Each July, Stephen helps out with a camp in Armagh organised by the RPCI for young people aged 16 and over. This year, the talks were given by Rev. Davy Sutherland of Ballylaggan RPC and dealt with some of the big questions people ask. The talks are available to listen to or download below:
Nice (Newspaper Article
After the latest terrorist attack in France, two of the main reactions have been anger and despair. Anger at the senseless loss of 84 civilians - and despair at how alarmingly regular attacks like these are becoming. Is this just what we’re to expect from now on, we wonder? Will there be any end to the carnage? It seems that the authorities are helpless in the face of those who are absolutely committed to destroying human life.
Contrary to what we might think, the Bible would agree that anger is a healthy response to such events. The New Testament says ‘be angry and do not sin’; the two don’t always have to go together. While there’s a popular idea of ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’, the Bible records him being righteously angry on several occasions. In fact, it would be wrong not to be angry about events in Nice. Men, women, boys and girls were cruelly mown down. Families have been destroyed. Even our grief tells us that those who were killed were not products of random chance. Rather, they were created in the image of God. He gave them life, and no-one had the right to take it away. So we’re right to be angry.
But if anger is justified – what about despair? Well if you don’t believe in a God of justice, it’s difficult to see how hopelessness can be avoided. This new kind of terrorism, in which the perpetrators see death as something to embraced, means that those who carry out such atrocities will almost always escape justice on earth. If there’s no Day of Judgement, then Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel has simply become the latest in a long line of murderers to get away with his crimes. Yet even our desire that justice would be done is a reminder that we too are made in the image of a God of justice. The latest martyr for Islamic State may have dreamt of paradise – but he’s now come face to face with the true God.
The fact that God is a God of justice shouldn’t leave us feeling smug however. It’s not just those who drive lorries through crowded streets who deserve God’s wrath – it’s all of us. One day we too will stand before him – only in Jesus is there hope of escape.
Published in Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 21 July 2016
RP Mission Team in Stranraer
From 20th-27th June, we had 9 enthusiastic Americans in Stranraer to help us out. While they were here they:
- Gave out postcard invitations to every house in the town, as well as Stoneykirk and Sandhead.
- Spoke about God's work in their lives and and chatted to the pupils about what Christians believe in two higher RMPS classes in Stranraer Academy.
- Helped organise and run a ladies' coffee morning, men's curry & quiz night and church BBQ.
- Cleaned 1300 seats at Stair Park (home of Stranraer FC) in preparation for the new season.
- Helped out with the ROC drop-in cafe which Stephen volunteers at each week.
- Sang some psalms and spent some time talking to the elderly folk in Dalrymple Court (sheltered housing).
- Did an open-air psalm sing in the town centre.
- Visited Covenanter monuments in Anwoth & Wigtown.
Monica, one of the team, wrote:
"Saying goodbye to the Stranraer congregation was probably one of the hardest for us. We were blessed to spend so much time with them getting to know them. Meeting and fellowshipping with the congregations has by far been my favorite parts of the trip. The Lord has surrounded us here by those who have a great love for Him and His people. So many people have opened their homes to us, and that has been such a blessing to receive. Thoughts and prayers go to those congregations who hosted us."
The team also spent time helping churches in Airdrie, North Edinburgh & Glasgow.
Human pups? (Newspaper article)
Last week, Channel 4 screened The Secret Life of Human Pups. It documents the growing scene of men who ‘come out’ as pups. They wear specially made dog outfits, play with dog toys, and eat food from bowls. As one ‘human pup’ puts it: ‘This is who I am’. It follows a story from Norway about a woman who ‘realised she was a cat’ when she was 16. In an interview that has received nearly 4 million views, Nano, who’s now 20, says she was born in the wrong species. Her psychologist says that she can grow out of it, but Nano wants to be a cat for life.
The human pups were widely ridiculed last week, with the hosts of ITV’s This Morning struggling to keep straight faces as they interviewed them. However, the documentary also showed some of the damage that this ‘escapism’ had caused. Identifying as a pup called Spot has cost reigning ‘Mr Puppy UK’ Champion Tom his relationship with former-fiancée Rachel. But should we just blindly accept someone’s claim to be a dog or a cat because they say so? Even if their anatomy and their DNA say otherwise?
There’s no doubt that the whole understanding of identity is a hot topic, at least in the UK and North America. In December a married Canadian man with seven kids left his family ‘in order to fulfil his true identity as a six-year-old girl’. In an video released with The Transgender Project, he says ‘I don’t want to be an adult right now’.
Another video that’s trending shows Joseph Backholm interviewing students at the University of Washington to see whether they thought it was ever right to tell someone their chosen identity was wrong. Students had no problem accepting the right of a 5’9” white man to claim he was a woman and were only slightly slower to accept his assertion that he was Chinese. Most begrudgingly accepted his claims to be 7 years old, though wouldn’t have let him enrol in primary school. Only one was prepared to tell him he was wrong when he claimed to be 6’5”.
Backholm concludes: ‘It shouldn’t be hard to tell a 5’9” white guy that he’s not a Chinese woman, but clearly it is. Why? What does it say about our culture? And what does it say about our ability to answer the questions that actually are difficult?’
Published in Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 4 May 2016
"I'm not a bad person" (Newspaper article)
“I’m not a bad person”. So said Peru drugs mule Michaella McCollum in her first media interview since leaving prison, almost 3 years after being caught trying to smuggle 11kg of cocaine into Spain. In a prime-time TV interview the 22 year-old former model said: “I want to demonstrate that I’m a good person”. The jury is still out on that though, especially given speculation that the Northern Irishwoman is rebranding herself in order to launch a media career.
There’s one way we’re all similar to McCollum however – we like to think we’re basically good. At the heart of it we’re good people, we just happen to do bad things sometimes. Even her family priest has bought into this myth. After visiting her in Lima, he said: “She is a very good person; she made a very bad decision”.
We’re told that the reason people do bad things is because they had abusive parents, grew up in a deprived area, weren’t educated properly or, like McCollum, just made poor decisions.
And so when we read reports of serial killers, rapists or child abusers they’re described as ‘monsters’ or ‘inhuman’. They don’t fit the narrative that humans are basically good, so they’re portrayed as something other than human.
Jesus had a very different take on humanity however. He put it blunty: ‘No one is good except God alone’. The Bible consistently teaches: ‘There is none who does good … none is righteous, no, not one’. That includes religious people just as much as anyone else.
We might claim, like McCollum, ‘I have never intentionally set out to hurt somebody’. But deep down, we know that we’ve all said if not done things deliberately aimed at hurting someone else.
Our problem is that we compare ourselves to the wrong standard. It’s easy enough to find people worse than us to compare ourselves to. But compared to God’s standard of perfection, none of us come close. The only truly good person who ever lived was Jesus Christ – and only by trusting in him can we hope to stand before God.
Published in Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 7 April 2016.