Baby P............ Responsibility and Reason

The story concerning Baby P is harrowing for any person who has as a sense of decency and concern for a fellow human being.

According to the media, a little baby born in March 2006 endured the most horrendous emotional and physical abuse including eight broken ribs and a broken back. He was defenceless and vulnerable and should have been safe in his mother's care, but this little soul suffered greatly before he succumbed and died.

Many would say where was God within the plight of this little life? It's a reasonable question, but not reasonably answered, because life isn't reasonable or fair. For many people of faith, life is a battle between good and evil and the 'freedom of choice' to make right and wrong decisions within our 'free will'.

Some say a society is judged by the way it treats its children and this particular story seems to just be one amongst a host of similar stories currently being played out within the media.

The media will demand answers because that is what the media does. The media, through good journalism, asks the questions we're all thinking and acts as our conscience on occasions. The current question is "who was to blame?" The mother and her live in boyfriend? The social workers? Who?

The unsung heroes are those within our society who help produce the services and care which fortifies the stability of our communities and civilised society. Social workers are amongst these caring members of our community.

As society seems to disintegrate with the breakdown of accountability within our family structures, it is easy to look for simple answers and blame those who have the responsibility to respond. "One bad apple can ruin the whole barrel" is a common saying, but we shouldn't fall into the trap of thinking that if we identify a bad apple that all the other apples are bad. It is the responsibility for all of us to ensure that we govern our spheres of influence, whether we're in the police, medical or political sphere of public service, with a corporate voice of care and reason.

Most civilised human beings will understand the importance of morality, character, love and free will. From a Christian worldview, one day each of us will have to give an account to God Almighty when we die for the life he has given us. In a relationship with Jesus Christ, many here on the Cross Rhythms Plymouth team have experienced incredible forgiveness (and continue to do so) for their own wrong doings and sin. God gives us a great sense of peace and security within this amazing spiritual transaction of Grace.

Another vulnerable child was born 2,000 years ago. He was born to die thirty three years later and through his death released a power which laid a foundation for the civilisation we enjoy in the first world. When we depart from his faith as a Nation, there are consequences for that Nation.

As we face increased insecurity, let's remember the real meaning of Christmas and find the true meaning of life.

Radio silence

Here at Cross Rhythms 96.3FM we recently had our 2 minutes of radio silence in remembrance of the war dead from 1914-18 and all the subsequent conflicts. It made us think of just how many wars there have been in the last hundred years, and the awful scale of human suffering that they represent. Someone once called war a ‘necessary evil’, and to be honest it does sometimes seem that it has been the only way to stop a greater evil. But the cost is fearful, and like any right minded person, we would rather see an end to all wars. According to the Good Book, that day is coming!

Edmund Burke, one of the foremost political speakers of 18th century England, said: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” We hear this quoted so often that it may be that we are deaf to the actual meaning of the words. (Often quoted as simply “evil prospers when good men do nothing”).

So what does it mean? It seems to say that evil grows not only because people carry out all kinds of awful acts, but simply because good men sit back and do nothing about it. In other words, apathy breeds evil. The natural tendency of society, if left to itself with no force for good acting upon it, is a downward slide into depravity.

If that sounds a bit of an extreme view then just take a few minutes to ponder the rise and fall of just about every civilisation that has been recorded in the history books. Chaos, disorder, lawlessness and the breakdown of family and society seem to be the hallmark of every failed system that has gone before us.

Recent history thankfully has at least one glowing example of good triumphing over evil, when the disastrous threat of Nazism was thwarted by a nation pulling together, making tremendous personal and community sacrifices in the cause of freedom and the continuance of Christian civilisation (as Churchill himself said). Many commentators have said that it was precisely 'good men doing nothing' in the twenties and thirties that allowed the Nazi threat to become so real. It was a costly apathy, and we need to honour our grandparents and great grandparents for their years of sacrifice, which is almost unimaginable in our comfortable times.

In our great city of Plymouth we are blessed with TV, Radio, Newspapers and Magazines which, for the most part, enjoy freedom of speech and can campaign for the good of our communities. We can encourage social regeneration, highlight problems and ways to overcome them, and reward community heroes with good publicity.

Yet that same media can also feed the selfishness and apathy of our human nature, lulling us into a state of entertained numbness where we do not feel the pain of others, and so have no compulsion to do anything about it. We can so easily become like the ostrich with its head in the sand, only we usually have our heads in the TV. Meanwhile, in many parts of the world, people are literally in a living hell for the want of just a little compassionate help. Closer to home, it can even be that we do not know how our next door neighbour is faring, good or bad.

Well, as Bob Dylan said in the sixties, 'times they are a changin'. The credit crunch looks set to bring some adversity to all parts of our society. But rather than viewing the future with fear, we have an opportunity to approach the days ahead with faith, and a simple trust in God. It may be a cliché, but it does seem true that the British are at their best when they face troubles together. In the rare event of an inch or two of snow in Plymouth, which for some reason brings everything to a complete standstill, we do tend to see people more readily giving and receiving help from their neighbours. A community spirit, a shared zest for life in the face of hardship, seems to spring up from our hearts.

Let's hope, and pray, that the financial storms we are currently in will produce a similar result in all of us. We all know that necessity is the mother of invention, but we're about to discover, if we respond rightly, that adversity can be the father of character, hope, and an authentic faith that works out in acts of love and kindness. At least, that's what the Bible tells us.

You can check out Cross Rhythms Plymouth online at www.crossrhythms.co.uk/plymouth