

    The Girl was unknown to Louis but for a few hours but would be well known to God, nobody knows when or how God will call a soul back to himself. God could know that the Girl left to continue through life would have moved into sin and thereby be further away from God, so by taking her soul now she could be saved.

    “What did it profit the man who gained the whole world yet suffered the loss of his soul”.

    It is also necessary in these cases to go back to the basics. In the beginning we were given free will, but we knew God. God wasn’t distant, God was with us everyday. We chose by our actions to do things our way an accept Satan into our lives.

    So God allows us to live in our man made world where we have total freedom to do as we like ( Only our own laws to monitor our behaviour ). We have made a world of Have and Have-nots. A world dominated by Greed, Sex and Power.

    Columbia in the 1970’s one of the have-nots of this world, struggling to maintain a railway which in other parts of the world would be condemned. So is it God’s fault that man built a railway not fit for purpose and within that design allowed passengers to make a precarious jump from one carriage to another?

    God’s defence could run something like Man’s fall from grace is the Tragedy! Man wanted to go it alone and embrace all that the evil one has to offer, God gave us a roadmap back to God that only a few have accepted. If man puts greed before safety, tragic instances will follow.

    I gave you freedom to choose, use it well.

    You have made your own world.

    Read the Article from The Daily Mail

  • Medjugorje

    40 Years of Medjugorje Messages

    On the evening of 24th June 1981 at 5.40pm Our Lady appeared to six young people at Mt Podbrdo in Medjugorje Yugoslavia now Bosnia and Herzegovina near the border of Croatia.

    Our lady appeared to be holding a lamb but when they moved closer it was a baby, the baby Jesus. Ivanka Ivankovic and Mirjana Dragicevic were the first to see her then Vicka Ivankovic, Ivan Dragicevic, Marija Pavlovic and Ivan Ivankovic saw our lady about an hour after the first sighting.

    At around 6pm on the following evenings the group of six seers saw the Virgin Mary at Mt Podbrdo, during these first few days the news of the apparition had spread around the village of Medjugorje and the surrounding areas. Consequently, a large following of onlookers accompanied the six on these days.

    The first supernatural sign that the onlookers witnessed was the speed at which the six were able to run up the hill once Our Lady had appeared. Witness statements recall how they sped up the hill trasversing difficult terrain with the ease as if on wings running through thorn bushes and against jagged rocks, over slippery steep tracks like the obstacles were not there.

    The White Statute at Medjugorje

    On these early days they asked the Lady some questions:-

    • Who are you? “I’m the Blessed Virgin Mary“.
    • Why are you here? “I have come because there are many true believers here. I wish to be with you to convert and to reconcile the whole world…“
    • Will you give a sign for those who cannot see you? ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and who believe.’

    Mary ended the third day with this. message:- “Peace, Peace, Peace! Be reconciled! Only Peace. Make your peace with God and among yourselves. For that, it is necessary to believe, to pray, to fast, and to go to confession.”

    Link to Medjugorje.com Great resource and detail

    From that day to this regular messages have received and published a list of all the messages can be found at Medjugorje.com

    “My Heart will Triumph” A fabulous book by Mirjana Soldo one of the six visionaries.

    Mary’s Latest Message

    February 25, 2025

    “Dear children, May this springtime be an encouragement for personal conversion for you, that with your lives you may pray and love God above all, for all those who are in need. Little children, be my hands of peace and prayer; be love for all those who do not love, do not pray and do not want peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

    Previous messages are available at Medjugorje,com

    Watch BBC documentary on Medjugorje

    Miracles at Medjugorje

    Two miracles have been captured by camera

    1. the eucharist on the altar as having wings
    2. the sun changing shape to that of the Virgin Mary

  • Lazarus

    Lazarus: The final straw

    It’s odd to say the final straw in the first post, but for the Pharasis and the Sanhedren that is what it amounted to.

    Jesus power and influence was growing and his followers were increasing, even the Romans spoke highly of him. This was a source of disquiet among the Jewish leaders at that time for Jesus never acknowledged them to be God’s leaders on the earth, rather he would hold them to account for their actions.

    The background to the Lazarus story is all important. Lazarus was a very wealthy Land owner, owning most of Jerusalem and nearly all of Bethany, he was well known in power circles with the Sanhedren and well liked by the romans, he was you might say an all round good egg. Treating servants, labouers on his estates fairly and was charitable to the needy. This reminds me when Jesus put the caveat at the end of his famous statement. “ It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into Heaven, but nothing is impossible for God” So Lazurus enjoy the fruits of being a very rich man which he shared generously. His two sisters Martha and Mary (Mary Madelene, who Jesus famously forgave her past life) lived with him and were very dear friends of Jesus.

    For two years everyone watched Lazarus’s health decline and for the final six months he was bed ridden and very sick. The stench of the decaying body filled the room, his features so disfigured and in obvious pain. Jesus had been regularly critized for curing everyone else except his friend.

    At the time of his death Jesus was not in Bethany and was a few days walking away when news reached him. In the meantime Lazarus was laid to rest with many members of the Sanhedren paying their respects to the dead Lazarus. So there was no ambiguity to the fact that Lazarus was dead. 

    Lazarus funeral was well attended with all the prominent people of that time and lay people. It was a lavish affair that befits a man of his standing in the community. It was much of a surprise that Jesus was absent from the funeral. He was buried and the spelicar stone was sealed.

    Four days after Lazarus was buried Jesus arrived in Bethany and was greeted by Martha and Mary. Word of his arrival spread fast within the community and soon lay people and many prominent members of the Sanhedrin gathered to see what Jesus would say.

    After some time with Martha and Mary Jesus asked to be shown the tomb, So the Lazarus household and the gathered peoples followed Jesus to the tomb. By now a very large crowd of people, dignatries and romans had gathered.

    To their astonishment Jesus asked that the sealed tomb be opened.

    After which he raised his arms to the sky and said Father thank you for answering my prayer so that all these people may see your glory and believe in my word. 

    “ Lazarus Come Out” was his cry

    And the putrified body of Lazarus came forth wrapped in bandages.

    In front of the crowd he was cleaned of all the petrified flesh and was once again a healthy man disease free.

    The next day the apostles were elated for they figured that after the raising of Lazarus the Pharasis and thereby the Sanhedren would now have to accept Jesus as the Messiah and that all the animosity against them would disappear.

    The opposite happened, After these events the Pharasis felt their position of power threatened by this Jesus. How could the people listen to them rather than Jesus. It was this time when Ciaphus said “ Better that one man should die than a nation be lost” A warrant for Jesus’s arrest was issued.

    So Lazarus was the final straw.

    A few weeks later Jesus arrive in Jerusalem for Passover on a donkey greeted by ecstatic crowds. There began the Passion.

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