So... I really enjoy watching the show Glee. Even though it's morality is beyond sketch and in some ways seems to have an intense gay/lesbian rights agenda throughout the plot... I laugh at it. But, I do feel torn watching it. Sort of. Maybe I feel torn that I should feel worse and just stop watching it. But, for now, I'm committed.
But last night as I watched the Christmas Glee episode, I was confused and surprised when at the end of the show, one of the kids reads part of the Christmas story as the reason for their celebrating together. No, not the Christmas story with Santa visiting - the Christmas story where angels announce the birth of Christ to sheperds watching their flocks by night. Part of the actual story of Christmas, and the reason we all celebrate the King of Kings.
The thing about Glee is, that show has certainly mocked Christianity before. There was the grilled Cheesus show, that I missed but heard was somewhat blasphemous. There was Quinn, who on the outside was this goody Christian girl, president of the Chastity club, who actually is really mean, and is very hypocritical... she gets pregnant, way to support chastity!!! There hasn't been too much positive attention given to Jesus on the show. Possibly because the Bible does not support homosexuality, or because the Bible says we are all sinners that need a savior, not good people that bad things happen to... but, all that to say, you can imagine my surprise while watching the show!!! Why this section of the Christmas story from the Bible? What does this announcement mean? What are the directors of Glee wanting this announcement of the Savior to mean?
Maybe we want to pick and choose which parts of the Gospel apply or speak truth to us. Maybe the innocence and humility of the Christ being born in a manger, and the announcement being given to the lowly shepherds, rings true in our hearts. The Savior has been born! We can all celebrate!!!
I think then the breakdown comes over what we as humans need salvation from. That is where the Gospel offends, because it calls all of us sinners, condemned, unclean. Liars, murderers, adulterers, idolaters, evil, impure, wicked. Any negative word you can think of, the Gospel rightly says, We are perpetrators.
That truth is hard to embrace. But we must see the depths of our sin, and realize our total failing before a perfect King, to recognize our desperate need for a Savior.
Jesus Christ entered the world. He came in humility, but lived a perfect life. Then, at the right time, he died the most gruesome death, on our behalf. But then, 3 days later, there was a triuphant resurrection, and Christ's power over sin and death was claimed!
This is a message you probably will not see spelled out on Glee. But, I pray that the Bible story they did read may have picked the curiosity of some watchers, and hopefully they decided to not stop reading there.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Surrogates
Last year, I watched this very strange movie with some friends called "Surrogates". While Derek tried to fool me into thinking it was a documentary following surrogate moms and their children, the actual movie had nothing to do with parenthood.
Checking the Merriam Webster website, my personal favorite internet dictionary site, surrogate is to put in the place of another. It is to appoint as successor, deputy, or substitue for one's self.
The movie Surrogates is a futuristic sci-fi thriller, in which most of the worldwide population had decided to live their live's through computer programs that allowed them to operate surrogate bodys. While actual people lived in their apartments or houses, the fear of the outside world bringing hurt or pain or death, kept them inside, and the preference of living in the most perfect machine body in your price range enveloped mainstream society.
So, I'm not going to spoil the movie here, don't worry if you haven't seen it. Truthfully, I don't really remember the plot and end of the movie. I only remember what bothered me... the thought that we might be headed in that direction in society for real. That scares me.
First of all, I don't think surrogates would encourage real community. The point of the surrogate is that you could create the perfect you. Such as- if in real life you had really bad acne, your surrogate would have smooth, flawless skin. In real life you might weigh 400 pounds, your surrogate would be the most awesome size 0 completely chiseled and toned body. In real life you may be a girl, but your surrogate may be a man. Through the reigning techology you could literally create the perfect life substitute. There is something inherently fake about having a surrogate, like you are trying to hide the you that has imperfections and flaws and sins. It seems like a very isolating and empty lifestyle.
Second, the movie was very confused. The movie created a scenario that depected sin, murder, hate, envy, and all of those evils as simply because life was unfair, but that surrogates allow everyone to be beautiful and have incredible strengths and skills, so crime dropped dramatically with the development of surrogates. Let me just say, no matter how sophisticated a computer surrogate can be, sin will not disappear from it's creation. Sin is deeper than people doing bad things. People don't just sin, we are sinful. Our outward actions are not the only problem, greed and pride and jealously always run rampant in the human heart. We are completely dead inside, completely self centered... any good in our lives points to God's grace, not to our goodness.
But the movie certainly highlights some truth, that our human hearts point to and long for, although we don't know how to acheive what we want. Our bodies are not perfect, for all sorts of reason, but we long for perfection. My mom is handicapped, and walking is a struggle for her. But, she is determined to continue to live as independently as possible. But my mom has a hope and a promise that not all people share. My mom knows that this life and body are temporary, but that one day, she will be in the presence of Christ, and that when the great resurrection happens, she will be given a new, perfect body! We long for perfection, because we were created for perfection. Now, sin has so permeated everything that we are confused about what perfect even is. But, what a sweet truth that followers of Christ have... this is not all there is or ever will be!
