by Denepher Smith

Created on: April 09, 2009   Last Updated: April 12, 2009

As Easter approaches, a recent event has given me cause to reflect again on it's significance and meaning. I am fully aware of the origins of this period of spring celebration. The adoption and reassignment by the Christian church of a period of pagan celebration to be used for the commemoration of the most important action in the life of Christ was a pragmatic attempt to shift the emphasis from 'gods of stone' to worship of what Christians believe to be the living God. However in an increasingly secular and diverse faith society, the emphasis may be shifting back, like that of Christmas, to an almost meaningless celebration. It is important therefore that Christians ( and by that I mean believers world wide who express faith in Christ ) continue to use this period to revisit and reassess the fundamentals of their faith.

I began by saying that a recent event had caused me to have this reflection. At an earlier age, the text " the sins of the fathers shall be visited on the children to the third and fourth generation " had been one of those that caused me to question what kind of God ( if any) was being presented in the pages of the Old Testament. As the years have progressed, I have come to the realisation that none of us lives in isolation of the past. There appear to be laws of cause and effect which are as immutable as the laws of motion which Newton detected to be in operation in the visible world ( though I gather scientist now question whether these laws are so straight forward at the sub nuclear level). Am I talking about a Calvinist doctrine of predestination or Eugenics's belief in the superior nature of some genetic time line? No! what I am saying is that the past (and present) lives lived by those close or related, can and do help shape our future, for better or worse.

I read recently of the death of Nicholas Hughes, the son of American poet Sylvia Plath and former British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. Nicholas Hughes had tried to live his life rising above the suicide of his mother and other family tragedies. He had thrown himself enthusiastically into life as a marine scientist and sought out the peace and quiet of Alaska to pursue his interests and leave aside public speculation about a past he hardly knew of. His mother had committed suicide when he was but one year old, yet despite all his efforts, he too was recently found dead having taken his own life following a bout of deep depression. Although there is no proven genetic link for depression

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