The death of the Indian doctor in a Galway hospital, after she had requested an abortion, has reignited the “Pro-choice” lobby in their desire for abortion on demand. The enquiry into her exact cause of death is still pending but the assumption that her life could have been saved by an abortion has been paraded as fact.

Actually, the law does permit abortion where the mother’s life is in danger but it is clear that the doctors did not believe it to be so. Instead they monitored the baby’s heartbeat and whilst it continued they decided no intervention was required. When the heart stopped the baby was removed and the mother died 3 days later. The argument is that had an abortion taken place when the mother entered hospital 4 days earlier, her life would have been saved.

This argument has been trumpeted as fact around the world with the Irish Times original article on its website receiving 700,000 hits!

To understand why there has been such a furore we need to differentiate between a) necessary medical treatments where the mother’s live is in danger which may result in the death of the baby, and b) medical treatments for the purpose of ensuring the death of the baby.

Under a) it may be that doctors require some clarification to be enacted.

Under b) the mother says “I do not want a child at this time”. The “right” of the mother in this regard is being met in neighbouring countries.

But this “right” to play God and exercise life or death over the child in the womb can never find Biblical support.

Take the worst case scenario where the child in the womb is diagnosed with major handicaps making unassisted life outside the womb impossible. If the mother proceeds with an abortion, the knowledge that she has been the instigator of her baby’s death may be harder to live with than allowing her baby to live and die with dignity. ­

In the latter case the mother has had some time to bond with her baby, be photographed, named, and loved and has a grave to be tended and cared for. In the case of the Christian parent there is the certainty that one day they will meet in heaven with bodies that function like Jesus resurrected body “who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself (Philippians chapter 3 verse 21).

The Bible is silent as to the fate of the aborted baby. But there is no bonding, no photographs, no name, no love, no grave and no mother. The latter will pay a high price in this life but for those who truly repent and trust in the Lord’s mercy like St Paul, who was an accessory after the act of murder but could say, “I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy Chapter 1 verses 13/14).

There is the redeeming love of the risen Lord available for those who turn to Him.

The notion of inviting the Irish Diaspora to “come home” next year and renew their bonds with the Old Sod met with some scepticism this week when someone suggested it was simply a money making sham to assist us with our crippling National debt!

The painful history of Irish immigration first by famine then for economic survival got a boost a number of years ago from Mary Robinson who, when President, popularised and possibly invented the Diaspora. Overnight Ireland jumped from a country of 4 million to 40 million people. We bought into the myth and it felt good.

US Presidents added their weight when, surprise, surprise they unearthed long lost relatives from the bog bringing joy to the local parish and a surge in their Irish American vote!

Present day immigration favours travel to the East more than the West with distance increasing the difficulties of visits home. Indeed the Irish in Sydney, Australia form a significant proportion of the population.

Scotland tried something similar in 2009 with Clan Gatherings. The idea there was for those with the same name to organise events culminating in a visit to the clan’s ancient settlement, or what (if anything) remained of it. The Morrison settlement on a large rock off the Butt of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, replete with some archaeological excavations, failed to entice this writer to visit the “home” of his ancestors!

The whole enterprise was a financial disaster for the Scottish Government. Let’s hope the Irish will not make the same mistakes.

What light does the Bible throw on exiles and what is its view of home?

Jesus spoke of going home causing consternation among his disciples. He explained that there would be plenty of room for his followers and that he personally would prepare a place for each one of them. It fell to Thomas to enquire the way to this place and to get an answer which has transformed many lives. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (St John Chapter 14 verse 6)

In this reply Jesus takes on himself the “I am” of deity and the exclusiveness of the Old Testament Priest who alone and only once per year could enter the holy place carrying the blood of atonement. Jesus was about to make a way for repentant sinners to come into the presence of God by shedding his own blood on the cross, fulfilling the truth of the Old Testament and obtaining eternal life for those who trust in him.

The gathering Jesus had in view for his exiles on earth was one centred around himself in the glory with the concept of home taking on an everlasting meaning.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 13-15.

Well who is it going to be? The smart money is on Obama. The big money has been on Romney – but then the Republicans have always had the deeper pockets.

