A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS STITCHED TOGETHER

In the movie Unbreakable Samuel Jackson's character speculates that if someone as 'breakable' as himself could exist then the opposite could also be true.  There could be someone as unbreakable as Mr. Glass was breakable.

This idea set me off on some profound speculations.

In the movie Contagion a pandemic virus evolves from passing from a bat to a pig to a human, each time taking a bit of DNA from each host to become the virus that changed the world.  This virus changed the world in a bad way, but perhaps another virus could change the world in a good way.  Fantasy could tell a story about a virus that enhanced human capabilities but what I was interested in was reality.  Instead of a literal virus I wanted to contemplate an idea-virus.  Ideas have been changing human civilization since there was such a thing.  The combination of Newtonian physics with gun powder influenced ballistics in a way that affected every human on the planet.  The world's most difficult problems must begin with an idea.  Somewhere out there are the components to an idea that when they come together will end human trafficking and genocide and starvation.

But it doesn't stop there.

I was just thinking about Westboro Baptist and what a bunch of scum suckers they were.  It occurred to me that if hateful people like the folks from Westboro or the sadly mislead people of Heaven's Gate could depart from Christian orthodoxy is such a bad way then it is also possible for some to depart from Christian orthodoxy in a good way... a way that leads closer to Christ.  The hesitancy to entertain such an idea comes from a misguided tradition or assumption that our finite orthodoxy is absolute... inerrant... divine... equal with God, that somehow we know all the depths of God and these depths fit into 3 pounds of grey matter and a leather-bound tome... because that is what makes sense to us.

and that's bullshit.

If we are going to deviate from the safety net of orthodoxy we still need something to make sure we don't go looney-toons.   Some look towards the Bible as their regulatory fence but we all know that the only real gauge is Jesus himself.  Last Friday a woman was telling me that in her youth she believed in God and thought herself to have a relationship with God even though she did not profess to be Christian or recognize Jesus as anyone of importance.  Then a friend of her's told her, 'If you don't know Jesus then you don't know God.'  Jesus is the full revelation of God's character and God's will.  Jesus is 'The Word of God'.

Let's start small.
The traditional view of Christian what it means to be a Christian is inadequate.  The amalgamation of the moment of free salvation, our resurrection as a new creation and the costly lifelong process of becoming a follower of Christ are actually 3 separate things.

It also seems to me that the traditional view of the crucifixion is also inadequate.  We minimize what Jesus achieved on the cross.  The significance of Jesus taking on the sins of the world is not fully understood to to an over emphasis on the sins committed by the individual riddled with guilt.  If Jesus took on the sins of the world then it would also include the sins committed against us.  All the humiliations and violations that we suffered could be nailed to the cross, buried and reborn.

Just a thought.

Hold on to your hat, I'm about to get religious.

In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke our pain and despair, it is crucified with Christ.  I invite the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and not just redeem what was lost, not just restore what was broken but glorify everything that was made ugly and shamed.  Amen.