We had a good example of something we all do from a member of our parliament this week. He had fiddled his tax and confessed before it became public. Except it wasn’t his tax, he himself was tax compliant, but his limited liability company (of which he is the sole director and CEO) that had the problem.

It really wasn’t done to defraud the Revenue, he always intended to pay the VAT back, but was a temporary arrangement to keep his 60 builders at work. It was the banks who wanted him to stop work on an apartment block before it was finished.

As he had taken deposits from the future owners he used the money to finished the building but the bank then took the money he obtained as sales were completed leaving nothing to pay the tax-man’s €1.4 million bill. As the recession bit deeper the last 10 apartments didn’t sell so there was nothing left in the kitty.

Then there were the sub-contractors and the problems over the workers pension contributions to be taken into account. To cap it all another of his banks got a €19.4 million judgement against him which prevented him (mercifully) from getting any more work.

However on the plus side he was elected to the Dail last year and was a substantial benefactor of Wexford Youths Football Club.

Paying tax has always been looked upon as an irksome chore. “Pay As You Earn” was invented to make the employer extract the money at source and avoid the hassle of dealing with taxpayers direct. For the self employed the tax return becomes a battleground for the conscience which is often defeated! Witness the reluctance in paying the recently imposed household charge.

Interestingly our builder/member of the Dail asked the rhetorical question, “Who’s fit to be a public representative? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I tried to be as honest as I could”.

While it is always good to hear Scripture being quoted the context in which the words were said needs to be taken into account. They were uttered by Jesus to the men who were accusing the woman who they had caught in the act of adultery.

When spoken by the builder it is as if they were said by the sinful woman as she tried to justify herself!

In reality, saying sorry is often ambiguous. He was sorry apartments were not sold; sorry he was found out before the Revenue could be repaid etc.

Repentance, on the other hand, as shown in the Bible by that other tax cheat, Zacchaeus was followed by action in repaying those he had wronged four times over (St Luke Chapter 19 verses 8/10). Jesus recognised the faith that prompted the action and proclaimed that salvation had come to Zacchaeus that day.

Being found out is painful but can be the best thing that ever happened to you if it leads to repentance and faith in Jesus the only one who can justify a sinner.

Few can resist telling the story of their brush with monarchy. It might have only a glimpse of the monarch passing in a car but there seems to be some innate attraction to the institution which is the secret envy of republicans and a source of quiet pride in her subjects!

My own engagement with Her Majesty was more of a near miss! Some of us had been climbing on Lochnagar, a mountain on the Queen’s Balmoral Estate in Scotland, and were returning to the car park at the head of Loch Muick. I cannot remember how we got separated but the others went down the wrong track and arrived at Glas-allt Shiel, a royal hunting lodge, where the Queen and her party were having tea on the lawn. They were invited to join in which they gladly accepted! A case of the right road being the wrong one for the rest of us!

There will be a right British knees up over the next 4 days during which the Queen at age 86 and Prince Philip age 90 will probably wish they were at Glas-allt Shiel at the head of Loch Muick! However, with the stamina they always display, they will do their stuff in a right royal way.

Of course, over the years, the power has been drained from the monarchy. The Queen is largely a figurehead, subject to her parliament and regularly threatened with cuts to her income that would confine her to Buckingham Palace. However there is a subtle power which is unique. It appears in places like the honours lists as many clamber for a piece of the fame which creates its own attraction of a hierarchy coveted by the ambitious.

There is also something untouchable in the royal line. If you are not born into it you are not a candidate! There is nothing you can do about it. The heir to the throne is not elected, bought or earned. It is a birthright.

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” The Magi’s question, recorded in Matthew chapter 2 verse 2 left King Herod in no doubt but that a new royal line had been formed. His reaction to Jesus Christ’s arrival on earth was in complete contrast to the Magi. Herod saw Him as a threat and wanted to do away with Him. The Magi believed He was the Messiah and wanted to worship Him.

