This first blog entry comes three days after the world was meant to end – well, that’s what some interpretations of one particular Mayan calendar seemed to be suggesting.
December 21st turned out to be a quiet day at home for Katherine and I. Like most of the world, we were pretty unperturbed by the impending apocalypse. Somehow it didn’t feel like the end of the world was nigh. OK, it hardly seems to have stopped raining here in Gloucestershire since the end of March, but the Lord made it clear some 4-5,000 years ago that there will be no more earth-destroying floods (Genesis 9:11). It’s famines, pestilences and earthquakes we have got to watch out for as a sign that history is about to come to an end. (Matthew 24:7) Furthermore, if Jesus Himself has said that no one but the Father knows the day of His second coming, not even the Son (Mark 13:32), it is hardly likely that a group of ancient Central American pagans would have got the date right.
So what of 2012 now the apocalyptic hullabaloo has died down? Ever the optimist, my hope is that it might be remembered as the year when rock bottom was reached and that better times lie ahead. Admittedly, not all the signs are positive. The government’s determination to legalise same-sex marriages and to ignore more than 600,000 signatures to the Coalition for Marriage’s petition http://c4m.org.uk to preserve traditional marriage is deeply worrying. However, the strength of opposition to the government, from the church, within Parliament and across the country as a whole, is encouraging, and we must still hope even at this eleventh hour that Britain will be spared the shame of seeing marriage redefined.
2012 also saw a considerable firming up of hostility towards the European Union, and although David Cameron’s long-awaited speech on Europe has been delayed yet again, the impetus towards an in/out referendum is becoming unstoppable. It is now apparent that is was God’s mercy that Britain was spared joining the Euro, and it is a further hint of mercy to our nation that it looks like we are moving slowly but inexorably towards the exit door of the European Union.
It would be good to hope that we will soon see an improvement in our weather after the deluge of 2012, but as yet, the Met Office doesn’t have any good news on that front.
In the meantime, best wishes for Christmas to all my readers.
John
December 21st turned out to be a quiet day at home for Katherine and I. Like most of the world, we were pretty unperturbed by the impending apocalypse. Somehow it didn’t feel like the end of the world was nigh. OK, it hardly seems to have stopped raining here in Gloucestershire since the end of March, but the Lord made it clear some 4-5,000 years ago that there will be no more earth-destroying floods (Genesis 9:11). It’s famines, pestilences and earthquakes we have got to watch out for as a sign that history is about to come to an end. (Matthew 24:7) Furthermore, if Jesus Himself has said that no one but the Father knows the day of His second coming, not even the Son (Mark 13:32), it is hardly likely that a group of ancient Central American pagans would have got the date right.
So what of 2012 now the apocalyptic hullabaloo has died down? Ever the optimist, my hope is that it might be remembered as the year when rock bottom was reached and that better times lie ahead. Admittedly, not all the signs are positive. The government’s determination to legalise same-sex marriages and to ignore more than 600,000 signatures to the Coalition for Marriage’s petition http://c4m.org.uk to preserve traditional marriage is deeply worrying. However, the strength of opposition to the government, from the church, within Parliament and across the country as a whole, is encouraging, and we must still hope even at this eleventh hour that Britain will be spared the shame of seeing marriage redefined.
2012 also saw a considerable firming up of hostility towards the European Union, and although David Cameron’s long-awaited speech on Europe has been delayed yet again, the impetus towards an in/out referendum is becoming unstoppable. It is now apparent that is was God’s mercy that Britain was spared joining the Euro, and it is a further hint of mercy to our nation that it looks like we are moving slowly but inexorably towards the exit door of the European Union.
It would be good to hope that we will soon see an improvement in our weather after the deluge of 2012, but as yet, the Met Office doesn’t have any good news on that front.
In the meantime, best wishes for Christmas to all my readers.
John