Going On To Perfection

I’m gonna have to go with worst series ending ever.  Really?  Best I can figure is the writers got trapped in a room with the Jim Croce song “Time in a Bottle” running over and over again.  No answers.  What was the deal with Walt?  Why did the smoke not kill Echo?  Why was the smoke originally related to chains and holes in the ground?  Too many questions unanswered except by the answer that the writers had no idea that this was going to get as big as it did.  With each season they had to come up with more mystery and shift their plot.  I’m sure they started writing with an ending in mind that was much different than what came about, but that’s what happens when money stretches a story beyond where it needed to be.

The ending did, however, point to a challenging problem in society today.  So everyone was in a world they created so that they could reunite and then journey on together?  So LOST ends up being a cheesy ‘choose your own story’ mystery where one person turns to page 7 and another turns to page 14 but they all up in the same place in the end.  The worst part is how this new age philosophy of choosing our own way and making up our own eternity has become so ingrained into American society and, sadly, even into the church.  Look at the very faith-filled and almost sacred imagery that was present throughout LOST – the struggle with good and evil, the importance of the cross (echo and Richard’s wife), a set of sparing twins (one named Jacob), the almost sacramental nature of choosing the protector of the island,… the list could go on.  There was great imagery of faith, but in the end the imagery was just that – imagery.  It was the trappings of truth wrapped around a lie.  And it is exactly the struggle that the church has today.  People, even people active in church, have come to believe that they are in control of their destiny and they can define it for themselves.  Truth, society has come to believe, is a relative concept.  I may think one thing is true and you another, but somehow, society says, both are true.  And if we can feel good about ourselves in the end without having to really accept that there are parts of us that are wrong that we cannot make right, then we have bought in fully to the lie the world is selling today.  The worst part is that we take this relative truth and mingle it with the truth of Christianity and make our own religion.  We decide what must be right and what is wrong and then we cobble together our philosophy on life and truth for ourselves.  So we accept the grace of the cross, but reject the call to righteousness.  We grab on to the forgiveness without seeking repentance.  We hold out salvation through faith, but we see it as only one way among many and everyone gets to choose their own way and make their own eternity.  The problem is that truth, by definition, isn’t relative.  Truth is absolute.  We can only have truth if there is one truth, no matter how much other things look and sound like truth.

The ending of LOST was disappointing, but eye opening to the pulse of society.  I hope it opened your eyes as well.  There is only one way to eternal life, and it is not through a world we create for ourselves – it is through true faith, living faith, in the grace that comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Without Him, we are truly LOST and our story will come to a sad and painful end.

There are two words that, while they seem innocent, are really some of the most destructive words in the world – “prove it.”  Wars have been started over the simple concept of someone trying to prove they are right and someone else is wrong.  Relationships are ruined when one party draws the line in the sand and demands that proof be offered that they are the ones that are in error.  Time and energy are wasted daily as we spend our days trying to prove that what we say is right is right and what others say is wrong.

Frankly, I’ve had enough of it.  So if you are asking me to “prove it”, my answer is a polite, “no thank you.”

Now this isn’t to say that I don’t have proof for what I believe or am unwilling to consider that my way of thinking is incorrect.  I don’t think that I am somehow above being wrong or have all the right answers.  But there is a big difference between exploring a topic together and laying down sides and taking up arms in an argument.  I am more than willing to answer questions about my beliefs and to ask questions to others if I think that it will help me or others come to a deeper understanding of an issue.  But when a discussion turns to me defending my position while another defends their position and neither of us are going to budge from the issue, I’d rather not.  ”Prove it” is not an inquiry into the what and how of what I think, it is a challenge to draw a line in the sand and to take up arms in a battle of wits.  And, frankly, I have too much to do in life to spend it distracted in a war that cannot be won.

So, if you have a question about what I believe and why, feel free to ask.  If I have a question about what you believe and why I’ll ask.  I’ll be glad to talk together.  But if it comes down to “prove it”, whether it is actually stated that way or not, just know in advance that I’m just not interested.  You mean more to me than an argument, and I hope I do to you as well.