Actually the obscene amounts both parties spend on campaigning is a trifle compared to the $5 trillion tax cuts Romney has promised to introduce. Where exactly he is going to get the money is not clear but it looks bad for Medicaid, the Obama health scheme for the poor.

If Medicaid went it would be tragic. It took a great deal of political courage to put it in place and it has been a life-saver for many. It is efficiently run by comparison with the other schemes and illustrates that central government can do health better than Republicans care to admit.

However it is the ridiculous parliamentary system whereby the House of Representatives (which has been Republican i.e. Romney) and the Senate (which has been Democratic i.e. Obama) have to be in sync in order to pass laws. What we saw over the latter half of Obama’s 4 years was the Republican majority in the House of Representatives thwarting the necessary changes to address the economy which had been agreed by the Senate, thrown out by the Representatives, mischievously creating a crisis that the Republicans thought would enable them to return to power.

Of course these things are never black and white!

Obama’s care for the poor has not extended to the most vulnerable, those still in the womb. The extension of the liberal abortion laws has resulted in an enormous slaughter of human life which is ongoing.

On foreign policy matters operating as a global policeman with an agenda to introduce the nations to democracy will never work. Democracy can only work where there is recognition of the sinfulness of man, an understanding of the triune God and a remedy of forgiveness rather than a culture of death. This is not to say democracy is Christian but it can only work and that imperfectly, in Christian countries or countries where there is a legacy of Christianity.

To try to kit out the Arab Spring countries with democracy is like trying to put a tuxedo on a hedgehog! It will not fit and you will get hurt in the process.

Laws can never introduce the self control required in democratic government. There has to be a change of heart such as conversion to Christ resulting in the recognition of a higher power which we are answerable to, and a means of co-existing peacefully with those who think differently to you. Out of these things (and much more) comes the caring for the poor in a free and equal society.

At the end of the day it is not who governs but how they govern that is the criteria they and we will be judged upon. What we believe influences our decisions. Election promises should flow from those beliefs. Listen to Jesus the only one who ever kept them fully. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” St Luke chapter 4 verse 18.

What images does the name Berlusconi conjure up? I suspect that some of them were confirmed yesterday when the Italian Court sentenced their former Prime Minister to 4 years in prison.

His large business empire had been under scrutiny for some time and the charge of tax evasion produced a guilty verdict. Apparently he and some others had bought the rights, through a series of offshore companies, to broadcast American movies on Berlusconi’s private television networks and falsely declared the amount of the payments to avoid taxes. There were about 3,000 films which were then re-licensed for distribution through the Berlusconi network, at an inflated price, creating a slush fund of €30,000,000.

The verdict was met by a strident Berlusconi who denied any wrongdoing and went on the offensive. He claimed that the verdict was politically inspired by his enemies. He further claimed that in his 20 year battle with the judiciary (in 1997 and 1998, when Berlusconi was the opposition leader, he was convicted by lower courts on charges of tax fraud and corruption) he was subject to a witch hunt by leftist leaning magistrates.

The 76 year old is in more trouble. He is coming to the end of a 4 year period of dodging court proceedings for his alleged involvement in under-age sex.

This chapter of his life provides us with a good illustration of a person whose “conscience has been seared with a hot iron” (1Timothy Chapter 4 verse 2). Just as a burn on the hand by a hot iron produces a weal which hardens and becomes insensitive until the new skin replaces it so, the Bible says, our consciences can become insensitive to wrongdoing.

This hardening enables the conscience to ride roughshod over all the normal codes of behaviour without its possessor apparently noticing that they are doing anything wrong and blaming others for the poor outcomes!

We are all guilty in the court of conscience. Relief from this guilt in the Old Testament was through religious works which were a temporary arrangement until their fulfilment came with the death of Christ (Hebrews Chapter 9 verses 9 and 14) – “Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God”.

Conscience is God’s ally. The Gospel calls us to abandon trust in our own merits and to rely on Jesus merits. This is part of what the Bible calls repentance. Ask God for the faith to believe that His word is true and that your conscience can be purified and your life freed up from useless rituals to serve the living God.

