Comment By Torchlight

Aberfan

The stark tragedy which overtook the small mining village of Aberfan on the morning of 21 October 1966 will live in the memory of this generation and beyond. Without warning, the slurry from the slag tip descended, engulfing Pantyglas school and a row of near-by houses, and within minutes trapped and crushed nearly two hundred persons, mostly children. In the Welsh valleys, where miners live with danger and death, disaster is neither unknown nor unexpected. But nothing like this had been known before. Those who rushed to help could do little. Almost a generation of the young children of Aberfan had been wiped out. Here was grief which invaded nearly every home in this previously obscure mining village. As the news was flashed round the world by every means of modern communication, the name Aberfan became linked with tragedy and death in the minds of countless millions.

For days the harrowing struggle to recover the bodies went on. Many toiled to the point of exhaustion, while others laboured to comfort and succour the bereaved. Then followed the mass funeral, the messages of sympathy and offers of help from many parts of the world, the visits of Royalty. Now is awaited the result of the inquiry into the cause of the disaster. But nothing can restore to Aberfan its treasured children. The village is left alone with its memories and with its heartaches.

Such disasters as this, and the fearful suffering they bring, raise many questions to which there is no easy answer. If in their sorrow those who have been bereaved and are unsaved turn to God and find peace with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ, then that would be a blessed sequel to a terrible tragedy. Let us continue to pray that many in Aberfan, in their bitterness and sorrow, may turn to the only source of true comfort-God Himself.

For us all, the lesson emphasized by such events is the brevity and uncertainty of the span of our lives. We know not what a day may bring forth. Without warning death may come at any moment. Should we not pause and ponder on this in the rush and bustle of life? Someone wrote:

"Teach me to live that I may dread The grave as little as my bed."

And Moses, the man of God, reflecting on this theme, prayed:

"We bring our years to an end as a tale that is told ...

So teach us to number our days,

That we may get us an heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90.9,12).

"Thou shalt ..."

Certain conclusions of a report on sex and morality by a working party of the British Council of Churches have come as a severe shock to many. Even in a climate of morality which has been deteriorating during the past few decades, few expected that a body professedly Christian would be so unfaithful to the word of God and the teaching of our Lord and His apostles. The word of God defines sin and no body of men can absolve the sinner. Christian standards on sex are absolute. Sexual intercourse outside marriage is wrong and cannot be condoned in any circumstances (Hebrews 13.4).

The contention that Christian standards cannot be imposed on non-Christians is arguable, but what is here in question is the abandonment of standards because in the modern world many fall short of them. By all means, those who are under the terrible pressure of a sex-obsessed age need sympathy and help. But no help is given by lowering standards. Sin is sin and no sophistry can make it otherwise. In the oft-quoted instance of our Lord's treatment of the woman taken in adultery His concluding word to her was, "Go thy way; from henceforth sin no more" (John 8.11), They do no service to the morals of the nation who speak uncertainly on this vital issue, especially when they claim to speak in the name of Christianity. There is possibly no greater single cause of human misery than sexual sin, and for this reason many who are not themselves committed Christians are alarmed about the consequences of the conclusions of the report on sex and morality to which we have alluded. This much can be gathered from the views advanced in the secular Press.

For Preachers

"Be well instructed in theology, and do not regard the sneers of those who rail at it because they are ignorant of it. Many preachers are not theologians, and hence the mistakes which they make. It cannot do any hurt to the most lively evangelist to be also a sound theologian, and it may be the means of saving him from gross blunders.... Let us be thoroughly well-acquainted with the great doctrines of the word of God, and let us be mighty in expounding Scripture. I am sure that no preaching will last so long, or build up a church so well, as the expository. To renounce altogether the hortatory discourse for the expository would be running to a preposterous extreme; but I cannot too earnestly assure you that if your ministries are to be lastingly useful, you must be expositors. For this you must understand the Word yourselves, and be able to comment upon it that the people may be built up by the Word. Be masters of your Bible, brethren; whatever other works you have not searched, be at home with the writings of the prophets and apostles. Let the Word of God dwell in you richly (C.H. Spurgeon).

unknown | Dec 1966
Comment By Torchlight