Look back with thanksgiving

I remember that at the end of dinner hour at school we were all told to assemble in the hall and before we even got there the rumour spread that the King had died – someone always seems to get to know these things beforehand. Sure enough, the headmaster confirmed the news: ‘The King has died, long live the Queen’. We had the afternoon off; simply, I suppose, as a mark of respect. Well, the Queen has lived long and I think we have a lot to be thankful for as we consider her reign and all the changes through which she has lived and served the nation and Commonwealth. We may theoretically be in favour of republicanism, but we cannot surely deny her stabilising influence as a focal point above and beyond politics, the media and the national and international hurly-burly. I would draw attention to two things. First, she was still quite young when she became the heir to the throne and from that time on she was being prepared, and preparing herself, for service as Queen. Though that hour came much sooner than might have been expected events have proved that she was ready to serve. Whether we like it or not that was a benefit of the hereditary system. Second, and similarly, she did not enter into office because she belonged to a particular political party, she did not have to fight a presidential campaign and raise endless amounts of money, she did not have to make friends of all the influential people she could find. The system could, and has, put unworthy people on the throne, but no other system could produce someone so unspoilt by the jockeying for power that goes on endlessly and so dedicated to her task. We should thank God and pray for her and the future of the nation.

Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor

Gary Benfold has reminded me of Don Carson's bio of his father with the above title. Yes, it's an excellent book which in found very enjoyable and helpful, published by Crossway. I should have remembered it... but there it is!

A biography of an 'ordinary' pastor?

I am enjoying reading Iain Murray's biography of Archibald Brown - no relation! That Brown was obviously an exceptional man in a number of ways - and I'm not referring to the fact that he had four wives, in succesion of course. It is interesting, and instructive, to note some of the problems that arose in the Metropolitan Tabernacle after Spurgeon's death. These were partly because Spurgeon himself was also an exceptional person. I rather wonder if it would be a good idea to have a biography of a very 'ordinary' pastor - of whom there have been very many, with an honest account of the difficulties and mistakes he faced; a 'warts and all' biography, in fact. In every generation the vast majority of pastors are ordinary and only have ordinary success - if that is the right word to use. It is wonderfully interesting to read about the Browns and Spurgeons but I'm not so sure their biographies are as useful as that of an 'ordinary' pastor might be.

The Pastor for Pastors

In the FIEC's Spring Together magazine there is an article on pastoring pastors. Obviously it is concerned with how pastors can be pastored by other pastors, elders and the church, but I would like just to add another dimension. I think it is always valuable to remember that Jesus Christ is the supreme pastor of us all: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. We teach this to our people, but those who are pastors must also exemplify it in their lives. However much we value the advice, guidance and prayers of others our Lord Jesus is the best pastor of all. I would have to say that there have been one or times in my pastoral experience when I felt I had no one else to go to except the Lord and, looking back, I am glad that was the case. Pastors are surely called to prove the reality of the loving care of the Saviour so that they can testify out of their own experience that everyone, whatever their circumstances and needs, can safely and fully trust his shepherdly care. 'When all things seem against us, to drive us to despair; we know one gate is open, and you will hear our prayer.'

The influence of the Bible

Last year celebrated the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible and saw the publication of many books explaining its virtues and influence. The following is a review I wrote for Evangelical Times of one such book (in full).

Among the many books written on the King James Bible this year it may come as a surprise to see one by Melvyn Bragg (Baron Bragg of Wigton in Cumbria), the well-known writer and broadcaster. Some may have seen his programme on the same subject on television, or read a recent article of his, My first steps back on the road to faith. For several reasons, therefore, it is likely that some readers of Evangelical Times will also read this book. It must be borne in mind, then, that it is not written by one who is a Christian believer. He says himself: ‘The whole idea – God, Genesis, Christ, Resurrection – is now to me a moving metaphor, a poetic way of attempting to understand what may forever be incomprehensible.’ But he adds: ‘When I was six it was the truth about all of life.’

The book is inevitably like the proverbial curate’s egg, good in parts. There is much that is interesting and informative, and sometimes surprising. The twenty-five chapters are divided into three main sections: ‘From Hampton Court to New England’; ‘The Impact on Culture’; ‘The Impact on Society’. Quite rightly he emphasizes the contribution of William Tyndale in the production of the early English Bibles: ‘As for his English it reads like a rare, perhaps transcendent gift.’ Bragg is good, as would be expected, on the literary quality of the King James Bible and its enormous influence on nearly all the major English speaking literary figures right up until quite recently. He even has a chapter on Richard Dawkins, who does not impress him.

However, although he recognizes the immense influence for good that the Bible has been over the past four centuries – the abolition of slavery, the rise of democracy, even its influence on science – he nevertheless sees it as a mass of contradictions. He also seems to me to attribute to a translation what actually belongs to the Bible as Bible. We must be deeply grateful for a translation used to change so much in the world, but it is the fact that it was the Word of God that was translated that is vital. The worst chapter in the book, in my opinion, is entitled ‘The Bible and Sex’: ‘The modern secular world has reached back to the classical world and the waters have closed over certain unsustainable prejudices in the Bible.’ And is the modern secular world the better off for it? Surely not!

If he sees contradictions in the Bible there is also a fundamental contradiction in his book. Granted that the Bible has been misunderstood, misapplied and misused by fallible humans, it is nevertheless a contradictory position to maintain that a book as flawed as he sees it to be can actually be such an agent for good as he shows that it has been. I cannot recommend this book to the average Christian reader but I do pray for its author.

Now I want to draw attention to another: The Book that Made Your World, by Vishal Mangalwadi. Here he is how he almost ends – I say ‘almost’ because he finishes with verses of Scripture: ‘Rome’s collapse meant that Europe lost its soul – the source of its civilizational authority – and descended into the “Dark Ages”. The Bible was the power that revived Europe. Europeans became so enthralled with God’s Word that they rejected their sacred myths to hear God’s Word, to study it, internalize it, speak it, and promote it to build the modern world. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the West is again losing its soul. Will it relapse into a new dark age or humble itself before the Word of the Almighty God?’ This is a big boys’ (and girls’!) book, and the more impressive being written by an Indian.