Your Sunday Sermon

Maybe some of the people in the US who claim to be Christian need to reexamine these principles.

From the Anglican Parish of Gosford, New South Wales, Australia

Weekend Reflection.

No matter what you think about Christianity it’s hard to deny some basic facts about Jesus. Born sometime between 4BCE and 6CE into a peasant family. He grew up in the socio political context of an oppressive foreign occupation and corrupt local “government”. Sometime around the age of 30 he explicitly challenged the local authorities and therefore the might of Rome. He was arrested, tried, convicted of sedition and executed.

I do not believe it is possible to genuinely claim to be his follower unless you share his passion for the poor, the oppressed and the voiceless. Supporting the oppression of another human being for any reason requires a form of justification that is unacceptable to his spirit.

Standing for those in need is Christianity, any addition to that, as worthy as it may be is simply window dressing.

Fr Rod Bower.

By the way, if we are going to add the "thous shall not kill" and "sacredness of human life", we can add:

Thou shalt not kill. Here again is a moral precept included in all codes, and placed by all in a prominent position. Our first duty towards our neighbour is to respect his life. When Cain slew Abel, he could scarcely have known what he was doing; yet a terrible punishment was awarded him for his transgression (Genesis 4:11-14). After the flood, the solemn declaration was made, which thenceforward became a universal law among mankind - "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man" (Genesis 9:6).

Still, this doesn't stop people from claiming to be Christian while devaluing human life.   In the few places where there is an organised government, and a systematic administration of justice, the State acts on the principle and punishes the murderer. Elsewhere, among tribes and races which had not vet coalesced into states, the law of blood-revenge obtained, and the inquisition for blood became a private affair. The next of kin was the recognised" avenger "upon whom it devolved to hunt out the murderer and punish him.

Exceptions appear to the rule appear later on (Numbers 35:22-25; Deuteronomy 4:42; etc.); but the first thing is to establish the principle that human life is sacred. Man is not to shed the blood of his fellow-man unless it is absolutely necessary.  In other words, the Bible supports the traditional, common law version of the doctrine of self-defence where deadly force the the LAST option, not the first and only to be used if all other options have been exhausted.

Anyway, Australia also was fairly quick to enact strong gun laws.

(disclaimer--I prefer New Zealand)