Do I have principles?

A couple of recent conversations got me thinking about principles. Do I have any? I'm not sure I have, other than one: the Baptist Union Declaration of Principle. Let me explain.

Principles sound as if they are good. Things that are sure, steadfast, secure: truths that are tested and tried. Principles as foundational truths that we can build our lives upon. But are they?

It seems to me that Jesus didn't really deal in principles. He talked of himself as 'the way, the truth and the life'. He set out the standard in terms of his own dynamic, fluid, liberating life. A person, not a principle.

Now, some might say that there are principles for faith and living in the Bible. I observe that there are stories of faith and instructions for living. And promises: God's promises to mankind. But foundations framed as principles? Jesus is a person, not a principle.

Are not principles static things unyielding and unlistening? Like 'statements of faith' that will never change. Creeds and councils that render truths set in stone.

But the Bible gives us Jesus Christ: a way of living, love and truth set in human flesh and blood that is the key to our life. To enter into. To be filled by. And in the reading of the Bible, to be challenged to be changed by God. Embracing promises and purpose. Penetrated by Pentecostal presence and power. But principles?

I've learnt to embrace convictions that point to practices. But I'm less inclined to pontificate about principles. For one person's principle is just another's person's opinion or perspective. Principles change nothing.

In the light

Let it be abundantly clear. What we are witnessing now in Mosul and northern Iraq is naked, Satanic destruction. It is the rise of the beast, who will ultimately be destroyed by the hand of the King of kings. For now Christians everywhere and all humans who stand for justice and righteousness must stand and make it clear that this is unacceptable behaviour in a world that we claim in Jesus name.

The beheading of children simply because they are Christian. The crucifixion of converts to Christianity. This, compounded with the terror of Palestine and all that the people of Syria and Iraq are suffering, we declare as unacceptable, a sign of the inhumanity of the perpetrators and a demonstration of the falsehood of their religion.