The world is still in these two camps today. Do you want to get rid of Him or do you want to praise Him as your (new) birthright? There is no middle ground.

The hymnwriter catches a glimpse of King Jesus: –

“You seed of Israel’s chosen race,

You ransomed from the fall.

Hail Him who saves you by His grace,

And crown Him Lord of all.”

Not that anyone would these days but her schooling was marred by it. Now at 26 as a Pop-star with the most twitter followers, she was at Harvard University recently inaugurating her Foundation aimed at tackling bullying.

During her teens she recalls, “I was called really horrible, profane names very loudly in front of huge crowds of people, and my schoolwork suffered at one point,” she said. “I didn’t want to go to class and I was a straight A student. There was a certain point in my high school years where I just couldn’t focus on class because I was so embarrassed all the time. I was so ashamed of who I was.”

Whilst a trip to the Principal’s office may sort out physical harassment we now have 24/7 mental harassment by text messaging.

Bullying is usually carried out by a pack of cowards who can extend their school-time chorus of abuse by texting their victim in the evening, at weekends and even on holidays. It’s one thing to say, “Switch your phone off and ignore the emails” but knowing that profanity-laden messages about you are being broadcast to others multiplies the stress.

Bullies not only do damage to others but are damaged people themselves.

The “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke’s gospel records Jesus’ words, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.” The passage concludes with the “Golden Rule” Do to others as you would have them do to you. Chapter 6 verses 27/29 & 31.

Bullies and those they bully need to hear this as the ultimate solution.

Turning the other cheek assumes that you have the choice of non-retaliation. If this is not present boundaries need to be introduced to first check the abusive behaviour.

How we view each other needs to be revised. When Lady Gaga was thrown into a trash can the boys who did it left her in no doubt as to what they thought of her.

Conversion to Christ changes how we look at each other from checking out the biceps and brains to seeing others as uniquely made in the image of God.

As St Paul wrote,

“From now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” The old way of thinking has been replaced making reconciliation a possibility. Or as St Paul put it “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2Corinthians chapter 5 verses 16-18).

It all starts with trusting Christ instead of self and a commitment to follow him for the rest of your life.

In an article under the heading “Bible not the rule book on gay marriage” the Journalist poured scorn on Archbishop Diarmuid Martin quoting from Genesis.

In response to a question, sparked from Obama’s declaration in favour of gay marriage, as to what his view might be he replied, “the church’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage between man and woman was clear, unchangeable and dated from the biblical account in the Book of Genesis of Adam and Eve”.

This answer was not to Vincent Browne’s liking and he proposed using “arguments based on principles that we presume all agree upon, such as freedom of speech, at least a minimal commitment to the idea of equality, to democratic values, to respect for others”. These he preferred to texts taken from any of the religious books of the world faiths.

He then took us on a selective tour of Genesis proving, at least to his own satisfaction, just how bad it was, or as he put it, “nowadays we would find these stories morally and politically repulsive”.

He should have read on – it gets worse! Not only does the Bible say that homosexual relationships are sinful heterosexual relationships are also sinful (Romans chapter 1 verses 26-32 and chapter 3 verse 10). Marriage provides a safe place for the latter but also a place where the truth of the Genesis chapter 3’s conflict over roles is worked out in ways where sin is not always absent. Marriage breakdown is a witness to this fact.

Our problems cannot be solved by legislation. The law simply adds more prohibitions to curb human traits. Browne’s principles sound fine till you realise that they are seldom displayed in any of the TV programme which he chairs!

None of us are able to maintain our own standards. Our problems go far deeper that that. It’s the heart that’s wrong. We need a love that transforms us.

Rule books don’t teach how to love. We need one who loved so much he laid down his life for even his enemies.

The hymn-writer wrote of Jesus:

In my place condemned he stood,

Paid my pardon with his blood

Hallelujah what a Saviour.

And who by his Holy Spirit is capable of drawing the most unlikely ones to himself even arrogant journalists and egotistical bloggers!

