The Pendulum

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James1:5-8NIV

A double-minded person is unreliable, unhelpful, or as James puts it, ‘unstable’. Jesus’ half brother links that unstable mind to doubt, and warns that they should not expect God to work on their behalf. It would be a sad curse indeed if we could not expect to receive anything from the Lord because we doubted that He was capable of help.

In the same way, a pendulum will swing from one side to the other, never finding the truth in the middle, or rest long enough to sense or feel it. When the pendulum in my living room clock stops swinging, the clock stops too and becomes useless. Who needs a clock that doesn’t tell the time?

I am old enough to remember society having a set of moral and ethical values which were considered as ‘normal’. It wasn’t that we walked around with a set of rules in our pockets, we seemed to be wise enough to know right from wrong. Fast forward a short two generations, and that pendulum has swung to the other extreme. We are double-minded and unstable, but the leadership of our western civilised nations don’t, or can’t, see it. Surely we have been here before though?

It has been said, correctly I think, that “the one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history”. Cast your mind back to your high school history lessons and ask yourself what came just before the fall of every great nation, country, or civilisation? In every case, the moral compass of the people collapsed into a level of evil and debased living which was not accepted or practiced previously. The pendulum had indeed swung, and the populations in general had become double-minded and unstable.

I hope, trust, and pray that the pendulum of our nation’s sinful practices has reached its extreme, and will soon start the return swing back towards the God fearing country we once knew. As christians we know that God hates double minded people, but loves it when we follow His law. Lord, help us to be single minded with our focus on You.

I hate double-minded people, but I love your law. Psalms119:113NIV

David Laws in Trouble..

David Laws is the Chief Secretary to the UK Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer's right hand man. He weilds a lot of political financial clout in our new coalition Tory/Lib Dem government, so he knows his way around the money of the country. He has now been found to have claimed £40,000 in expenses to house his 'long term male partner' of 10 years. His name didn't come up when the whole expenses scandal raised its ugly head in the months before the General Election, and he certainly didn't poke his head above the parapet to 'come clean'! Why?


Apparently, he, and others are debating the meaning of the word 'partner'. Yes, these top guys in our political elite, don't know what the word partner means! Amazing, isn't it? Maybe, just maybe they are looking for some way to get him off the hook, or am I being a tad cynical? There is the very obvious question of ethics and morality here too, and that's not even taking into account the fact that the money claimed was for his gay partner! There is the moral question of why did he try to hide the fact of his dubious expense claims over the past 9 years? The media report that he was only trying to 'protect his private life'.


Politicians don't have a 'private life' and everyone accepts that, especially within the political scene, so what does he mean? My own opinion is that he viewed his gay relationship as a stumbling block to his career, and so didn't want to expose it, if he could help it. Now he can't help it, and he has confessed and apologised, in the hope that it will all blow over quietly and quickly.

Who is kidding who here? These people took the electorate as fools before, and they are trying it again! The new PM, David Cameron, must be nervously waiting to see what the media will do about this, especially so soon into his leadership. I think the coalition is seeing its first big test. What to do? Let me help.... There is the moral question of pretending not to know what the word 'partner' means in the context of a relationship. Then there is the moral and ethical question of siphoning off £40,000 in expenses for his partner. Then, and most importantly in my opinion, there is the secrecy and hiding of the fact that he had a gay lover. I think this is key. If he was fully at peace with his gay lifestyle (he is not the first in the Commons) he would have been open and above board about it. Perhaps he was ashamed of it, and hence his reluctance to declare the expense because in doing so, he would have had to also declare his lifestyle.


Message to the new PM David Cameron. Don't sit on the fence in the hope that we will forget, and be taken for fools again. Sack David Laws and find another morally and ethically better one. That can't be too hard, can it?

Birth Certificate Changes in UK

Two women have become the UK nation’s first female 'couple' to jointly sign a child’s birth certificate as parents, but critics are concerned that the move has more to do with the rights of adults rather than the best interests of children. Until recently birth certificates have recorded the names of a child’s biological mother and father, but now a new UK law permits two same-sex parents to be named. Natalie Woods and Elizabeth Knowles jointly signed the birth certificate at Brighton Register Office.

There is something fundamentally and basically wrong here. We talk very glibly and in a shallow manner, about 'gay rights' and yes, everybody has rights. Some rights are for the good of the individual, and some rights are reserved for the good of society, or community. Sometimes the good of the community has to supercede the rights of any individuals. There are many examples of this in action. However, we seem to have lost this concept when dealing with the 'gay' question. 

What about the child in this case? What rights does this child have? By all accounts, not the right to know the father. (That may not even be known, but that question is for another time)! Not the right to have a balanced upbringing. Not the right as an individual, because that right has been taken over by two activists (yes they are gay activists, not your 'ordinary' anxious and childless couple) who will use this young precious life to further their own ends, and make their own point. Selfish? You bet they are!! Loving? Never! They don't know the meaning of the word! No really loving person would EVER use a child to make their own selfish point! Under any other situation, they would be jailed, but we will give them headline news coverage, and claim that we are moving on with our society. What kind of backward thinking is that?  

What does that good old book say, "if you sow the wind, then you will reap the whirlwind"! Hey, those are wise words, but our society is fast losing its values, and has already thrown its moral compass away. Annoyed? Angry? You bet I am. What will the lives of our children and grandchildren be like in 20 or 40 years? What kind of country will we have left them? Certainly not a more balanced and moral one! "When you open the floodgates, you can't tell the water where to go"!