Watered Down

In October 2015, 64 people were killed in Bucharest when fireworks ignited a nightclub fire in the Romanian capital. The majority of those died in hospital, many as a result of preventable infections. The resulting scandal brought down the health minister and revealed a multimillion-euro medical fraud. At the heart of it was watered-down disinfectant.

It turned out that Hexi Pharmacy, one of Romania's major disinfectant suppliers, had been watering down its disinfectant, sometimes to only 10% of its advertised strength. The Guardian reported that one ingredient, which was meant to make up 25% of a surgical hand wash, was diluted down to 0.01% instead.

Hexi Pharmacy's owner died the day before he was due to face fraud charges when his car hit a tree, a death later ruled to be suicide. The death toll caused by his company's watered-down products could easily be in the thousands.

I first heard this tragic story from a missionary in France. The reason he shared it was to point out that a similar thing has happened in churches, with even greater consequences. In this case it's not disinfectant that's been watered down — it's the Bible's teaching.

When the Hexi Pharmacy scandal broke, devastated doctors spoke to the media about people who'd died under their watch — because they trusted that the operating theatres in which they were working had been disinfected properly. If they had turned up for work and been told that there was no disinfectant, they wouldn't have operated. But as it was, they went ahead, because they trusted that what it said on the bottle was true.

In a similar way, if the Bible had simply been removed from Scottish churches 100 or 150 years ago, people would have been up in arms. They wouldn't have stood for it. Why would anyone go to a church where there was no Bible?

But instead, while the Bible was kept around, its teaching was watered down. As in the days of Jeremiah, it could have been — and still can be said in many places: "the prophets prophecy falsely" (5:31). “They have spoken falsely of the LORD and have said, ‘He will do nothing’” (5:12). In particular, "They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace" (6:14). Did those in the pew not realise? Many didn't. Some trusted in the professionals. "The minister says it", so it must be true. Between June 2010 and May 2016 Hexi Pharma sold watered-down biocides to 340 healthcare institutions, including most of Romania’s large hospitals. They were trusted; but those who trusted in them were badly let down and faced terrible consequences. Even when those in the pew had a sense that what they were hearing diverged from traditional Christian orthodoxy, it could often be added, as Jeremiah does: "my people love to have it so".

The legacy of this is seen today. What the Bible says about who can preach, who can be an elder, who can be a church member, who can be baptised, and how we are to live is routinely ignored. Worst of all, the gospel message has been distorted. Jesus is no longer proclaimed as the only way to God. Churchgoers don't hear Jesus' call to repent and believe the gospel. The message that funeral-goers are invariably left with is that everyone will get to heaven in the end. A man visited our church one Sunday evening and said: "My elders never talk to me about the Bible." It's no surprise — its authority has long since been rejected, in favour of a watered-down message.

But a watered-down gospel is no use to anyone. Jeremiah goes on to ask: "what will you do when the end comes?". One day Jesus is coming back, and there will be no hope for those who have trusted in a watered-down gospel. On that day they will be as alarmed as Felix was, when the Apostle Paul began to speak about "righteousness and self-control and the coming judgement" (Acts 24:25).

It doesn't have to be that way. And yet the story of many human catastrophes is the story of warnings being ignored. Romanian health officials had been repeatedly warned about high levels of hospital-acquired infection, and a parliamentary commission even established that the health ministry had been alerted to the rogue disinfectants. Yet they closed their eyes to reality until it was too late.

Better not to use disinfectant at all, than use a watered-down product and think you're safe. Better to have churches close than them continue to utter an "indistinct sound" (1 Cor. 14:8).

When it comes to matters of life and death, watered-down alternatives are deadly.

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 8th October 2026

GO Relief Team

GO Relief Teams are organised by the RP Church of Ireland and do practical work in various parts of the world. After plans for a team to Kenya this summer were cancelled due to the ebola crisis, a team came to Stranraer for 3 and a half days at the end of August instead. Despite the short notice, we were delighted to have 16 people come across, including two cooks. We are so grateful for all the work the team did at both the church and the manse.

"What is the meaning of it, Watson?"

Every so often, I'll go on a bit of an audiobook kick. At the moment, I'm listening to the Sherlock Holmes Definitive Collection, narrated by Stephen Fry. I'm not sure I'll manage to listen to all 72 hours, but for now I'm enjoying some of Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories about the world's most famous fictional detective.

One part that made me sit up and take notice while falling asleep one night was the conclusion to The Adventure of the Cardboard Box. (It's more exciting than it sounds — the cardboard box in question contains two severed ears). After the solving of a double murder, the story concludes with a profound question.

'"What is the meaning of it, Watson?" said Holmes solemnly as he laid down the paper. "What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end?

For Holmes, there are two possibilities. Either our world has a purpose and things happen for a reason — or the universe is ruled by chance. The latter is unthinkable.

I've given a similar answer when I've been asked why I believe that God exists (as I often am during lunchtime slots in Stranraer Academy). One part of my answer is that, if there's no God, it's all meaningless. And yet as human beings we naturally look for meaning and purpose — and have a clear sense of right and wrong — which all fits with the Bible's explanation that we are made in God's image. We think in terms of right and wrong because God is a moral being. And we look for meaning and purpose, because God has a purpose in all that he does.

Indeed, Holmes believes in more than Intelligent Design, or even simply a Creator — he believes in a good God. In The Naval Treaty he says:

'"Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence [ie God] seems to me to rest in the flowers"'.

His reasoning was that everything else is necessary for existence:

'"But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.'"

In other words, the fact that we have flowers shows that God is good. He didn't need to make them for our survival. He could have made the world black and white. The fact that instead it's overflowing with colours and smells and good things to eat points to the existence of a good and generous God.

That doesn't mean we always know the reason God does things. Just because we believe in a good God who does all things for a purpose, doesn't mean we know what that purpose is. Hence Holmes asks: "But what end?"

We can answer his question in general terms. But when confronted with tragedy, we don't need to pretend to know all the reasons. It's enough to know that God is in control, and that he is good.

But one day we will know. Holmes also believed in a day of judgement, when everyone would stand before their Creator. In The Boscombe Valley Mystery he tells a dying man who has just committed murder: '"You are yourself aware that you will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Assizes"'

A day of reckoning awaits. But Holmes also believes in salvation. In The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle he says: '"I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul'".

And if people are saved, ultimately it's God that does it. As the detective comments at one point: "There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes".

Until Judgement Day, we wait. And we trust. Indeed a passage in The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger is particularly relevant to the so-called "Assisted Dying" debate. Holmes successful persuades a disfigured woman not to end her own life:

"Your life is not your own," he said. "Keep your hands off it."

She responds, as many still do: "What use is it to anyone?"

Holmes replies: "How can you tell? The example of patient suffering is in itself the most precious of all lessons to an impatient world."

That, then, is the theology of Sherlock Holmes. We don't always know what God is doing, but he's good and he's in control. The alternative is unthinkable. But belief in a good God isn't just wishful thinking, because he's provided evidence of his goodness in Creation. There is a day of judgement coming, ahead of which souls will either be lost or saved. And until then, we keep going, never forgetting that life itself is a gift.

As usual, it’s obvious once Holmes points it out!

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 10th September 2026