Obama has come out! His thinking has evolved. Gay marriage is OK.

No longer will Gay’s have to be content with Civil Unions they will become old married couples like the rest of us.

Except they wont be like the rest of us. They will all be “DINKS” – double income, no kids. That is unless they resort to donors or technology to overcome nature’s impediment.

Now since the beginning Marriage has had a certain meaning which predated the fall of man. It has meant the union of one man and one woman in a lifetime monogamous relationship. Sadly the ideal has not always been achieved. In the Western world we have been quite determined to see it destroyed. It has that God-given quality so hated by many in the media and by people who want to misbehave. Anything which may resemble the image of the triune God must go. The race to the bottom cannot be hindered…talk about society shooting itself in the foot!

The next step is to shred the meaning of the word “Marriage”. We will not change our behaviour therefore the word must be changed. We now enter Alice in Wonderland country. The Red Queen told Alice that she made words mean what she wanted them to mean no more and no less. 

So the President of the US of A joins the mad-hatter at the tea-party!

What has the Bible to say to all this?

“It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis chapter 2 verse 18) so God created a companion in a woman. They were to be united with each other.

In the church setting this covenant of companionship is entered into by the taking of vows before God. This establishes the marriage.

Genesis Chapter 3 speaks of children as the product of the marriage and of the different roles for the parents. These latter points are developed by St Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus where they are explained more fully and where he likens the relationship in marriage to that of Christ’s relationship to the church (chapter 5 verses 22-33).

From this high ideal we are now receding at a rate of knots!

What are we to do? Are we like the men of the tribe of Issachar who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do? (1Chronicles Chapter 12 verse 32) or are we to do nothing?

I suggest we take our cue from St Paul where, at Corinth, he must have met similar circumstances. His reaction? “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (chapter 2 verse 2).

Our calling is “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called both Jews and Greeks (in our case Catholics and Protestants) Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (chapter 1 verses 23/4).

What do you call a decent man who is caught up in sins committed 37 years ago? – Seán Brady. It’s impossible not to feel sympathy for him as he is hounded by the media to the very door of his cathedral.

In any other situation resignation would clear the air, give a modicum of satisfaction to the abused and put in place someone who was not a “lame duck” or “wounded healer”, the description preferred by the Cardinal. But not in these circumstances.

Part of the trouble lies in the term “religious” used to distinguish those in church office from the laity. There is a `forever` element to their appointments. The higher up the tree you go the more forever it gets! Voluntary resignation is not an option. The very idea of resignation hints at a mistake having been made in the ordination process clashing with the notion of infallibility which surrounds the procedure.

So the decent man cannot retire at 73 but must continue with a coadjutor Bishop to run the show till the changeover can be made in Rome’s time.

Such is the lot of those with a high profile while the real villains, the Norbertine Order, whose duty it was to deal with the paedophile priest in question, manage to stay out of trouble.

Such are the ways of man.

What does the Bible have to say?

“Put not your trust in princes” the Psalmist advises in Psalm 146 verse 3 and that would include princes of the church. The psalmist goes on to say that mortal men cannot save – salvation comes from the Lord (Jonah chapter 2 verse 9).

The problems arise when we are attracted to those who appear to be in authority; because they are attractive! They look the part.

I once shared a hotel room with a priest who described himself, when decked in his robes, as an alter Christ. He certainly looked impressive although his disobedient dog, who shared the room with us, showed something less than respect!

Jeremiah was well aware of how easily we are seduced away from faith in the invisible God to faith in men or objects we can see. In Chapter 17 verses 5 & 7 he tells it like it is, “Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” And the contrast, “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him”.

Let’s give the last word to St Peter, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts chapter 4 verse 12). And that name is Jesus who alone is worthy of our trust.

Chuck Colson otherwise known as President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet-man” died last Saturday. His comparatively long life was split into two halves by his conversion to Christ in 1973.

