TheVirtualWord » Michael Foot http://www.thevirtualword.org Reflections on evangelical Christianity and the contemporary world Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:37:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 The end of an era http://www.thevirtualword.org/2010/03/04/the-end-of-an-era/ http://www.thevirtualword.org/2010/03/04/the-end-of-an-era/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:04:29 +0000 admin http://www.thevirtualword.org/?p=216 The death of Michael Foot this week definitely marks the end of an era in British politics. As I watched clips of his speeches from the 60-80s I was struck by the sense that here was a man who believed in something and was not ashamed to stand up for those things – even if they were unpopular.

At the risk of sounding unduly cynical, our current crop of politicians seem more motivated by what people want to hear, rather than what they actually believe/stand for. Perhaps this is the real reason for the increasing apathy amongst young voters.

It strikes me that the same tendency can easily slip into our pulpits today – the desire to say what people want to hear rather than what we actually believe. Ironically when we say what “itching ears” want to hear (cf. 2 Tim 4:3), we may reach a wider audience, but all power and authenticity is lost. Hence the historical decline in the liberal churches. This may parallel the disenfranchisement of many voters in the UK today.

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