Just Enough Religion to Get By

One of the albums that I remember buying on CD – back in 2001 – was the Stereophonics’ ‘Just Enough Education to Perform’. The title is taken from a track called ‘Mr Writer’ – a response to a journalist who toured with the band, and then gave them negative reviews. Kelly Jones would later say that the song was the biggest regret of his career, because every journalist thought it was about them: ‘It took me 10 minutes to write and 10 years to explain’. 

I was reminded of the lyric recently in an unexpected place – a book on prayer, written in 1843 by Stoneykirk man James McGill, who went on to become minister in Hightae, near Lockerbie. In the book, McGill comments on those who want ‘Just as much religion as will satisfy their consciences’.

Thankfully, this phenomenon is not as common as it once was – and yet it has caused untold damage to the cause of Christianity in Scotland. Many people went to church – not because they had any great love for the things of God – but because it was the socially acceptable thing to do. Or else their church attendance was little more than an insurance policy – ‘I’ll live however I want, but I’ll go to church, so that if there really is a God, I’ll be ok’. At the same time, theological liberalism in many of the mainline churches meant that when people did go to church, they often heard a ‘social gospel’ – be a nice person, and you’ll be ok. Few were confronted with the reality that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23), or the call of Jesus himself: ‘Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’ (John 3:3).

Painting in broad brush strokes, that has left us with an older generation who still go to church, or at least did so for many years. Some were deeply committed to their congregations, others not so much – but few had followed Jesus’ first recorded instructions in Mark’s gospel: ‘repent and believe in the gospel’ (Mark 1:15). Many found excuses to stop going. After all, as John Owen once put it: ‘Unless people see a beauty and delight in the worship of God they will not do it willingly’.

Their children – perhaps those in their 50s or 60s now – were in many cases brought up going to Sunday School. However, they saw that what their parents did on a Sunday morning had little relation to their lives the rest of the week, and they stopped going when they could. One lady – who’s now a member in our church after years going nowhere – got a job in a café on a Sunday morning at the age of 14 precisely for that reason. There’s a generation who had seen just enough of church to conclude that it wasn’t relevant to them.

All this is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, the rapid decline in church attendance over the last 50 years likely hasn’t resulted in a drastically smaller number of Bible-believing Christians. The biggest decline has not been in belief, but in nominalism. Second, there’s a younger generation today who may not go to church, but are not as opposed to the idea as their parents were. It isn’t that they have opted out – they simply haven’t yet ‘opted in’. Given that we seem to be entering a time where the cultural tide is more in favour of Christianity – eg prominent atheists like Ayaan Hirsi Ali converting to Christianity, and the world’s most popular podcaster recently spending 3+ hours interviewing a Christian apologist about the reliability of the Bible – this younger generation may end up being more receptive to Christianity than their parents, grandparents or great grandparents combined. 

It's also been our experience as a church that some of those in their 50s, who went to Sunday School and then walked away, are coming back. They’ve gone their own way, but it hasn’t brought them happiness. And when they’ve decided to go back to church, they’ve gone to the one they remember from Sunday School.

In short: while those who remember churches being full are often gloomy, there hasn’t been such as great a falling away as many imagine. As a minister, I’d rather a smaller congregation where most people are there because they want to be, than a bigger one where people come out of habit or duty. I don’t think I could get on the pessimism train even if I wanted to!

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 6th February 2025

The Toymaker's Tale

The Christmas trees are down, the decorations put away. Some of the long-awaited toys are being played with – others, not so much. But as long as the toymakers got our money, they’ll be happy, right?

 Maybe not. A few years ago, the American journalist David Pogue conducted a fascinating interview with Melissa and Doug Bernstein – known for their billion dollar toy brand, ‘Melissa & Doug’. They specialise in high quality, low-tech toys, and despite the advent of screens and smartphones, had just recorded their 32nd straight year of growth.

On the face of it, Melissa has it all: a loving husband, six high-achieving children and four homes – including a 38,000-square-foot mansion with its own bowling alley, basketball court, and arcade. She says: ‘I can certainly admit that I have enjoyed the material trappings that come from being successful, all those material rewards that make us feel that we’ve “made it”’. 

Yet you may have guessed there’s a ‘but’ coming.

Melissa went on to say: ‘From my earliest recollections, I felt that something was profoundly wrong deep within my being. Why am I here? What is the meaning of life if we are all ultimately going to die? I felt utter despair’.