You have been warned! At every opportunity we are being asked, “Are you ready for the big switch”. You have till next Wednesday. It has been decreed by our masters in the Republic of Telly that 24^th October is the deadline. No extension will be permitted. Your Telly will go blank!

Now, of course, this only applies to those not equipped with piped or Sky TV. The more rural dwellers are the ones at risk. Appeals are being broadcast to “help someone with the switch”. We can anticipate hoards of neighbours, with good intentions, clambering over roofs with a satellite dish in one hand and a UHF aerial in the other bent on a mission to restore the picture.

But what of the alternative. What if we let it go blank? Some of us have a love/hate relationship with the box and a break from it might have therapeutic benefits? Think of the books waiting to be read, the sermons to be downloaded and all that music which you haven’t played for years! Think of the freedom from “breaking news” which promises much but delivers little!

Of course there are certain sporting fixtures which may loose a bit of their passion when heard on the radio and what would we do without those pictures of swirling clouds enveloping Ireland as we get caught in yet another Atlantic low! The weather forecast just wouldn’t be the same!

Perhaps the best arrangement would be a delayed “making the switch” so that we can get a taste of “life before Telly”!

What’s the switch all about? It seems many are asking. Google has recorded approximately 500,000 hit on its Saorview site. The answer – it’s switching from the old analogue signal to the new digital one.

So how big a grip has the Telly got on your life and mine? There is only one way to find out and that is to see how we react when the screen goes blank.

Is it a one eyed monster in the corner which helps us form our opinions? Is it where we get our information about the world, highly selective as it is, depending on where the cameras are at any given moment?

Is it the channel through which we get our role models as the “soaps” make a drama out of a crisis and introduce violence as normal human behaviour?

Jesus didn’t say a lot about what we look at but what he did say was to the point: – “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness”. (St Matthew Chapter 6 verses 22/23)

Filter your Telly through a relationship with Jesus as the writer to the Hebrews put it, look to Him: – “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews Chapter 12 verses 1b-2).

The truth will out! After successfully concealing the use of performance enhancing drugs for many years the US Anti Doping Agency produced their verdict this week.

The 1,000 page report described Armstrong’s squad as running ‘the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that the sport of cycling has ever seen’. Armstrong is depicted as a bully who coerced his team-mates into using drugs.

The height of Armstrong’s fame came when he monopolised the famous three week road race – the Tour De France – winning it on 7 successive occasions from 1999 to 2005. At that time the suspicion of drug taking was strong and in jest it was suggested that the emblem for the Tour be a badge of a chemical factory!

In 2006 he was struck down with cancer but after treatment made a dramatic recovery the following year. He went on to encourage other cancer patients. Armstrong’s work in this field made Cancer Awareness a part of our everyday vocabulary and consciousness.

Since that time his racing exploits have been marred in relationship disputes with team members and have not reached their former heights.

A total of 11 riders gave evidence against him, many of whom he introduces to the drug regime. Their catchphrase during those years was “train and load”. The “load” referred to the blood transfusion and drugs administered by the team medical staff that accompanied the training.

There was even a paraphrase of Jimi Hendrix’s song “Purple Haze” coined by the riders.

“EPO all in my veins; Lately things just don’t seem the same; Actin’ funny, but I don’t know why; ’Scuse me while I pass this guy.”

Is there any redemption in the Bible for such?

The Bible speaks of sins being exposed, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account”( Hebrews Chapter 4 verse 13).

Armstrong has had the doubtful privilege of a 1,000 page dossier presented to him in the here and now to reveal his sins and shame him into repentance.

When King David was brought face to face with his adultery by Nathan the Prophet his reflex action was to confess –“I have sinned against the Lord” (2Samuel Chapter 12 verse 13) and the prophet was able to announce the Lord’s forgiveness.

Not all of us get such public reminders of our sins as Armstrong and King David but the Gospel is still the good news for repentant sinners. St John wrote, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin” (1John Chapter 1 verse 7) and is efficacious to this day.

One repented and was forgiven, for the other, the jury is still out. Which category do you fall into? Look to Jesus and believe.

