Firstly, it was not my intention to mock George Bernard Shaw here at all. To be honest, I’m still not sure where that comes through, but if it does, it was definitely not by design. You are correct that, in a sense, Shaw is superfluous to the point here; He’s just a known face to attach to a common thought process (with the bonus of providing a humourous anecdote).

The question of the authenticity of the account of Jesus’ words in Matthew is not the issue at hand here (though for the record, I don’t doubt its authenticity!). The actual point to be considered here is was Jesus crucified and was he raised from the dead. I think we can point to scripture, but you are right in that there is a stumbling block there for someone that considers it to be a work of fiction. Aside from going through the authenticity of the Bible, I’d ask what happened to turn eleven men (and more) scared for the lives when their leader was killed into men that risked (and faced) death to spread the story that he was actually raised three days later, ultimately transforming the world.

Scripture states that Jesus rose from the dead, history begs the question of what happened to bring about such an effect as has been observed, if he did not.

The fact that it says something in Matthew 12 doesn’t add anything. It is like saying, “Achilles killed Hector for the sake of Troy” therefore Hector proves his existence, when your argument is that The Iliad is a work of fiction as I assume was GBS view of the bible.

I appreciate that to some extent George Bernard Shaw was superfluous to the argument you put forward, and whilst I happen to think that he had some reprehensible ideas, I think that he has been unjustly mocked here.

He could equally have asked, “Why does god not heal amputees?”

It may be that proof of god denies faith and without faith god is nothing (stolen from hitch hikers guide to the galaxy) in which case what was God playing at proving his own existence by letting Jesus die?

I hope this is a helpful addition to your blog.

In any relationship, whether it’s between man and wife, parent and child, employer and employee, government and the governed, respect is paramount and if it is lost it is very hard, or even impossible, to get back.

In my own life, once the respect in my marriage went everything else went with it and it foundered in a sea of discontent and bitterness.

The prospect of ever bringing back the nuclear family and cosy “ovaltine” type nights in front of the wireless are long gone and I mourn that prospect.

My own view on when the death of respect first manifested itself in this country was when Maggie Thatcher came to power in 1979. After years of political see-sawing, our country descended into a free-for-all of the survival of the fittest and every man for himself. The ethos of “I’m all right Jack” was born.

We saw riots in the streets, workers rights being trampled on, the police lost their impartiality and became an arm of the state, bludgeoning protesting workers into submission, scenes reminiscent of the Peterloo massacre were beamed into our homes and around the world. The British police were once dubbed “civilians in uniform” and policed by consent – not any more.

If the elected Government does not respect the electorate then we may as well give up and stop calling ourselves a democracy.

Changes to Sunday trading laws and bowing to the ever-growing demand of consumerism generated by the Tories further fuelled the death of respect and the death of traditional Sundays in the UK.

At one time, the roads were dead on Sundays, many people simply visited relatives or had time at home. Now, all the shops are open, hard pressed family people are obliged to work to fuel the demand of consumerism. Their rights are not respected.

On Sundays in all cities across the nation, the roads are now clogged up with consumers wanting to spend money they have not got on things they do not need.

There is no respect for the law, uncaring governments have not earned the respect of the electorate, political correctness has gone mad and ethnic minorities enjoy the protection of the law whilst the majority of the population cannot express patriotism or even bring Christ into Christmas.

As my old parish priest once said, the Trafford Centre is a monument to greed and consumerism – he was right.

We call ourselves a Christian country, well lets stand up and be counted!! Morality and Christian values are the same today as they have always been.

The Ten Commandments are timeless and as relevant today as they have always been.

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life” – well let’s put our money where our mouth is.

God bless you all