For most of her life, she hid this ‘existential depression’. Her only therapy was writing what she calls ‘verses’. As a 5-year-old she wrote: ‘I am fearful, oh so fearful, if you do not show me light, I will lose the will to live, and choose to end this futile fight’.

From the age of 11 she would battle with various eating disorders: ‘I controlled everything I could control since I could not control my thoughts’. For close to a year, when at college, she carried a bottle of pills everywhere, carefully researched to be able to stop her heart.

Finally, she sought help. She shares her story in the self-published book ‘Lifelines’, which contains some of the 3,000 ‘verses’ she had written, but never showed to anyone before. An accompanying website offers help to other sufferers. The front of the book proclaims Melissa’s goal: ‘Today I saved a life, although it was my very own, which won’t serve a greater purpose till I rescue lives unknown’.

Melissa’s story is instructive in several ways. As Pogue commented, we may assume that ‘consumption makes you happy, money makes you happy’ – but here’s someone who had it all and was still miserable. Indeed, as a society we have more than previous generations could have dreamed of, but as Melissa says, ‘the next pandemic is depression’.

Yet Melissa’s story is perhaps not as hopeful as it seems on the surface.

The sceptic who visits her website – which Pogue said ‘might end up saving lives’ – is immediately presented with the option to ‘Explore Products’, such as essential oil diffusers. It seems less a lifesaving resource, more just another way to make money.

But even if her motivations are completely philanthropic, those who remember how the story began will notice that Melissa never answered the questions that tortured her from childhood: ‘Why am I here? What is the meaning of life if we are all ultimately going to die?’

Pogue said of ‘Lifelines’ – ‘there may be people who owe their continued existence to this enterprise’. Melissa’s book proclaims her goal to ‘rescue lives unknown’. But what neither of them address is why that’s important. Why are lives worth saving, if we’re all ultimately going to die?

This is a time of year when many are despairing. It’s hard not to notice the frequent news reports of young, healthy people dying suddenly, with no cause of death given.

What can give them – and all of us – hope? I would suggest the answer is indeed found in verses – not the 3,000 written by Melissa, but the 31,102 in the Bible. The verse numbers themselves are not part of the original text, but added much later. In fact, they can sometimes mask the fact that the Bible is a story – which is why, in recent years, some Bible publishers have begun printing ‘Reader’s Editions’ without them.

The Bible’s story answers the questions that have tortured Melissa and others for so long: Why am I here? Why do we have the sense that something has gone profoundly wrong? Is there any hope?

Melissa’s story may save some from thinking that ‘stuff’ will satisfy. But finding true hope requires finding our place in a deeper, truer, story. It can give what her book can only promise: ‘an inspirational journey from profound darkness to radiant light’.

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 9th January 2025

Hunter Biden and a Father's Pardon

Last Monday, US President Joe Biden carried out a presidential duty for the final time when he pardoned two Turkeys, Peach and Blossom. The tradition of a President pardoning a turkey in the run up to Thanksgiving has its roots in the American Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln agreed to a request from his son to spare a turkey named Jack.

As President Biden pardoned the turkeys, there was lots of smiling and laughter. The mood was quite different a few days later however, as Biden did something he had repeatedly promised not to – and issued a post-Thanksgiving pardon to his son Hunter.

As recently as June, Biden said he would ‘not pardon’ his son. who was facing sentencing in two criminal cases on federal gun charges and federal tax evasion charges. Hunter, the first child of a sitting president to be criminally convicted, faced hearings later this month and potentially 17 years behind bars.

In July, the President’s spokesperson denied rumours that a pardon had been discussed: ‘It’s still a no, it will be a no, it is a no and I don’t have anything else to add. Will he pardon his son? No.’ Back then, there was still an election on the horizon, and Biden was still the Democratic candidate. Now, with just 50 days left in office, he has nothing to lose.

Will returning President Donald Trump follow suit and pardon some of those involved in the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021? Biden’s decision makes it easier for him to do so.

People are understandably outraged. CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said that the pardon will ‘tarnish Joe Biden’s legacy…he lied to us for a long time.’

Yet many of the same people who are outraged by Biden’s behaviour (or who will be outraged if Trump follows suit) expect God to do the same thing. The German poet Henrich Heine was asked by a priest on his deathbed if he expected God to forgive him. He is reported to have replied: ‘Of course God will forgive me; that's his job’. That is still a common attitude today: People may be less sure whether there is a God or not – but they are confident that if he exists, he’ll forgive them.  