The paradox this week between the outcry over the rape and murder of Jill Meagher in Melbourne and the disappearance of April Jones in Wales, terrible as they are, and the global trafficking of women illustrates the massive gap between those who have power and those who don’t.

Lydia Cacho, a Mexican woman, whose new book “Slavery Inc” is reviewed this week, writes from a background which includes the exposing of a powerful paedophile ring in Mexico. She survived false imprisonment and torture in the process. The book is the product of 5 years investigative journeying during which she interviewed hundreds involved in all aspects of the trade.

She estimates the between 1 & 2 million are trafficked annually.

The older methods of drugging and kidnapping the victim have been to some extent displaced by an attempt to glamorise the trade. Apparently large amounts of money have been spent on magazines illustrating the culture of porn around the world resulting in changed cultural values.

Women, especially those in countries where they have few choices, are attracted to such life-styles and are open to offers of a new way of life abroad. They end up with a crippling debt which can only be met by entering the sex trade. In many cases this is increased as they have to send money home to dependant relatives. To prevent escape from this way of life the owner of the place where they live retains their papers rendering them powerless.

Some countries openly allow this culture to happen. Lydia came across a colony of 30,000 Dutchmen living in Northern Cambodia. In Holland they know about this as their Social Services pay the pensions to people living in that area. The irony is that many of them have a record of child abuse and would not be welcome back in Holland.

On a positive note Lydia commends the work of organisations such as World Hope who create safe houses and provide skills training to those who escape from this form of slavery.

What has the Bible to say about woman’s lot?

Whilst the widow and the orphan always had special protection in Israel it was Jesus who defended the defenceless. Take the case of the woman caught in the act of adultery. It was Jesus who saved her from the rigours of the law by pointing out the universality of sin as the accusers were brought to face their own fallibility (St John Chapter 8 verses 1 to 11).

It was women that were with him at the cross and it was a woman he first spoke to at the resurrection (St John Chapter 20 Verse 15).

The legacy today is that it is in countries where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has influenced the culture that displayed outrage over Jill and April reflecting the inestimable value of every human life.

Two commemorations in one week. In the North the 100 anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant. In the South the national festival of Arthur’s Day.

The Ulster Covenant was against Home Rule (the fear was that it would become Rome Rule) preferring the British Crown to the Irish Harp. The Arthur’s Day festival was for the pint of Guinness and embraced its symbol of the Irish Harp.

The Covenant gained 471,414 signatures, some signed in their own blood, and came to be summarised in the phrase, “Ulster says No”. Arthur’s Day was started in 2009 to commemorate 250 years since Arthur Guinness brewed his first pint of stout and which is now being marketed as “The Black Stuff”.

The Northern celebration will be marked by unrest, police in riot gear deploying water canon and tear gas. Gangs of youths setting fire to anything inflammable and using their weapon of choice, the petrol bomb, on the police.

The Southern celebrations will breath new life into pubs (is it one day or three days?) for its duration. Garda stations and hospital emergency departments reported up to 30% increase in activity a fact confirmed by the constant wail of the ubiquitous ambulance siren.

We had better get used to these things as there many more commemorations coming down the track before this decade is over!

What has the Bible to do with all this?

The great Biblical festivals celebrated deliverances from bondage and had a strong future aspect. God was at the centre of them and was to be worshipped and praised.

Perhaps the best known was the Passover commemorating the rescue of God’s people from Egypt where they had been living as slaves. In obedience to God’s instructions a lamb was slaughtered and its blood spread on the doorposts and lintel of the homes giving protection to those inside. The final plague resulted in the death of the first born in a final act of judgement. In every home there was a death. Either the firstborn of children or livestock or the death of a lamb Exodus Chapter 12. As a result the whole nation was saved and the annual Passover celebration instigated.

Jesus celebrated the last Passover when he identified himself with the slain lamb who was about to effect deliverance for his people from their bondage to sin. He introduced the New Covenant in his blood which was about to be shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, St Matthew chapter 26 verse 28. His followers remember this event when they meet by eating bread and drinking from the cup together 1 Corinthians 11.

The Irish festivals celebrated this week speak of things considered to be important but pale into insignificance compare with the work of Jesus rescuing sinners from hell.

