Riots are not protest, if you are rioting you are out of control as a group with some individuals not making decisions for themselves. To go with the flow, however, is in itself a moral decision. To resist going with the flow requires character. It has been stated that many people arrested for criminal activity associated with the riots were "previously of good character". This cannot be true. The reality is that these people were previously of good behaviour, but their character wasn't up to much if they just joined with looting because everyone was doing it. We all need training to build up character, we need to practice being good. The Bible contains the book of Proverbs contains lots of advice on how to do this, advice that works and has stood the test of time. In chapter 6 of the book of Proverbs, there is a list of what God hates. In the latest episode the podcast there is an edited down version of my sermon on this passage and a brief response to the riots. God hates, it seems, pride, deception and killing. I really think that God hates riots.
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien tells a story in an imaginary world that somehow rings true. In Tolkien’s fantastic universe of humans, hobbits, elves, wizards, dwarves and monsters, a great evil threatens to cover the world in darkness and make every living being its slave. Chaos is the order of the day. Fear rules the hearts of most. Hope is faint. Yet amid the darkness, there are flickers of light in the love, unity and courage of a few heroic characters. One of them is Aragon, who is destined to be king. The trilogy ends with his long-awaited return to the throne and triumphant deliverance of his people. Mark 11:1-10 is one of the Bible passages for Palm Sunday, it tells of Jesus entering Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd, it is the return of the King: Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a c