1 thought on “Ronnie Biggs was an ‘extraordinary’ man, says the unrepentant Reverend who took train robber’s funeral”

  1. With a note of “caution” I agree with Dave Tomlinsons approach to ministry. But that cautionary note is a big one..Not everyone has the weight of many church leaders behind them, conservative or not and this approach puts more vulnerable people at risk. It may not be the repentant on the way hardened criminal who befriends the vulnerable teenager or slow learner but the lower ranking criminal who introduces them to the seedy world of drugs and the following rapes and sexual assaults and potentially paedophilia. Yes all “inclusive” means just that that there is a place for all. But this approach is having an adverse affect on the hardworking innocent Christians who dare not enter the church because they are trapped in the middle. I personally think it is quite terrifying that church leaders are being led by the ethos of Christ but also the values of the criminal underworld who would not think twice about killing a person for doing the right thing.

    I would ask this of David Tomlinson can you reassure me that you can protect the innocents or do you really consider that no-one is innocent. By the innocent I include those you call the haughty which is a judgement in its self. I know who you mean when you say it I have met them shared with them and on occasion suffered at their hands and some of them were in the church, There is a difference between giving unconditional love care and pastoral support, and glorifying things which are clearly wrong humanly and spiritually.But my main concern is the protection of the vulnerable, which is a very hard thing to measure, you cannot measure vulnerability by wealth, status age or even health , vulnerability is the silent shadow of the momentarily or occasionally or sometimes permanently confused.

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