Trust Jesus for yourself and you will see the other festivals in a new light 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17.

A week has passed since the unthinkable accident occurred on the Spence family farm at Hillsborough. The awfulness of the incident is heightened by the romantic misconception that farms are places of tranquillity and beauty.

The more usual causes of farm death, such as being gored by a bull, almost seem noble but to be drowned in slurry along with your two sons enters into the realm of science- fiction like exaggeration.

Apparently the manhole to the slurry pit had been opened and the pet dog had fallen in. The pit would have been around 10 feet deep with some 3 to 4 feet of slurry in the bottom. The eldest son Graham got a ladder and climbed down to rescue the dog but was overcome by fumes. His father Noel, seeing Graham in difficulty went down to assist him and he too was rendered unconscious, the methane and other lethal gases having displaced oxygen in the pit.

The youngest son Nevin tried to save them but became the third victim to the fumes. Their sister Emma went into the pit and, with some assistance from neighbours was successful in retrieving her father’s body. She went back down again but was unable to reach her brothers before she herself was overcome by the fumes and had to be pulled out by neighbours.

Mercifully she recovered in hospital and was able to give a moving tribute to the dead loved ones in the Ballynahinch Baptist Church last Thursday.

What comfort can we get from the Bible in the face of such tragedy?

The Christian understanding is the Christ loved us so much as to die for us,

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”

St John Chapter 15 verse 13. The Spence’s self sacrifice exemplifies this text.

Others may ask, “Could God not have prevented it?” The implication is that God could but chose not to. Like Justin Hayward the songwriter we ask why?

“Why do we never get an answer

when we are knocking at the door?

With a thousand million questions

about hate and death and war?”

If death was the end, evil would have won. However the miracle of the new birth brings with it a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1Peter Chapter 1 verse 3).

Hayward’s song ends with these words:

“I’m looking for a miracle in my life.

I’m looking for someone to change my life.”

God’s answer to evil in this life is a cross and an empty tomb. Christ has completed His work. The miracle comes when we yield our lives to Him for time AND eternity.

“Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” St Paul in 1Corinthians 13 verse 12.

This is the name of a 14 minute film trailer, produced in California back in June 2012. At that time its production passed almost unnoticed. It was translated into Arabic before Sept 11^th and released by Google on Utube with explosive results in Muslim States.

The amateurish video opens with scenes of Egyptian security forces standing idle as Muslims pillage and burn the homes of Coptic Christians. Then it cuts to cartoonish scenes depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a child of uncertain parentage, a buffoon, a womaniser, a homosexual, a child molester and a greedy, bloodthirsty thug.

Apparently the original idea was to attract Muslims to a film thinking they were coming to a movie celebrating Islam. Then when they came in they would get this movie and see the truth about Islam as the authors saw it.

It is doubtful if the film was ever made, the trailer having achieved the discord the makers must have known what would occur.

Claiming the cause of free speech Google have refused to withdraw the video. They have however censored the video in India and Indonesia after blocking it on Wednesday in Egypt and Libya, where US embassies have been stormed by protestors. Up to the present there have been 7 deaths including the US Ambassador to Libya.

What has the Bible to say about all this?

The descendents of Abraham though Isaac’s line and the descendents of Ishmael were both promised to become great nations. But it was to be through Isaac’s line that the Redeemer would come (Genesis 17:20/21). From the start hostility was predicted between the brothers and has continued to this day between Jew and Arab. By extension the antagonism spreads to friends of Israel on the one side and friends of Arabs on the other.

There are various triggers that ignite the enmity but none are more effective than the religious one. Violence breaks out across the Muslim world and whilst the reasons for it may not be as simple as they first appear the aggression towards all things Jewish or in this case their Western allies is unmistakable.

It was this hostility that divides nations that was in view when St Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, that Jesus Christ’s death had made the way of reconciliation possible through his redeeming love (Chapter 2 verses 11/22).

The title “Innocence of Muslins” is a misnomer. None are innocent before God. But where there is an acknowledgement of guilt, reconciliation is possible when we meet together at the foot of the cross.