Even the most cursory glance at
the history of our planet will prove beyond any shadow of doubt that
the last two centuries have seen some of the greatest changes ever
in the whole of human history. That’s true whatever sphere of
activity we look at: personal, political, social, industrial,
religious. Or take the world of communications, or economics. Things
had stayed much the same for centuries. The world was a big place
and people were quite unaware of countries thousands of miles away.
One group in society or one individual would grow in power in his or
her own small part of the world and would be revered or at least
obeyed by ordinary people – subjects or slaves – for a while. Then
things would change, often through war and bloodshed, and another
ruler would assert his or her will, and take control.
Revolution!
From 1789 onwards the situation
changed dramatically. Men were still seeking their own Utopia.
Listen to today’s politicians anywhere in the world. Each has his
hope of “putting things right” and every party, in a democracy, says
they will make the necessary changes. Yet the pace of change is such
that any legislation is out of date almost before the ink is dry. In
many countries governments have changed from dictatorships to
democracies or from monarchies to republics. Government
by the people” is now more common in the world than ever before, so
that democracy envisaged first by the Greeks well over 2000 years
ago is widely championed. Yet, strangely, almost everywhere we look
in the world, the authority of such people-appointed governments is
under challenge, not least in the UK where a succession of
revelations about wrongly-claimed MPs’ expenses and financial
mismanagement have seriously undermined the standing of Parliament
as a whole.
All Change!
Religions too have changed. They
have lost their local nature. Europe was a continent which became
Christian in name at least over the centuries despite many wars.
Even in Britain, which still has an established “Christian” church,
the moral values of religions from the Middle and Far East compete
with traditional, so-called Christian, values as if on equal terms.
Western politicians today, however, speak very differently from
their predecessors.
George Washington (1732-1799)
said
"It is impossible to
rightly govern the world without God and the Bible”
William Gladstone (1809-1898)
added
"I have known 95 of
the world’s great men in my time and of these, 87 were followers of
the Bible. The Bible is stamped with a Speciality of Origin, and an
immeasurable distance separates it from all competitors”
Today many members of the British
Parliament do not acknowledge God and even deny that He exists,
despite their parliamentary sessions opening with prayer. Political
parties also, with their different ideologies, set out their social
and economic policies in their manifestos. One writer somewhat
cynically suggested that politics is about the acquisition of power,
rather than its useful employment. But whichever party comes into
power, the only values which are taken into account are
materialistic. Everything talked about is expressed in monetary
terms. It all has to do with balancing the budget and getting rid of
the country’s huge debt. Yet these things do not even begin to
address the real issues.
World Astray
The state of world affairs of
whatever sort has now reached such a pass that wherever one turns
there are problems of the most gigantic proportions. In:
African countries
(political unrest and disease),
China and Burma (the
abuse of human rights),
Russia (the strange
unstable mix of communism and capitalism),
Europe (corruption and
increased bureaucracy),
Iran (military
dictatorship in the guise of religion),
Israel and Palestine
(continuous conflict),
South America and Mexico
(drug barons),
Northern Ireland
(constant political and religious turmoil, despite the Peace
Process),
Britain child abuse,
anti-social behaviour, thieving, muggings and murder are plumbing
new depths. Many areas in the world have not only political and
religious problems but also insuperable problems of poverty, famine
and a rapidly increasing population. Men and women say to me, “There
cannot be a God in heaven because, if He is as good as we are given
to understand then why doesn’t He do something? Here is a world in
the most dreadful state - corruption, selfishness, greed, violence,
unrest, drought, famine and disease – so, if He’s there, why doesn’t
He do something?“
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