‘Londoners have lived through much worse than this’

Patrick Boyns, a native Londoner and principal of the British Bible School in Corby, England, notes that the date of the observance — June 6 — is the 73rd anniversary of the invasion of Normandy by Allied forces during World War II.

On D-Day in 1944, an estimated 425,000 people were killed, wounded or went missing. At least 2,700 British troops were among the casualties.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, left, stands with police near the site of the London Bridge attacks. (PHOTO BY DAVID HOLT, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

“Londoners have lived through much worse than this,” Boyns said of the June 3 attacks near London Bridge, which claimed seven lives.

After the recent attacks in London and Manchester, England, The Christian Chronicle reached out to members of Churches of Christ in the United Kingdom for reaction.

Following are additional thoughts from Boyns:

“As for reaction to the recent attacks, I can, of course, speak only for myself. I find much of the reporting of these things to be both sensational and probably counterproductive, to say nothing of what I see to be a good bit of inconsistency in much of the mainstream Western media, which seems to consider ‘terrorism’ as being more unacceptable — and perhaps more terrifying — for those living in more affluent societies than for those in the ‘less developed’ world.

Patrick Boyns
“As I see it, Satan is very much at work throughout this world in all manner of ways. What we saw on Saturday evening in London was another example of wicked people committing murder and extreme violence against unarmed civilians going about their lives, seemingly posing no threat to those by whom they were attacked. As such it was cowardly, unjust and anything but honourable.

“I don’t fully understand why there seems to be an urgency to categorise certain acts as being acts of terror. Less than 24 hours earlier, a teenager was stabbed to death in Peckham, South London. It is not being treated as an act of terrorism. I read earlier today of a number of people being shot dead in Orlando, Fla., but that was not reported as a terrorist incident. I struggle to see much of a difference. At the end of the day, the root causes are always of the devil.

“But we live in a fallen and broken world, where none is better than another, and in spite of our most noble efforts, all of us have done our bit to contribute one way or another to the carnage we call civilisation. There are no innocent victims, save the one they nailed to a cross between two thieves all those years ago.

“I mourn for those murdered in Manchester and London. I mourn for those murdered in Peckham and Orlando. I mourn for the countless, nameless souls who are brutalised and forgotten, day in and day out, throughout the world since time began.

“But I also find comfort in the knowledge that all of this is but a shadow of a reality far more glorious than we will ever imagine in this life, and I will rejoice in the victorious hope we have in him who died but lives that we may never die.”

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