I have now finished reading the biography of Malcolm Muggeridge. I was arrested by this sentence: 'To a younger generation growing up in a world which had less and less interest in the past, his name meant nothing.' Well, it is not surprising that a younger generation did not know his name, but I think it is true that that generation and now the present young generation, has less and less interest in the past. And that is serious for a historical religion like Christianity.
Monday, 29 October 2012
Friday, 19 October 2012
Malcolm Muggeridge
At present I am
reading Richard Ingrams’ biography of Malcolm Muggeridge. One of the striking
things it reveals is the antipathy to Christianity by the left-wing literary
elite who were part of Muggeridge’s life. ‘… supporters of the Soviet
Government welcomed its strenuous efforts to impose atheism and eradicate Christianity
almost more than anything else that had been done.’ As A. J. P. Taylor wrote to
Muggeridge, ‘… think of the fact that a new generation is growing up free from
Christianity – that’s something worthwhile.’ It is the successors of that
generation who are largely responsible for quite a measure of success in
eradicating Christianity from Great
Britain . One reason for our interest in
Muggeridge is that we knew his eldest son Leonard well – a gentle, humble
Christian man, a member of the Christian Brethren who studied at London Bible
College in the early 1950’s, now into his eighties. He became a believer long
before his father’s turn to Roman Catholicism.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Love me do
Yesterday the
local news in the North West
reminded us all that it was the 50th anniversary of the Beatles
first record, Love me do. Over 1600
hundred people gathered in Liverpool to sing
the song and get their name into the Guinness book of records as the largest
choir – or something like that. Whether that was quite as significant as Bill
Hailey’s visit to this country or the first record by Elvis Presley is a moot
point. What can’t be denied is that pop music has grown ever more important and
dominated the life of teenagers – and others – at least from the Sixties
onwards. I have often tried to decide what effect this has had on life in Britain , on
moral standards, and on the whole culture. I have thought of preaching on the
subject several times but have never been able to come to any decisive
conclusion – mere condemnation does no-one any good. Yet I cannot but believe
that much pop and rock music has had a seriously harmful effect on young people
and so on the whole ethos and outlook of a couple of generations. Personally, I
think it is also responsible for damaging Christian worship; in the first place
at least, through the charismatic movement. Just when many churches were seeing
the importance of reverence and seriousness in the worship of God a whole new
emphasis began to be brought in and is still spreading its effects. I post
these thoughts for any others who may wish to ponder the influence of the
Beatles and many other popular groups before and since.
[I delayed
posting this from last week for a reason but have now decided to put it on my
blog.]
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Same-sex Marriage
There is a very interesting, thoughtful and provocative article on Same-sex Marriage by Stephen Clark on the Affinity website under Table Talk. It can be accessed via http://www.affinity.org.uk/TableTalk.
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