This attitude is sadly reinforced at many funerals, where those present are assured that the deceased is now in heaven, despite them having had no time for God and never asking for forgiveness. President Biden declared in May that ‘no one is above the law’. It’s a sentiment most of us agree with – yet somehow we expect God to act differently.

At this time of year, many people remember Jesus coming into the world. But why did he come? As Tim Keller memorably put it, Jesus came so that God could end evil without ending us. Jesus’ death was not a tragic accident – it was the very reason he came. God tells us that ‘all have sinned’ – and ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Romans 3:23; 6:23). But on the cross Jesus paid that penalty, so that his people could go free.

Could God not just have forgiven us without Jesus having to come and die? In other words, could he not have let our wrong thoughts, motivations, words and actions go unpunished? The news headlines show we don’t think much of a human ruler who does the same. We wouldn’t want God turning a blind eye to those who sin against us or those we love – so why should it be different when it comes to our own wrongs? Certainly, God is love – but that doesn’t mean he will set aside his own law. Instead, he did something better. Jesus’ death displayed both God’s righteousness and justice (‘this was to show his righteousness…so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus’ – Romans 3:25-26).

The carol Hark the Herald Angels Sing describes the wonder of what Jesus coming into the world brings: ‘God and sinners reconciled’. That reconciliation was not cheap, however. Jesus, as the carol goes on to say, was ‘born that man no more may die’. For that to be possible, he would have to go to the cross. And if God, unlike Joe Biden, would not even pardon his own Son (as he bore his peoples’ sins) – how could we expect him simply to pardon us?

The good news of the gospel is that the price has been paid – all we have to do is believe.

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 5th December 2024.

Let’s not fix the NHS by killing the patients

The NHS is 76 years old – and crumbling. How can waiting lists be cut, and the whole system made more efficient? As someone who has been on a waiting list since January, I have more than just a theoretical interest in the question. Wouldn’t the whole thing be a lot more efficient if there were less people in the system? One shortcut to achieving that may turn out to be ‘assisted dying’. Liam McArthur MSP introduced such a bill here in March, which will be discussed soon. South of the border, Keir Starmer seems ready to fast-track a similar one through the Commons. It would give adults who are terminally ill, with a life expectancy of less than six months, an option to end their lives with medical assistance.

Starmer is ’personally committed’ to changing the law and voted to do so in 2015. Other key figures in his party are less sure. The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said it is a dangerous ideas which she couldn’t back. According to a 2020 British Medical Association survey, only 10 percent of palliative care doctors would prescribe drugs to assist suicide, while 76 percent would not. The 2,500-year-old Hippocratic Oath – long considered the gold standard of medical ethics – contains the pledge: ‘Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course’. It certainly seems ironic that, just a few years after the world shut down to protect the vulnerable, medics could be given authority to help end the lives of some of the same people.

It can’t be denied that the end of some lives causes intense distress both for the individual and their family. Change certainly seems to be in the air. The Royal College of Physicians ended its opposition to changing the law in 2019, with the British Medical Association following suit in 2021. The Royal College of Surgeons of England moved to a neutral position in 2023. 

So what objection can there be to letting people end their suffering?

One obvious one is the pressure it would put on the vulnerable and unsure to end their own lives. There’s the danger of pressure from unscrupulous relatives or those who can’t bear the suffering of their loved one. The terminally ill patient may be frightened of becoming a burden on their family. A desire to ‘Protect the NHS’ may lead to the frail and elderly sacrificing themselves to the great national healthcare god. In Oregon, 50% of those who chose assisted suicide in 2019 cited ‘being a burden on family, friends or caregivers’. Significantly fewer – 33% - gave ‘Inadequate pain control’ as a reason to end their life. Writing in the Times, Matthew Parris suggest this is a good thing: ‘“Your time is up” will never be an order, but may one day be the kind of unspoken hint that everybody understands’. 

