Dr. John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, has today urged the Church of England to reach out to young people involved in knife crime.
Speaking at the Church’s General Synod in York, Archbishop Sentamu used his presidential address to urge the Church to face outwards in its work: “Our call is to reach out to our neighbours with God’s message of love in Jesus Christ. To be a servant in the Church of God, you too are volunteered. The call is addressed to people who are not expecting to be invited ”“ and not those who have become their own good cause!”
“We are called to reach out to people who are desperately searching for identity, meaning and belonging. When crime involving the use of knives by young people is on the increase, we can stem the tide by our outreach to young people.
“Attempting to change the behaviour of young people by tough talk will not solve it.”
The Archbishop needs to figure out that the only thing on the planet that will reform ANYONE on the planet is a living, breathing, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. Until he figures that one out, all his rhetoric will be absolutely meaningless –
He simply does not get it –
[blockquote]what you must do is to get us, young people, to feel better about ourselves. Help us to achieve confidence about ourselves without needing the dangerous prop of a knife.[/blockquote]
And if England’s strict gun contol laws are aupplemented by strict knife control laws, some people will use clubs and crossbows. Refer to excellent comment #1 above, instead.
How about strict screw driver controls?
But it is good to know that our spiritual leaders are on the “cutting” edge.
It’s good to know that there are no racial barriers in the CofE to being an upper class twit.
Yes, Anglicans are now divided into two camps. One still feels comfortable saying, “Our call is to reach out to our neighbours with God’s message of love in Jesus Christ.” The other thinks that people who say things like that are upper class twits (even if they were driven out of their native land for opposing the likes of Idi Amin). One camp thinks that knife violence, like murder generally, is a bad thing. The other thinks that opposing a culture that glorifies knives and guns is a bad thing. We are rapidly approaching the point when both camps are going to be unable to recognize anything Christlike in the other. For the sake of my physical safety, to say nothing of my spiritual wellbeing, I hope I am as far away from some of you as possible when you try to put your ideas into practice.
I’d rather be out late in New York than in London. I’m more likely to make it back in one piece, and I’ll understand what people say better.
Dale, many, many American blogs have a political component, and if you aren’t comfortable with people who think self-defense is a viable concept mocking those who futilely try to work around the consequences of their rejection of it (which is what his Grace’s bit on knives can be seen as representing, although he may be smarter than that), then maybe you should grow more skin.
Put shorter, they aren’t mocking outreach. They’re mocking the nitwits who thought that violent crime would be curbed by outlawing self-defense and its tools.
[b]6# – Dale:[/b]
Did you read my comment or just assume you did?
The reality is that we can not legislate good character or goodness by outlawing badness. The UK – where they have outlawed guns is a great example of it… so people just turn to knives.. and then if they outlaw knives they will attack one another with razors… it goes on and on and on because THE PROBLEM IS NOT ADDRESSED.
The problem with the comments of the Archbishop of York is that HE OBVIOUSLY DOESN’T GET IT EITHER. He thinks improving self-esteem will make it all better… [b]it will not[/b] – ask America where we do this 24/7 and still have major crime problems. This is particularly annoying when this Archbishop should be one of the people who knows how real change can be affected – and he doesn’t.
You want to curb crime? Help people to be good? Help the poor, encourage the widows, lower the murder rate, increase kindness, make this world a better place?
Then you start by having a dynamic, personal relationship with the Person of Christ – allow Him to Transform you and every action into conformity with His – THEN you tell everyone you know about the power and reality of that in your life. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE THIS WORLD BETTER – only way – single answer – right action.
We can pave our streets with democracy, legislate them with every good intent, alleviate poverty and educate everyone with a PhD – and still, if the people on the planet remain selfish and self-centered it will STILL be an evil place to live. For it “Is not what comes into a man that defiles a man, but what comes out from him that defiles him”.
That is the issue here – not whether knives should be banned off the planet.