An interesting read…
**Jesus ‘not the son of God’ - Lord Younger, Queen’s official **
His comments echo the beliefs held by a number of leading church
figures, including those of a former Moderator of the General Assembly,
the Very Rev Dr James Weatherhead. Seven years ago Dr Weatherhead called
into question the doctrine of the Virgin Birth. And more recently
Richard Holloway, the former Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh, described
Christ as"simply an extraordinary man."
**Jesus ‘not the son of God’ **
LORD Younger, who will today attend the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland as the Queen’s official representative, has spoken for the first
time of his personal doubts that Jesus is the “biological” Son of God.
In a detailed interview in today’s Scotsman S2 supplement, the Lord High
Commissioner to the Kirk’s assembly talks of his belief that what many
Kirk members hold as a basic tenet of Christianity “is a figure of speech
to some extent”.
In comment that may set him at odds with many Kirk members, the former
Tory Scottish Secretary of State for Scotland declares: “I don’t think you
can be absolutely literal and say he was born without a father. I think
that is all very literal and I would not go that far.”
Lord Younger, a regular Church-goer, instead subscribes to the view, held
by progressive theologians, that Jesus was divinely inspired by God.
"His message emanated from God - how precisely I wouldn’t say. The fact
that it has survived over 2,000 years makes it very hard to deny it.
“He was described as the Son of God and that is good enough for me. I
don’t agree that he was just a jolly good chap who was trying to put the
right views across. I am quite happy to believe that it is a figure of
speech that the Bible used, but I do believe that it was used like that
because he was inspired by God.”
His comments echo the beliefs held by a number of leading church figures,
including those of a former Moderator of the General Assembly, the Very
Rev Dr James Weatherhead. Seven years ago Dr Weatherhead called into
question the doctrine of the Virgin Birth.
And more recently Richard Holloway, the former Episcopal Bishop of
Edinburgh, described Christ as “simply an extraordinary man.”
But last night, the Right Rev Andrew McLellan, whose term as Moderator
ends this morning, insisted Lord Younger’s views were not at odds with the
majority of Kirk’s members.
He said: “That any Protestant should be expected to believe in the
immaculate conception is an extraordinary thought. No Christian believed
in the immaculate conception until 1870 and only Roman Catholics have
believed in the immaculate conception ever since.”
Mr McLellan continued: "I suppose there are those within the Church of
Scotland who affirm that Jesus is the Son of God in a biological DNA sense
- and there is a place for those within the Church of Scotland.
“What the Bible means when it says that Jesus is the Son of God is that
God is uniquely present in the presence of Jesus. I think George Younger
believes that and the Church of Scotland believes that.”
Frank Urquhart
Saturday, 19th May 2001
The Scotsman