I hope we do not go down the path that Surrogates the movie went down. I don't think it would be a black and white issue, but very gray, and very complicated. But, our society is continually evolving, sometimes quite rapidly, and becoming more dependent upon technology for everything. As Christians we do need to be ready for what the future holds, and ready to give answer for what we beleive and why. But techonology may prove to be just another way to point to the truth that the human heart is broken, but longs for perfection that can only be found in Christ.
Checking the Merriam Webster website, my personal favorite internet dictionary site, surrogate is to put in the place of another. It is to appoint as successor, deputy, or substitue for one's self.
The movie Surrogates is a futuristic sci-fi thriller, in which most of the worldwide population had decided to live their live's through computer programs that allowed them to operate surrogate bodys. While actual people lived in their apartments or houses, the fear of the outside world bringing hurt or pain or death, kept them inside, and the preference of living in the most perfect machine body in your price range enveloped mainstream society.
So, I'm not going to spoil the movie here, don't worry if you haven't seen it. Truthfully, I don't really remember the plot and end of the movie. I only remember what bothered me... the thought that we might be headed in that direction in society for real. That scares me.
First of all, I don't think surrogates would encourage real community. The point of the surrogate is that you could create the perfect you. Such as- if in real life you had really bad acne, your surrogate would have smooth, flawless skin. In real life you might weigh 400 pounds, your surrogate would be the most awesome size 0 completely chiseled and toned body. In real life you may be a girl, but your surrogate may be a man. Through the reigning techology you could literally create the perfect life substitute. There is something inherently fake about having a surrogate, like you are trying to hide the you that has imperfections and flaws and sins. It seems like a very isolating and empty lifestyle.
Second, the movie was very confused. The movie created a scenario that depected sin, murder, hate, envy, and all of those evils as simply because life was unfair, but that surrogates allow everyone to be beautiful and have incredible strengths and skills, so crime dropped dramatically with the development of surrogates. Let me just say, no matter how sophisticated a computer surrogate can be, sin will not disappear from it's creation. Sin is deeper than people doing bad things. People don't just sin, we are sinful. Our outward actions are not the only problem, greed and pride and jealously always run rampant in the human heart. We are completely dead inside, completely self centered... any good in our lives points to God's grace, not to our goodness.
But the movie certainly highlights some truth, that our human hearts point to and long for, although we don't know how to acheive what we want. Our bodies are not perfect, for all sorts of reason, but we long for perfection. My mom is handicapped, and walking is a struggle for her. But, she is determined to continue to live as independently as possible. But my mom has a hope and a promise that not all people share. My mom knows that this life and body are temporary, but that one day, she will be in the presence of Christ, and that when the great resurrection happens, she will be given a new, perfect body! We long for perfection, because we were created for perfection. Now, sin has so permeated everything that we are confused about what perfect even is. But, what a sweet truth that followers of Christ have... this is not all there is or ever will be!
I hope we do not go down the path that Surrogates the movie went down. I don't think it would be a black and white issue, but very gray, and very complicated. But, our society is continually evolving, sometimes quite rapidly, and becoming more dependent upon technology for everything. As Christians we do need to be ready for what the future holds, and ready to give answer for what we beleive and why. But techonology may prove to be just another way to point to the truth that the human heart is broken, but longs for perfection that can only be found in Christ.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Forgetfulness
So... I have a confession to make. I have a really hard time with losing things. Well, what I mean to say is, I have a habit of losing things recently, like my purse, my cell phone, my keys, my wallet, my sunglasses... pretty much anything you can think of, I've misplaced or forgotten multiple times in the past 7 months. I've locked my keys in my car 4 times, 3 of those times within 2 months... I am so thankful for AAA because I've gotten my usage out of them! I'm especially irked with myself tonight, as I left my cell phone in my mom's van that's in High Point being worked on... how could I have done that! If losing things is an art, I have mastered it.
There are some things I try really hard to remember but forget anyway. Like, my friend's birthdays... usually I remember what month they are in, but I forget the exact day... at least now I can cheat on Facebook and look up their birthdays online.
Sometimes I can remember the most random things about a person, like who enjoys the Dove chocolate promises, and who thinks they are ridiculous. Or, why a friend hates the song about the Christmas Shoes...
And then, some things I do remember about my friends, that probably most of their friends know about them, because it's just part of who they are. I know which of my friends enjoy the arts, which of my friends enjoy sports, which of my friends like pottery, which of my friends like reading, which of my friends enjoys playing ROOK...
The thing I seem most prone to forget though, and the thing I desperately need to remember and take to heart moment by moment, is the Gospel. That is, that though I am a wretched sinner that is unworthy of God's love, that He sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life, and then die a sinner's death, taking the sin of the world and the full wrath of God onto his being on the cross, and then three days later, He rose from the grave. And now Jesus sits at the righthand of God, and because He became the curse for me, through faith in His Provision and sacrifice, I can have eternal life. But not only do I have eternal life, when God looks upon me, He sees Jesus' righteousness, and His holiness, and His perfection, and it's not because of me or anything I have done or ever could do! It has NOTHING to do with me! And that's what I tend to forget.
