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The Commentary

Rewriting history?

On May 5 the General Election saw Tony Blair returned for a third term as Prime Minister. This will be the first time that a Labour Government has ever enjoyed three consecutive terms in office. Thus Mr. Blair’s place in the history books is assured.

Like many others I am not too displeased with the outcome of the election. With a greatly-reduced majority the country showed its displeasure with Mr. Blair, and he seems now somewhat chastened and humbled by the experience. Humility in leadership is never a bad thing. But there has already been quite an outcry from rebel Labour backbenchers, blaming the electorate’s lack of trust in the Prime Minister for the haemorrhaging of Labour’s vote and for Mr. Blair to step aside, as he reportedly promised, in favour of the Chancellor Gordon Brown. Whether this will happen, only coming days will tell.

Europe

Meanwhile another historic decision appears to be hanging in the balance. Across the Channel the French are about to vote in a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution and many are worried that they will reject it. The French President Jacques Chirac has been on TV pleading with his electorate to vote ‘Yes’.

Against the background of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, such was the concern in Brussels — the heart of the European project — that a senior European Commissioner accused Eurosceptics of risking a return to the Holocaust by their desire to cling to national pride. Margot Wallstrom, a Swede and the commissioner charged with selling the draft constitution to voters, argued on VE day that politicians who resisted pooling national sovereignty risked a return to the Nazi horrors of the 1930s and 1940s. She equated the defence of a nation’s self-determination with the oppression of Nazism. Richard Shepherd, MP for Aldridge-Brownhills, commented that it was ‘a monstrous rewriting of history to promote a profoundly undemocratic project.’

Again, we must wait to see the outcome of all this.

His story

But thankfully no politician or academic can either write or rewrite history. God is the great planner and observer and recorder of world events. He is the Judge of all. He is the ultimate reference point and though Orwellian figures might attempt to rewrite history and dupe the unwary, God knows the truth and history is secure and can never be changed.

This is of immense comfort for the Christian (as we live in a changing world) and forms the very foundation of our Christian faith. Christianity is not a speculative philosophy, or a set of religious rituals or spiritual techniques based on some theory or other which might someday be replaced by a better set of ideas. It is first and foremost about the historical events of Jesus’s birth, life, death and resurrection. These are historical facts, known to us and guaranteed by the word of God. Until time can be unravelled and driven backwards these things can never be rewritten or undone. ‘We did not follow cleverly invented stories’, says Peter, ‘when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye-witnesses of his majesty’ (2 Peter 1.16). And the most marvellous historical fact is that at Calvary: ‘He was pierced for our transgressions…the punishment that brought us peace was upon him’ (Isaiah 53.5). And that can never be undone. We have peace with God, and unchangeable history underwrites our joy and our place in heaven.

John Benton