Friday, February 1, 2013

LOVE IS THE ONLY CURE FOR DEATH


This feels like I am walking into a room that is familiar, but lined with dust. I haven't written in a while, due mainly to life just being life. Tonight was date night though. It's the rare time that I can go out in public with my wife and not be on patrol. We were in Belk at one point and I looked around me in wonder thinking, "It's weird not having to chase Ben around." I missed the little guy dearly and we always wind up talking about him at some point, guess that is just part of being a parent.

Sara and I went to eat and then to a movie, Warm Bodies. If you like zombies, it's for you. If you like romances, it's for you. If you don't like either, it's still for you. I've been on a kick recently of trying to find the meaning in things. I downloaded an app on my phone called Cultiword, which teaches you new words and their definitions through a process. Pretty neat if you like to know the meaning of big words and be able to use them colloquially (see what I did there, new word).

Warm Bodies isn't exactly the typical romantic story. Well, when you think about what's cool today, I guess it is pretty typical. Zombie/human love will probably be on the rise now. Anyway, there was a theme to this movie that went beyond zombies or "corpses" and their relationships. It was an idea. An idea that is common to the Christian faith, but is not commonly spoken about.

We focus on the negatives. You don't go to church, you don't listen to K-love, you don't look like me, you don't have a pulse (movie reference). And we in turn begin to look like bigots, racists, close-minded, hateful, arrogant, loveless people.

I'm not a free love guy, so don't think that I advocate acceptance without change. Christ calls me to change daily. It may be a small change, but it's a change nonetheless.

In the movie, a change begins to happen in R, the lead corpse. Without giving too much away, in the end, love turns him human, cures him. This is the type of story I've been waiting on for a while. A movie with a plot line where Love resurrects us from death.

Hmmm... Where have I heard that before?

In ancient Egypt, God spoke in the culture. On Mars Hill, God spoke through the culture to the people. Why can't we accept that God might be speaking to this culture, in this time, in this way, about His love that brings people from the grave, back to life?

It's a powerful message, simple yet profound. But this message will go unnoticed. This message will fall to the wayside and be dismissed as we look to this culture and say, "No, we don't accept you. No nothing you do or say is right." I think God, in His infinite wisdom, took aspects of the culture of the day, and revealed Himself in them.

The message is there folks, start a discussion, spread the word, let others know about the cure.