Now, it's not like I forget the Gospel conceptually, I have just shared the Gospel with you. I know the Gospel. I understand the Gospel. I desperately need the Gospel. It indeed is my only hope.
It's more... well, sometimes I just don't live with the confidence the Gospel should impart... sometimes I live in guilt and only see my sinful depraved state before a Holy God who's wrath on sin is just and right and good. Sometimes I forget my sinful state and act like I could earn my own salvation by being good enough. Sometimes I forget to value the Gospel for the priceless treasure that it is, and I instead worship other idols that might be good things, but they are not meant to fulfill me the way that worshiping Christ should fulfill me. And these lessons are sometimes cyclicar, I grasp the Gospel one day, one moment, and elevate another idol the next. How can I forget this!??!!!
As I mentioned earlier in this blog, my beleif in the Gospel, the hope of my Salvation, has nothing to do with me. And that is a really great thing. I could never be good enough to deserve God's love. I could never earn enough gold stars to get into heaven. I cannot even come close to living a perfect life. I need to remember this truth, because salvation comes by faith alone, not in our good works. I need to be aware of my depravity and sinful state, to understand the complete mess I am in, to recognize my need for a Savior.
But in my times of forgetfulness... in the times when my heart looks to idols instead of Christ for fulfillment, in the times my heart is proud and forgets how depraved and sinful I really am... in those times which I forget, God's salvation in my life, and my election, still stands. In fact, the crazy thing, or one of the craziest things about salvation to me is, that God saves us knowing that we will forget! Knowing that we will continue to struggle with erecting different idols in our life, knowing that we will seek our joy in lesser things, knowing that we will still screw up royally... He knows that we are prone to forget... but He will never let us completely forget. He will remind us through His Word, and through His Body, (the local Gospel-centered church), through taking communion, through His Creation... He won't let us forget, because He is true to His promise of Salvation, and He is the source of our Faith.
There are some things I try really hard to remember but forget anyway. Like, my friend's birthdays... usually I remember what month they are in, but I forget the exact day... at least now I can cheat on Facebook and look up their birthdays online.
Sometimes I can remember the most random things about a person, like who enjoys the Dove chocolate promises, and who thinks they are ridiculous. Or, why a friend hates the song about the Christmas Shoes...
And then, some things I do remember about my friends, that probably most of their friends know about them, because it's just part of who they are. I know which of my friends enjoy the arts, which of my friends enjoy sports, which of my friends like pottery, which of my friends like reading, which of my friends enjoys playing ROOK...
The thing I seem most prone to forget though, and the thing I desperately need to remember and take to heart moment by moment, is the Gospel. That is, that though I am a wretched sinner that is unworthy of God's love, that He sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life, and then die a sinner's death, taking the sin of the world and the full wrath of God onto his being on the cross, and then three days later, He rose from the grave. And now Jesus sits at the righthand of God, and because He became the curse for me, through faith in His Provision and sacrifice, I can have eternal life. But not only do I have eternal life, when God looks upon me, He sees Jesus' righteousness, and His holiness, and His perfection, and it's not because of me or anything I have done or ever could do! It has NOTHING to do with me! And that's what I tend to forget.
Now, it's not like I forget the Gospel conceptually, I have just shared the Gospel with you. I know the Gospel. I understand the Gospel. I desperately need the Gospel. It indeed is my only hope.
It's more... well, sometimes I just don't live with the confidence the Gospel should impart... sometimes I live in guilt and only see my sinful depraved state before a Holy God who's wrath on sin is just and right and good. Sometimes I forget my sinful state and act like I could earn my own salvation by being good enough. Sometimes I forget to value the Gospel for the priceless treasure that it is, and I instead worship other idols that might be good things, but they are not meant to fulfill me the way that worshiping Christ should fulfill me. And these lessons are sometimes cyclicar, I grasp the Gospel one day, one moment, and elevate another idol the next. How can I forget this!??!!!
As I mentioned earlier in this blog, my beleif in the Gospel, the hope of my Salvation, has nothing to do with me. And that is a really great thing. I could never be good enough to deserve God's love. I could never earn enough gold stars to get into heaven. I cannot even come close to living a perfect life. I need to remember this truth, because salvation comes by faith alone, not in our good works. I need to be aware of my depravity and sinful state, to understand the complete mess I am in, to recognize my need for a Savior.
But in my times of forgetfulness... in the times when my heart looks to idols instead of Christ for fulfillment, in the times my heart is proud and forgets how depraved and sinful I really am... in those times which I forget, God's salvation in my life, and my election, still stands. In fact, the crazy thing, or one of the craziest things about salvation to me is, that God saves us knowing that we will forget! Knowing that we will continue to struggle with erecting different idols in our life, knowing that we will seek our joy in lesser things, knowing that we will still screw up royally... He knows that we are prone to forget... but He will never let us completely forget. He will remind us through His Word, and through His Body, (the local Gospel-centered church), through taking communion, through His Creation... He won't let us forget, because He is true to His promise of Salvation, and He is the source of our Faith.
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