Sunday, January 11, 2009

Should we pray for Jonathan Aitken?

LibCync has stimulated some thoughts about Jonathan Aitken. Should we forgive him? - for example. Should we pray for him?

I should preface all this by saying that I am very loyal Guardian reader. I lapped up every word of the long series of articles about the excruciating demise of this ex-Tory cabinet minister, and his imprisonment for perjury eight years ago. (Indeed, I suspect that my drooling over his political end was certainly indecent. I enjoyed msyelf far too much. Almost as much as when Jeffrey Archer was put in the slammer. Sorry.) He is now a preacher and spiritual writer.

First of all, it ought to be said that Aitken should not be described as a "born again Christian" who "saw the light" in prison. He was a long established member of the Church of England and, indeed, a church warden at St Margaret's Church Westminster, well before his imprisonment. So one has to say, if he had stuck to the basic tenets of his faith all along, he wouldn't have ended up in prison. Following commandment number nine, "do not give false testimony" would have kept him out of a lot of trouble.

Having read Aitken's book "Pride and Perjury" which details his fall from grace, I am still very puzzled as to why he lied about who paid for his wife and daughter to stay in a hotel. In his book he says it was something to do with pride, I seem to remember. But it still is confoundedly perplexing. He really wasn't going to end up in a lot of soup if he had just said who had paid the bill (some Saudi fixer) in the first place. He certainly wouldn't have ended up in jail. So what on earth did he have to hide? That is the question that remains in my mind.

Anyway, LibCync reports that his (LibCync's) wife sat through a recent sermon in which the priest asked especially for prayers for Jonathan Aitken. It all sounds rather bizarre.

Mr Aitken came to our church a few years ago to preach. He also gave a talk to the men's group. He has a few entertaining tales to tell about life in prison. I can't say that he is a particularly charismatic speaker. He is a rather stiff and aloof. Someone once said that is a result of his height. He is about three miles tall. I suspect it is a result of his background as well. He is a great nephew of the first Lord Beaverbrook.

I've listened to a lot of religious speakers in my time. (Lord Soper stands out as my favourite.) I can't say that Jonathan Aitken is likely to set many people on fire.

I chatted to him after the service at our church. Bizarrely we were watching Esther Rantzen arrive and be photographed for a christening. (It wasn't just any old christening. It was the christening of triplets who had been born to a surrogate mother in America and flown across to live with their father in Newbury.) We speculated about the thickness of her make-up (about twelve inches). He seemed a nice enough fellow.

So should we forgive the man? I would say so. It is not our job to judge people, especially after they have done their time. The Lord loves a sinner who repents. He has brought a lot of pain on himself, as well as other people. We've all done things we shouldn't have done, and gone astray somewhere along the line.

Should we pray for him? Well, yes. There are many subjects and people to pray for, and if someone thinks he is in pain, then yes, we should pray for him.

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