Comfortably Numb

     3/15/14        Phil (video - here)       21

Is it possible to truly have no concern for one’s eternal future?  Many people I talk to say they don’t care, like the young man in this video.  Phil believes in God and has just enough knowledge of Christianity to be aware of its teachings on heaven and hell, but says he doesn’t care either way.  He says he just trusts that God knows what is best, and if he ends up in hell, that will be what is best.  I find that hard to believe, and I’m not sure what to say, and I stumble through this part of the conversation in the video.  Does someone like this need to hear something like “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”?  Should he be enticed with “a better life now” since he doesn’t seem to care about the one to come?  Is that what God promises?  Or could it be that Phil’s lack of concern stems from a deeply held belief that God is good, and a good God wouldn’t send good people to hell.  And he would be right – God won’t send good people to hell – because there really are no good people, at least not in the biblical sense of the word.   Jesus said “No one is good except God alone” (Mk.10) and “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt.5).  Despite a recent college class on the Philosophy of Religion, Phil is, like more and more people in our society and in our churches, biblically illiterate.  He is comfortably numb when it comes to concern for eternity, because he doesn’t know (or conveniently forgets) the basics of how we are condemned for the sin and rebellion against God that began with Adam and continues in our lives today.  I asked Phil if he would like a better understanding of the Bible, and I began back in Genesis.  Of course I wanted so much to skip these basics, painful as they are, and jump ahead in the biblical narrative to share God’s love in Jesus, but it needs a context, a foundation, in order for it to make sense and be appreciated.  We don’t understand God’s love and mercy until we understand about the punishment that we really deserve due to our sin and God’s holy justice.  God’s grace doesn’t make sense – it doesn’t even register – without an understanding of God’s law. We must share the law so it can do what it was designed to do – “…the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”  (Gal. 3)