An Evangelical Church in the Heart of Thatcham

Cake or biscuit?

No doubt, at some point, someone has asked you one of those rather silly questions along the lines of: “If you had to be a cake or a biscuit which would you be?” Well it was just the other week that I heard a fascinating Radio 4 programme on the subject of whether a Jaffa Cake was, in fact, a cake or actually a biscuit. How would you answer?

It might surprise you to know that this question was actually the subject of a real court case back in 1991 between McVities and the Inland Revenue. The judge that heard the case was, by all accounts, remarkably astute and applied a thorough set of criteria in order to judge the case carefully and fairly. He sided in the end with McVities and so you can rest at ease, a Jaffa Cake is still, officially, a cake!

The primary test in court that really carried the day was the “test of time”. You see it’s like this: when a biscuit is left to go stale it goes soft, yet for a cake it does the very opposite, it hardens and becomes crumbly. The Bible speaks of another court case. This one is yet to be heard. The wisest Judge is scheduled to hear the case, and people, not Jaffa Cakes, will be front and centre. My strong suspicion is that the same primary “test of time” criterion will again be used. So, over a lifetime, did people harden to God or did they grow steadily softer?

The Proverbs read: “Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.” I do wonder whether we can, forever and a day, have our cake and eat it or would that, somehow, be taking the biscuit? Well, you decide.

 

I am the Pastor at Thatcham Evangelical Church in West Berkshire. This is an FIEC (Fellowship of Evangelical Churches) affiliated church.