Peter Franklin

Beauty for Ashes Peter Franklin

Humanists see life as a fluke with no ultimate purpose so good or bad are just a matter of opinion. The self centred are entitled to believe what they like so you must not punish but educate a naughty child or a murderer. Every good human quality is debased and bad behaviour is mitigated so peace is lost and evil flourishes. Hegel decided that a legalistic, god-like elite should decide what is right and wrong. It is never right for everyone else so it has to be enforced. The moderate succumb to the bad ideas of aggressive pressure groups. Like the old Greek god-men, egoists go through the looking glass into their psyche so their reasoning is inverted, the truth denied and they achieve the opposite of their intentions. God's safety laws, warn them about self harming acts and ideas but they turn the stark truth in the Bible into myth and myths into truths to excuse their wrong-doing (Is. 47 v 8-15, Rom. 1 v 32, Eph. 4 v 1 4). Only the truth can set you free (Jn. 8 v 32, 43-51). The truth is beautiful. In John chapter 15 Jesus said: "I am like a vine and you its branches which the Father trains so that you will bear much fruit. If you live through me, and accept and obey my words of truth, your life will be fruitful and full of joy. If you abide in me, I will abide with you (Rev. 3 v 20), and if you ask anything of me that gives you glory to my Father, it will be given to you. Whoever is not joined to my life cannot do these things but instead they will wither and die" (Jn. 15 v 1-8, Rev. 2 v 5, 7, 16, 23, 3 v 3, 9, 16). The problem is that the 'branches' that are cut off from God's life think they are new trees but we all know they will die and be as firewood. They can only continue to live and bear fruit if they are grafted back into God's life before they die (Rom. 11 v 20- 25). Jesus' is the source or 'Tree' of Life (Jn. 1, 6 v 27, 63, 14 v 6, Rom. 8 v 6-11, 1 Cor. 2 v 12-16). All our honour and praise belongs only to him. He took on a human body to join us in death so all who repent of their futile godless lives and die trusting in him for forgiveness (Jn. 1 v 10-14) will rise with his godly nature. Their battle against death ends in victory (1 Cor. 15 v 56-57). Salvation or the promise of a new life is just a prayer away (Lk. 23 v 40-43). Those who bump into Jesus are never the same again (Lk. 8 v 46-48).