The Living Dead

Recently watched "I am Legend," with Will Smith. Talk about intense. The movie didn't have much music, so when something scary happened, it just knocked the socks right off of you. The main antagonists of this film were zombie/undead type characters (though I'm not going to let the movie out of the bag completely).

There's got to be something to this pattern of zombie/derranged-undead type creature movies that have been so common in the theaters in the last 50 or so years. There was "28 Days Later," and "Dawn of the Dead," and "Shawn of the Dead," and "Dawn of the Dead 2," and then came "28 Weeks Later," and on and on it goes. That crazy Romero guy that invented the zombie genre with "Night of the Living Dead" must be pretty proud.

So why do the living dead both fascinate and scare us at the same time? Could it be because we embody something of them, even though our flesh is vibrant and not falling off at the moment? Could it be that in these movies, we some faint reflection of ourselves as human beings that though alive must cope with the reality that one day, we will die, and it won't be pretty?

I can't say, but I know one thing--without God interrupting our world with the Gospel--all we can look forward to is the torture of an unknowing approach to death and the cold grip of its chilling effects, with no hope of life--no hope of personality--a descent into non-existence that confuses, frightens, and frustrates people everywhere. That is the natural state of our minds in regard to our mortality...unless there is another answer. Ephesians says of the lost (those without saving knowledge of the God of the Bible through Christ): "you...who were dead in trespasses and sins." (2:1). So! There it is! We are dead normally! Furthermore, when the Bible refers to hell, it speaks of unending death--the "second death" (Rev. 21:8), where "Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:47).

Our world is overhung by the shadow of death. We live in a world of walking dead...

Unless we know the Gospel and the Hope it gives in the Son Jesus Christ--
Ephesians goes on and says that death is not the end if we come to know God: "...even when we were dead in trespasses, (He) made us alive together with Christ" (2:5).

Actually, we do live in "The Land of the Dead," but today you can trust Christ who can make you alive. You "who sat in the region and shadow of death," (Matt. 4:16) may be made alive in Him today--He is the living One amongst the zombie hoards.

I'm terrible at blogging!

I never write anything.

Reflections on My Last Poll

Just so you guys don't think that I've forgotten to talk about the poll on salvation experiences, I wanted to say a quick word. The poll was almost uniform in the number of people who said that they had had a salvation-type experience as a child that they did not consider to be their true saving entrance into a relationship with Jesus Christ. One person replied that they had always kept following Jesus since they had been saved. I was surprised that I did not have a reader that was saved at a young age and that fell away for a season and then returned, through repentance, to Christ. Frankly, I expected more than one of these responses.

My main question that I want to ask on this subject next time is this: How can a young professing Christian tell the difference between the discipline of God on their life for unfaithfulness and regular pangs of conscience and guilt they feel for violating a norm of their childhood?

Now in one sense, the only answer to any wayward person is "repent...now!" In this way, Baptists and Methodists have more in common than one might think at first, regarding their view of how to deal with unfaithful professing Christians. However, when we get back to my main question, something else important arises:

Can we know the difference between the troubled conscience of a religious lost person and the conviction of sin and discipline that attends the disobedience of the faithful?

I'll give you a chance to sound off. I'll post next time on my studies of this topic.

Update on Ruthie

My mother-in-law received some bad news this weekend from a CAT scan, but the bad news was tempered by a little good news. The bad news is as follows:

1. She has a blood clot on her renal (kidney) blood vessel (dangerous to the heart/lungs).
2. This clot is probably caused by an as-yet unidentified growth near her kidney, which is also causing her back pain.
3. She has a tumor growing again on her cervix (I think this is right, but I'm not totally sure).
4. She has cancerous nodules (small tumors) on her lungs, and fluid on her lungs.

The good news was the following:

1. Ruth is already been placed on blood thinners to lessen the danger from the clot.
2. Doctors may put a filter in her vessel to lessen the danger from clot rupture.
3. She can now receive specific treatments for these as-yet unidentified tumors (the doctor was upbeat about her condition because the immediate danger (the clots) is now being treated). Ruth will undergo chemotherapy soon for the cancer. As yet, I do not know the status for future surgeries (beyond the filter).

Continue to pray. Cancer is a spiritual battle as well as a physical one. Thank you all for all your prayers thus far.

Christ be with you all.

Greg