Love. So much has been written, sung, created, joined, saved, married, and born… a universe generated from our God’s love, LOVE so powerful, that, from that love, life burst forth from nothing. God loved life beyond our comprehension that somehow, a universe grew from that love. In that split second of the big bang our souls grabbed ahold of a teeny, tiny piece of that love, and we have been happy sad laughing crying jumping crawling all at the same time, and this, THIS moves this fragile life of ours. You feel it swell in your chest that you lose your breath and your stomach quivers. You digest it to the point of exhaustion and your legs are weak. (more…)
Injustice, Addiction, Hatred, Cancer, Earthquakes, Disease, Human trafficking, Famine, Pride, Revenge, Depression, Greed, Torture, Murder, War, Genocide, Darkness
Those are the words in a TV commercial advertising a sermon at Second Baptist Church in Houston concerning EVIL as in “Really evil. Like so evil, that you would say it was E-VEEL, like it’s the FRU-ETS of the DEV-EEL. E-VEEL.” 1 But wait! The plot thickens to include Satan (sticking with SNL folks, see the included video for emphasis on SATAN!!!) and his dreaded agenda.
Why am I being so over-the-top about this commercial? I’m glad you asked. It’s because the whole commercial and sermon are so over-the-top in preaching fear and dread and God’s gonna save ya, and we’re here to tell you how.
With this type of fear-inducing propaganda, no wonder people have lost God and religion. I mean several of the items mentioned in the commercial are God’s handiwork, and God doesn’t produce evil only love. And then some of them, just because some people don’t understand the world and science, might seem evil, like we should be burning a witch at the stake evil for causing the dastardly deeds. Of course, the producers did manage to slip in a few truly horrific acts to boost and group the seemingly every day acts as works of the devil. I mean when you see earthquake in the same sentence as genocide, you just gotta run and get a bible. So let’s examine these words and breakdown how they are evil… evil…evil… fades into scary Vincent Price laughter.
Injustice – Right out the gate, that’s not evil; the world isn’t fair; life sucks. We all have hard times. That doesn’t make injustice evil. We don’t understand it, but again, doesn’t make it evil. Sometimes, bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. But really, we don’t know who is good and who is bad. Only God know that. We only know what we perceive. If this life was all fine and dandy why would we need to go to Heaven?
Addiction – Not evil, it is simply science. Our bodies and brains are wired for addictive habits and chemicals. Other animals, besides humans, become addicted. Is Satan smiting them as well? No. Calling addiction evil is displacing the blame, and it doesn’t really help the individuals who are addicted. I’m not saying God can’t cure addition. I’m just saying that this human function is not evil.
Hatred, Revenge – I am grouping those two together because they are the polar opposite of what Jesus taught. They are not good, but it is human nature to feel hatred or want revenge. That is why Jesus taught love and forgiveness. We shouldn’t mention the negative words of hatred and revenge. A church that only talks of love and forgiveness every Sunday for a hundred years will heal more hurt, generate more love, and bring more peace.
Cancer – Kind of created by God. If you believe he created our bodies and God’s work is perfect, then, cancer plays some role in God’s work. We don’t understand it clearly, but that doesn’t make it evil. Trust me. I don’t like cancer. I have lost loved ones to cancer, and I have loved ones battling cancer. It is an awful disease, but caused by Satin it ain’t.
Earthquakes – Created by God. If you believe he created this world, and again, that God’s work is perfect, then earthquakes play a role in our world, and in fact, they do; earthquakes relieve tension built up in the earth’s crusts. Without earthquakes, this world would not be the same place. Tragic as they are when people lose their lives doesn’t make earthquakes evil.
Disease, Famine – I grouped these two because I am getting tired of stating created by God, and if you believe blah… blah… blah. Both of these are part of this world. They are terrible. I don’t want people to die due to famines, but famines are simple science. Science sometimes sucks. Sometimes the science of the world we live in creates organisms that kill us. Again, these are terrible circumstances in our world, but not evil.