Prior to ’73 he had moved through the worlds of business and politics with a ruthlessness which earned him a reputation for “getting things done”. As one of Nixon’s inner circle his duties entailed listing and dealing with the President’s political opponents. He was described as an “evil genius of an evil administration” who would run over his grandmother to have Nixon re-elected.

The “Watergate” investigation into leaks of classified information brought to light the tape recordings of many conversations which had not been deleted from the White House computer system. These were of an incriminating nature and Colson was the first of Nixon’s henchmen to be imprisoned.

Faced with the enormity of the revelations he repented of his guilt – in his own words, “I got into my car and found myself in the grip of the spiritual crisis which led to my conversion. This so-called White House hatchet man, ex-Marine captain, was crying too hard to get the keys into the ignition; I sat there for a long time that night deeply convicted of my own sin.”

It was during his trial that a friend gave him a copy of S C Lewis’s “Mere Christianity” which he read and committed his life to Christ. When he publicly testified to the change Christ had made, the press were hostile reckoning it was a ploy to lessen his sentence!

In prison he saw the injustice of the “lock ‘um and leave ‘um” approach to criminal justice.

When he was released he said he would devote the rest of his life to Christian work.

In 1976, he founded Prison Fellowship Ministries, which delivers the message of redemption to thousands of prison inmates and their families. The faith based programme has cut the re-offending rate by 66%.

In 1983, he established Justice Fellowship and by the end of the 1990s, Colson had become a leading voice in the evangelical political movement, with books and a syndicated radio broadcast. He helped form a conservative coalition of leaders from the Republican Party, the Protestant evangelical community and the Catholic Church. The Catholics and the evangelicals joined forces in fights over abortion rights and religious freedom, among other issues.

Colson taught a Christian world view to millions through his books, daily radio broadcasts, public speaking and the Colson Center. He spoke out on the rise of moral relativism and the breakdown of ethics in our culture. Only 2 years ago he started the weekly Two-Minute Warning page at ColsonCenter.org calling the Church to action.

Colson’s experience presents us with a high profile view of the reality of Christian conversion put simply by Jesus “you must be born again” St John Chapter 3 Verse 7.

Another case of “Well done you good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master” (St Matthew chapter 25 verse 23).

Following Anders court appearance in Norway this week we have to revise our understanding of the word depravity.

Previously it was thought to apply mainly to a dictator who mistreated his people. But some revision is required to take into account the years this man planned the murders. He trained in neutralising his emotions and spent thousands of hours practicing shooting with his computer war simulation games.

During these years the solitary Anders fueled his fear of difference. His ideal was for a pure Nordic race, everyone the same, no immigrants and certainly no Muslims. This dream of a utopian Norway, isolated from the world, shaped his extreme nationalism. Unfortunately this fear of diversity, this paranoia about being taken over, produced a reaction that was massively out of proportion to his imagined problem.

The bombing and shooting spree which left 77 dead has now produced the oxygen of publicity for his extreme ideas now being paraded before the Courts.

His work in disabling his emotions allowed him to mercilessly pursue his human prey on the island and have left him hugely arrogant. He cannot see himself in a realistic light. His perception has become so distorted that he considers himself to be the victim! He mocks the judiciary telling them their verdict should be either freedom or death. Anything else he scorns.

And this is a fellow human being!

What has the Bible to say?

One of the uncomfortable things about this tragedy is the fact that many of the symptoms exhibited by Anders are recognisable in us. It seems that God has permitted the full measure of evil to be displayed in a person whom we, in other circumstances, could identify with.

It’s a bit un-nerving. Like looking in the mirror and seeing our thoughts rather than only our face!

God, who can see our thoughts, has passed the verdict, “…every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” (Geneses chapter 8 verse 21). But for now there is God’s common grace which restrains us keeping depravity in check.

The coming of Christ ushers in a Kingdom and the presence of God the Holy Spirit with power actually to overcome evil in us and not simply to contain it.

St Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about this transformation, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2nd letter chapter 5 verse 17).

