Selling off the banks

OK, I'm no fan of the Tory Party. But even so, wouldn't most thinking people of whatever political persuasion think that George Osborne's announcement about offering people shares in the nationalised banks at a discount suspect?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/feb/21/osbourne-sell-bank-shares-public

1. Given the high level of taxes people are having to pay / going to have to pay to reduce the borrowing that went to bail out the banks in the first place, don't we already own the banks anyway?

2. If you really want to buy share sin the banks you can do so now via the stock market.

3. How prudent is it to encourage people to be investing in a risky sector of the economy?

4. Do any of really want to endure those dreadful privatization advertising campaigns again like we did in the 80s and 90s? You remember the British Gas one "If you see Sid tell him"

Think again George.

Haiti - where was God?

Haiti. Where was God?

Hours after the earthquake struck Haiti with such terrible effects, American tele - evangelist Pat Robertson said that a "pact with the devil" brought on the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Robertson has a track record for saying this kind of thing, having once said that Hurricane Katrina, that did so much damage to New Orleans, was a punishment from God.

200 years ago the French were using Haitian people as slaves. A voodoo priest called Boukman lead a group of Haitians in a revolt. He started this revolt by conducting a ceremony where a pig was sacrificed. (Pat Robertson’s pact with the devil.) After many deaths the French captured Boukman, executed him and crushed the rebellion. Historians consider this to be the start of the Haitian revolution.

So, is Pat Robertson right? No. God is not punishing one million people because Boukman, in 1791, cut a pig’s throat and made some voodoo pact with the devil. Come on.

You cannot pin this earthquake on God. We must learn what Job eventually learned. That as good and great as you might be or the Haitian people might be, no one has an exclusive and closed relationship with God. There is nature and nature means chaos which at any moment can intrude. And Satan and all the evil he inspires had nothing to do with whipping up this earthquake or any other natural disaster.

But where is God when terrible tragedies befall us?

In the Book of Job, Job wants to know why he has suffered. Why God has allowed this to happen? He finally gets his answer when God visits him from out of a storm and asks Job 86 questions. 25% of the questions in the book of Job are asked in four chapters where God is interrogating Job. Listen to some of the questions:

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you understand. Do you have an arm like God's, and can your voice thunder like his? Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?

Job is silenced and he realizes he is only a man, that he cannot possibly comprehend the meaning of the events around him.

So where was God during the earthquake in Haiti? I do not believe that God was in the belly of the earth. He did not cause this to happen. I'll tell where God was. He was there in the last moments as loved ones called out under the rubble to say I love you; I'm not going to make it. He is there in the soldiers’ camouflage headed toward the islands on our ships. He is there behind the Haitian trying to find his neighbour’s children. He is there when the rescuers pulled out a child trapped for days. He is behind the scalpel and the syringe. He is near the heart of all who in the face of this tragedy love their neighbour. He is there to welcome home those who turn to God in repentance, not for answers, but because in the end tragedies teach us that we are mortal and fully dependent upon Him.

David

(With acknowledgement to Brett Blair at www.eSermons.com)