'The Good Book.'

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Guardian

'The Good Book' is a work put together by philosopher A.C. Grayling as what he calls a 'Secular Bible.'  It appears his intention is that this work will encourage people to live a more positive godless life. Grayling sees himself as the 'velvet' opposition to religion, unlike the more 'direct' Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens. While he makes no mention of God in 'The Good Book' the other two writers positively oppose the very idea of God. They have tapped into the market of those who wish to find evidence for what they do not believe, this book will no doubt also find buyers there. Catching the end of his interview on the radio this morning I heard him read out what he calls his 'Ten Commandments. These told the reader to be good to others, be tolerant, and consider the good things. All good and worthwhile I thought but then considered the world around us and the majority of the content found on the news programme that invited him to discuss his book. The majority of the programme features war, distress, crime, and all those bad things that people wish to hear about. Not much positive or kindly there.  I may be doing Grayling an injustice as I cannot remember them all but I did see a flaw in his 'Ten Commandments.'  Human nature! That is what is missing here. The bible, 'God breathed' as it is,  does not misunderstand human nature, instead it exposes our corruption to the world! Nothing sordid is hidden, all the sins and vices you require are to be found there.  Human nature is corrupted by the Self. The desire to be good and caring is all too easily cast aside and self takes over. Our 'Self' is the centre of the world. It wishes to be God, it always demands its own way, and while capable of much goodness will always be the centre of the world, even amongst those it loves.  The bible makes clear that not one person is immune from this and all require a new nature. That 'Good News' presented by the bible and revealed in the New Testament is that such a new nature is available but only through Jesus, his death on the cross for our old nature and his rising again to offer us a new one. Nothing else will do! Only the living Jesus can transform any individual, the good news is that he is always willing to do so. Even you and I can discover this, Grayling ignores this redemption for whatever reason. Maybe he has not read the real 'Good Book' for himself? 


Grayling is to be admired for attempting to offer something positive, and humanists like he can be good folks to be with. His failure to understand the depth of his own human nature is not unusual even amongst those regarded as 'great thinkers. Human nature blinds us to that which we do not wish to see and our rebellious hearts refuse to allow the need for Gods saviour to find acceptance with us. 'The Good Book' will sell, many decent people will attempt to live it, and hopefully many will realise that the real 'Good Book' actually has the answer to why we cannot live the decent good life, and that answer is Jesus himself, the Lord of all.   



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