As I write this the Victorian State Election is in the balance.
By the time you read this you more than likely will know whether Daniel Andrews has won a third term as Victorian Premier.
I am not sure whether to write this with sorrow or with relief. To me the Premier strikes me as an Ahab figure that we read about in scripture. One who betrayed his roots and refused to honour God.
Observations
I have observed these characteristics in the Victorian Premier. Daniel Andrews is coming from a place of having known better.
He knows the truth of God’s word. He has his “Catholicism”, he has spoken of how his catholic faith guides his decisions in Government.
In his own words: “I am a Catholic; I send my kids to Catholic Schools; My faith is important to me, it guides me everyday.” He told a news conferences while reeling off his Government’s commitments to addressing family violence and homelessness Mobilise the church against Daniel Andrews! | The Spectator Australia.
He continues, “It guides me in my sense of what is right and what is wrong and if I can just say with the utmost respect, calling out homophobia is not the problem. Homophobia is the problem.” ‘That’s my Catholicism’: Daniel Andrews embarks on theological debate with archbishop over Essendon furore | Victoria | The Guardian
His passionate belief that all Victorians should be treated equally and fairly was in his words, “His Catholicism”
Faults
However, there are some faults in this statement.
First what gives him the right to define “Catholicism”? There is no such thing as “your” Catholicism or “my” Catholicism there is just simply Catholicism. No one get’s to define their own, they simply live out the teachings of Catholicism or they don’t. Is his Catholicism the “state” approved Catholicism?
The second thing wrong with that statement is, it is false that he treats all Victorians equally and fairly under the law.
What about the unborn?
He was the first Health Minister in this country to bring in Abortion up until birth for any reason.
Is that treating all Victorians equally under the law?
What about babies that are born alive after surviving an Abortion they are left to die in their dozens in Victorian hospitals where it is illegal to provide medical treatment to babies born alive after surviving an abortion? Are they treated equally under the law?
What about Child Abuse Victims?
Andrews voted against the reporting of those coming into abortion clinics who were suspected of been child abuse in victims, are they treated fairly under the law?
What about those who were hit with rubber bullets at Melbourne’s shrine of remembrance? Were they treated fairly and reasonably under the law?
What about Andrew Thorburn was he treated like everybody else when he became Essendon CEO?
Blatant Contradictions
Then there are the policies that blatantly go against God’s laws despite boasting his Catholic credentials.
Same Sex adoption was legalised in 2015 under the Andrews Government which meant children can be placed into motherless and fatherless homes by design.
He opposed a vote on Same Sex Marriage in 2017 because it would unleash hate and bigotry (in other words orthodox Christianity).
He built the world’s largest pride centre.
He derided Orthodox Christian Teaching on Human Sexuality and sanctities of life as appalling views.
Then there is the so called “conversion therapy laws which has made it an offence for ministers to pray for a parishioner (even at their request) to resist homosexual urges.
You can believe what you like about Homosexuality but when the state starts to dictate what you can or can’t talk to God about then you know this is very much a war against God.
That is not even talking about songs that glorify God being outlawed and the ban on religious instruction during school hours in Victorian Schools.
He decriminalised and regulated prostitution, he put doctors in schools that can have conversations with children away from their parents.
He banned safe access zones around abortion clinics, the law was passed while there were children whose lives had been saved in safe access zones sitting in the gallery.
This is a war against God. Andrews is very much the Ahab figure, his soul is in grave peril, I hope whatever happens in the election that Andrews gets time with his creator.
Ben Kruzins is the Campus Pastor of The Hub Baptist Church in Ocean Shores on the North Coast of New South Wales. He is also a Journalism graduate who has written articles in The Canberra Times and The Sydney Morning Herald.