Depression – I jumped to this one in the list, because I wanted to conclude the list of items that are clearly not evil with this one. I suffer from depression. I have my whole life. I know it is not evil. Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in our bodies. You would think that with the recent death of Robin Williams that people would quit stigmatizing depression, but leave it to the “Christians” to demonize a condition that affects millions of people.
Pride, Greed – Clearly these are not our best qualities, but we all sin. We all feel pride. We all feel greed. Ask for forgiveness from God and move on. Don’t dwell on the bad aspects of who we are. While I wouldn’t call these sins evil, I can see how someone might. Are they caused by the guy with horns and a pitchfork? If they are, he gets around more than Santa Claus. Wait a minute. Santa. Satan. Church lady do we have a problem here?
Human trafficking, Torture, Murder, War, Genocide – I’m not going to argue against evil. These are evil. But I will add again, I believe they are simply sprinkled in this list to make the other items seem evil by association. What are we to make of these? Jesus said wars would happen. People die. TV shows and churches love the gory details. They get ratings and fill the pews.
Darkness – This is so vague that I don’t even know where to begin.
I’m glad I don’t have to give a couple of sermons on these topics. I don’t know how I would fill the time, but I bet, a lengthy sermon will not be difficult to achieve. I don’t know why this commercial moved me so much. Some people might argue it was the devil that made me write this. If they want to believe that, I can’t help them. I will pray for them. I will pray that everyone caught up in this hoopla sees God’s glory through love, forgiveness, and grace. You don’t need to know bad stuff is out in this world to know that God has got your back. He does. Trust me.
If you’re wondering why I didn’t include a link to the video or website about the sermon, I just didn’t want to promote any more than I already have by writing this blog post. If you want to see the video, Google it. I’m sure evil Google will have no problem directing you to the proper website.
The man, motionless, sagging as a weathered piece of wallpaper –
tearing from the top, hangs, hangs, hangs
from the blood-stained frame worn smooth from daily crucifixions.
With knees bent awkwardly to the left and arms outstretched and nailed to wood,
his chin rests upon his bloody chest as the body protrudes from the cross.
Dark, blood-stained eyes stare out upon a red-washed landscape,
scanning the world full of people, near and off in the distance, now and lives to come;
his breathing is labored, each exhale painful from bruised ribs
each inhale impossible from the weight of his limp body;
the man struggles, licks his parched lips and speaks…
Father… forgive them… for they… for they… do not know… what they do…
they hurt they do not know they do not comprehend i love them you love them let me bear their pain their suffering i beg you please take all their pain and place upon me I will endure all who will hurt put their pain on me all their tragedies heartaches sufferings illnesses the years will come and go but they will not change they will always be scared IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS my body is weak take away the hurt i am SCARED i am so afraid of dying father so scared i feel alone will they ever understand why will they answer me i just want them to love you i just want them to love you i just want them to know who i am who i am who i am know who i am to know how much you love them
The swell of bystanders murmuring, pointing, and snickering, at the man
relish in the festivities of Roman ringleaders as they gamble for his clothing.
But, as hours float away and the sun scorches the ground, the crowd, the man –
uninterested spectators wander away to tend to more pressing affairs.
forgive me if I have failed as i gave all I had you lied i hurt i am dying father FATHER F A T H EERRR
The man struggles to lift his head heavenward and screams
in a broken voice that could have been yelled by an eighty-year-old smoker.
My God… My God… why… Why! Why have you forsaken me!
no no no no no no no father i feel you here beside me holding me loving me comforting me revealing to me let your will be done I am terrified I must die I will carry their load suffer their sins I will pay their debt let your will be done I love them you love them I give all that I am all that I will be all that love offers Let my suffering my suffering be their glory
Warm moist air pushes rain heavy clouds across the sky
casting the area into a dull lifeless masterpiece of gray.
The day has drifted into eternity.
With a smile on his lips and glimmer in his eyes
the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior lifts his head forgive them for they do not know what they do – and speaks
Injustice, Addiction, Hatred, Cancer, Earthquakes, Disease, Human trafficking, Famine, Pride, Revenge, Depression, Greed, Torture, Murder, War, Genocide, Darkness
Compiling God's Code 