This new heart is available to all who come to Christ believing – repentant murderers, bereaved families you and me, out of the sheer grace of our triune God.

Trust Him.

In the midst of all the razzmatazz surrounding the 100^th anniversary of the Titanic this week you may have missed another sinking which took place– that of Tony Flannery.

The elderly Redemptorist Priest has been singled out for improved theological formation. In other word he has to get in line! This all stems from the report of the Apostolic visitation to examine the condition of the Irish Catholic church in the wake of the clerical child sex abuse scandal.

The Vatican doesn’t announce the terms of reference, process, or duration of its investigation, but it seems he will undergo six weeks of silent reflection in a monastery and be allowed, thereafter, to resume writing and speaking, as long as he steers clear of contentious subjects and his work passes the censor.

So what has drawn the Pope’s ire upon this man? Apparently he is one of the founders of the Irish Association of Catholic Priests, a liberal organisation of around 800 Priests whose views on contemporary subjects do not meet with the approval the Vatican. These subjects include homosexuality, contraception, celibacy of priests, and the ordination of women priests.

The Vatican has been accused of heresy-hunting by the local Archbishop and there appears to be a lingering annoyance here that Rome has never acknowledged its part in the sex-abuse cover-up.

All this is a bit bewildering to the onlooker as it seems the Catholic church is simply doing what its there to do, namely manage its priests. Vows of obedience are not negotiable ideas. The tail doesn’t wag the dog!

What does the Bible say to these things?

First of all we must admit that controversy is not unknown in other churches! It goes back a long way.

Indeed in the letter to the church in Galatia St Paul took issue with St Peter when he saw they were not acting in line with the Gospel over the matter of circumcision. (Galatians Chapter 2 verses 11 to 20) Of course St Paul’s conclusion to that argument puts the nail into the coffin of the notion that any religious works can earn righteousness – “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

But what of Tony Flannery as he does his 6 week stint? Perhaps he could reflect on the saying; Unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials and charity in all things. Essentials are those things that are necessary for salvation, the recognition of the trinity the deity of Christ, his atoning death for sinners, who are spiritually dead and need to be born again.

The non-essentials? All the nonsense trumpeted by pressure groups in the media who have supplanted the Bible in declaring what is and what isn’t Christian behaviour.

And charity? That ability can only come to us by the grace of God our creator and redeemer of whom it was said (in the midst of the confusion and turmoil of His last week on earth) “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

What is good about Good Friday? Isn’t that the day Jesus was killed? Wasn’t He forsaken by His heavenly father? What else could the cry of dereliction mean? “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was echoing the prophetic words penned by King David 1,000 years before the crucifixion in Psalm 22.

What is good about being deserted by his friends? Just when he needed them most they were gone. As Zechariah wrote, “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered”.

Indeed the Good Shepherd had been stricken, but by who? The Romans? The Jews? Surely not by God the Father? But Isaiah Ch.53 says He was. “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.” It was why the angel said he came to earth, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

So how did Jesus the Good Shepherd become their saviour? St John writes, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” The shepherd becomes the sacrificial lamb. St John quoting John the Baptist writes, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus confirmed his calling when at the Last Supper He changed the direction of the Passover from remembering their deliverance from Egypt to a memorial focused on Himself, “He took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. St Matthew chapter 26 verses 27/8.

It is not good enough the relate the work of Calvary to the Sermon on the Mount and the Isaiah scroll from which Jesus read, “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.” These identified Jesus as the Messiah and indicated to us what sort of God, God the Father is.

The newspapers sell us short in their Easter editorials when they simply imply that Jesus died for a good cause.

The pulpits also deflect our attention from the wonder of “Amazing love how can it be that thou my God should die for me” to the illustration of the bread and the cup, substituting the image for the reality. Jesus has actually finished the work of salvation.

The glory of Easter is that He who was forsaken by His heavenly Father in order that we who repent of our sins and turn away from them to trust in His sinbearing sacrifice will never be forsaken but enter into that new life of being a child in the family of our triune God.