Ewan McDonald, Victoria.

Some of them sounded like Simeon with the infant Jesus (Lk 2:26ff), and as for a political gesture that will “bring healing to the nation…” silly me, I was staking my hope on Christ and the leaves of the tree of life (Rev 22:2)!!

Did these people know that they were using Biblical, messianic language? Where did that come from? Was it coincidence? Spiritual? I’m not familiar with Karl Marx – did he use that sort of terminology?

Frightening stuff.

Damien Carson

I think that is a very good point about abortion. If there ever was something our leaders should apologise for, it is the abortion holocaust. Our leaders have allowed, even promoted, the slaughter of 100,000 unborn children each year in this country. If you want to talk about genocide, it surely applies to the abortion massacre far more than it could ever to our treatment of Aboriginals. If Rudd wants to be consistent in such national symbolism, then he really should lead the nation is a national apology for this tragedy. Talk about a real stolen generation…

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

Also it seems to me that the secularists want us to apologise in part for our efforts to bring the Gospel to the aboriginal people. In their multiculturalist thinking, the aboriginals were better off sticking with their animism than being converted to Christianity. The secularists strongly equate aboriginal culture with aboriginal spiritual beliefs which as I said is animistic in nature. Therefore all this emphasis on recognising and celebrating the aboriginal culture carries with it implicit approval of animism. It’s a wonder then that so many Christian church denominations have apologised for their part in the so-called ‘stolen generation’.

As for the Kris Schlyder ‘revelation’ it must be that even God was deceived by the misrepresentation of Australian history as exposed by Windschuttle. The modern tragedy of abortion is orders of magnitude ahead of the crimes committed against Australia’s aboriginal people. When is the professing Christian Rudd going to apologise for this?

Ewan McDonald, Victoria.

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd’s national apology to the stolen generation has sparked a spate of racial violence in Darwin.

Five people had to be admitted to hospital after one brawl. The Caucasian men were attacked by a group of 10 Aboriginal men, who demanded that their victims “say sorry”. …

“The police officer said since the sorry apology on Wednesday, it had been completely out of control.”

The woman said there were four other victims of racial violence in the emergency room at Royal Darwin Hospital. Her friend had fractured ribs and bad bruising. Others had head injuries and bruises.

Note that they didn’t call it “racist” violence although that’s exactly what it was.

Jonathan Sarfati, Brisbane

But with all due respect, it was you, not I, claiming that somehow national apologies were the Christian thing to do. Now you and I both know – or should know – that our beliefs and actions should be grounded on and guided by the word of God. Yet when I ask for just one New Testament passage that backs up your claim, you cannot provide any. Plus the few shaky examples you provide – only two from the Old Testament – have nothing to do with the situation at hand.

I would have thought that a Christian trying to make a biblical case for something would at least be, well, biblical. If we are going to go on major campaigns for something, and claim it is the Christian thing to do, and yet not offer any clear biblical backing for it, then how is it Christian? Any secularist can make such an emotional case, but I thought believers were to be more careful, and want everything to be in alignment with the Word of God.

Respectfully Ian, it is quite silly to talk about biblical precedents for my wife’s name. The issue here is this: you and others are claiming it is the Christian (and by implication, the Biblical) thing to do to offer a national apology to Aboriginals. If you are making such a claim, then surely at least one NT text in support should be forthcoming. If you cannot provide any biblical justification for such a position, then how can you say it is the Christian thing to do?

I guess it worries me when believers judge other believers for not somehow being Christian on a certain issue, yet when biblical support is asked for, they fail to provide any at all. I find that very odd, and worrying, to be honest.

To let emotions determine how we think about an issue, instead of the word of God, is not what biblical Christianity is all about. As I say, I am open to be convinced by the clear teaching of Scripture. But if none can be provided, then why act as if your position is more Christian than mine?

When we all stand before our creator and judge one day, we will each be held accountable for our own actions, not anyone else’s. I will not be apologising for what you have done. You will not be apologising for what I have done. I am responsible for my own actions, you are responsible for yours. That is one biblical starting point on this issue.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

As I mentioned, I am open to persuasion, but as I also said, please provide chapter and verse. The biblical case has not yet been made here.

And your last statement does not follow: what does being appreciative for those who fought for our freedoms long ago have to logically do with national apologies?

And why stop at Aboriginals? Christians believe we are all ultimately bound up with one another, in corporate solidarity, going back to Adam and Eve. So going by the reasoning of some here, we should be saying sorry to God for Adam’s sin, saying sorry to Abel for Cain killing him, saying sorry to Bathsheba for what David did, saying sorry to Israel for what the Babylonians did, saying sorry to Peter for what the Romans did, saying sorry to Tyndale for what Cardinal Wolsey did, saying sorry to Europe for what Hitler did, saying sorry to Martin Luther King for what James Earl Ray did, saying sorry to John Lennon for what Mark David Chapman did, etc. etc. We should, in other words, be saying sorry to everybody for everything.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

I am happy to be convinced on this point. But you would need to make your case. To begin with, you need to provide chapter and verse in the New Testament for such a position.

I am not saying that nations are no longer accountable to God in NT times, or that God does not judge nations anymore, as he did in the OT. But Australia – or any other nation – today is not the same as God’s covenant people in the past, Israel. Thus the idea of national corporate guilt and all that goes with it (corporate repentance, apologies, etc.) needs to be teased out much more biblically before I am convinced.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch