Are Ancient Texts Relevant Today?

I have been fascinated for years by the Apocrypha, books rejected from the bible. I have read a few of them but my understanding of them leaves a lot to be desired. At the moment I am in the process of reading the R.H.Charles translation of the Book Of Enoch. I am actually only on the introduction at the moment, but this is what I wanted to blog about. He is talking about the people who were connected with the actual writing of the Book Of Enoch and it struck me that they were experiencing a lot of the same problems with their society that we are experiencing now. I quote "the Apocalyptists despaired of the world in which they lived" Quite appropriate for our time as well, and he goes on to say,  "a world in which the godly were of no account, while the wicked seemed too often triumphant and prosperous." I know that I often feel this about the society I live in, which is a society that cares more about what various waste of space celebrities are getting up to than what their immediate family are doing. We live in a morally corrupt age in which greed is good, to quote from a movie of a few years ago. Human life is cheap as we see on our TV news programmes and documentaries. We have become numb to stories of mass hunger and poverty throughout the planet and we are being conned by the news that it is caused by human caused climate change. Thankfully, that lie is slowly being exposed for what it is, a complete load of nonsense. However, good things have come out of it, like conservation and re-cycling to name two. i am getting off my original train of thought. My main point to this post was that I hear from many sources that these books have no relevance in modern times. Personally, I believe that to be a load of rubbish. Whether the writings are literally true or not, I think the message that is given to us is what matters. Did Jesus, Abraham, Elijah, Solomon, David etc. actually live? Maybe they did, or maybe they didn't (I have an open mind about that) the message is just as relevant today as it was then. My studying continues.

The Scottish Referendum Debate.

My first post of this new year.
Being a proud Scot, I felt I had to comment on the attempt by David Cameron to hijack the proposed referendum on Scottish independence. As hijackings go, this is probably the most inept and childish one I have ever come across. When the S.N.P. party overwhelmingly won the last election, Alex Salmond said in the pre election manifesto that a referendum on independence would be held in the second half of the parliament. Cameron, however, obviously does not understand that the second half means at least two years down the line. He is so scared that the Scottish government will govern sensibly and fairly and therefore make the result a foregone conclusion, that he is trying to take control of the running of the referendum. The Tories have only one Scottish member of the Westminster parliament and therefore have no mandate to dictate anything to the Scottish Parliament. The more he blunders from one scheme to rig the referendum to another, the more the Scottish people are likely to actually vote for independence.
Personally, I am in favour of independence, but, and this is a big but, I am not in favour of Scotland joining the Euro, and if the truth be told, I don't support our proposed membership of the EU. I think the EU is now a failed institution that has lost it's way. The initial aim of the EU was purely economic and trade links, but it has moved towards a federalist organisation and I don't want Brussels to decide how much freedom, financial and otherwise, I have. That is a job for our own government. That is why, when the referendum is held, I hope there is, as well as the question on independence, there is also a question on Europe.
A final word to Mr. Cameron. Unless you keep your big mouth shut you will forever be remembered as the Prime Minister who caused the break up of the UK. That will look good alongside Thatcher's legacy. The destruction of UK society.