Another objection is what has happened in other countries. In short there is no country that has gone down this road that has not either relaxed, or faced pressure to relax, its criteria. In Canada, Physician-Associated Euthanasia (PAE) has been legal since 2016. Initially it was for those over 18 with a ‘grievous and irremediable medical condition…with death reasonably foreseeable’. In 2019, the Superior Court of Quebec ruled that it was unconstitutional to restrict access only to those at the end of life. In 2027 it will be widened out to include anyone with a mental illness. Cancer patients are encouraged to go down the assisted dying route rather than have treatment that might prolong a good quality of life. In the Netherlands, euthanasia with parental consent is allowed for children with life threatening conditions over the age of 12 years and under the age of 1. 

The biggest objection, however, is that life is not ours to take. An article in ‘The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England’ states that ‘If a clinician did not create a life, it may be difficult for them to feel comfortable ending it’. Why is assisting suicide illegal in our country? Surely it stems from a belief that human beings are made in the image of God – or at least a sense that we are somehow different from animals. That doesn’t mean that Christians don’t pray at times for God to take them home to Heaven – but ultimately we do not give ourselves life and so have no right to take it. Our times are in his hands.

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 3rd October 2024.

Pride, Apostasy, and Finding our Identity

Which religion has more holy days than the Catholic Church? According to secular lesbian feminist Kathleen Stock OBE it is the ‘increasingly empty religion’ of Pride. Writing in the Times at the beginning of Pride Month in June, Stock noted that with its dedicated days, crusader pennants, mystical symbols and elaborate robes, the religious nature of Pride is hard to miss.

Religions have their apostates and heretics – those who once believed, or whose beliefs are deemed unacceptable by their community. Stock, formerly Professor of Philosophy in Sussex, is one of these – a lesbian herself, but now a persona non-gratia in the LGBT community. Those like her are ‘ideologically excluded’ from the Pride movement ‘because of their “antiquated” beliefs about the importance of biological sex to the definition of sexual orientation’.

Concerns from such ‘heretics and apostates’ have only grown since the publication of the Cass Review into gender identity services in England was published in April. In her review of NHS services, Dr Hilary Cass noted that what would have been ‘considered normal clinical practice when working with other groups of children and young people’ risked attracting allegations of ‘conversion practice’ when it came to transgenderism.

Addressing young people directly, she said: ‘I have been disappointed by the lack of evidence on the long-term impact of taking hormones from an early age; research has let us all down, most importantly you’. While ‘tragically deaths by suicide in trans people of all ages continue to be above the national average, there is no evidence that gender-affirmative treatments reduce this’.

She also noted that ‘there are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behaviour’. 

Are those who share such concerns welcome at Pride marches? The organisers of Pride in London have made clear they are not. In 2018, a group of women carrying placards such as ‘lesbian = female homosexual’ were denounced by the march’s organisers as ‘shocking and disgusting’, and demonstrating ‘a level of bigotry, ignorance and hate that is unacceptable’.

This, combined with the ‘sausage fest’ (Stock’s phrase) nature of Pride events means that ‘while straight women seem to treat the day as a kind of thrillingly exotic safari, lesbians, especially those with children, can get quite jaded by the outrageousness and kink’. 

Like any religion, there will also be those who try to exploit such movements for their own purposes. Stephen Ireland, the founder of Pride in Surrey – and patron of a now-defunct government-funded gender identity group – was remanded in custody last month facing multiple counts of child sex abuse. 

Above all, Pride comes closest to a religion in its desire to proclaim what defines us. As a pastor, however, I find its definition too narrow. I want to be free to refuse to define people by their sexual orientation. Our sexuality is a God-given component of who we are – but it is to limit human dignity to define us by it.

There’s nothing new here. From the beginning of time, human beings have tried to find our identity in things which aren’t of ultimate significance: work, reputation, money, success, sport, health, a relationship, children, politics, good deeds. 

None of these things are wrong in and of themselves, but they are too small to build our identity on. They can’t bear the weight of all our hopes and dreams. Rather, they will collapse under that weight and crush us with them. If work is our identity, what happens when we lose our job, or retire? If our children become our identity, what happens when they disappoint us – or no longer have time for us?

How then should we define ourselves? Simply as human beings made in the image of God. Rather than looking to created things for meaning and significance, we should look to the Creator.

Doing so takes courage as it will reveal areas in which we fall short of his good design for our lives. But only by doing so will we be ready to hear the hope of the gospel. That hope is found in the one person who never put his trust in created things – Jesus Christ. And yet in the end he was crushed – not by putting his identity in the wrong thing – but by God himself.

Why? So that we might not be.

‘He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed’.

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 5th September 2024