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"Keep it interesting"


Keep it interesting... That was the command given by the jail sergeant to Opie as he handed him a pipe to defend himself on last week's episode of Sons of Anarchy.  While a pipe may seem pretty useful, one's chances of survival are pretty slim when up against 4 gang members in a small room.  Moments later, viewers watched Opie's character meet his end by that very pipe.

Sons of Anarchy is now in its fifth season, and I've been a faithful follower for every one of those.  I won't condone it's low morals or promote it's viewership, but the high intensity and grittiness of each episode has me hooked.  As the third episode of this season ended, I found myself wondering why am I and why are we as humans, particularly Christians, so desensitized to death and violence?  I laid in bed that night and I wondered, Did that just happen?  Am I okay with that happening?  Why do I set aside time and energy to watch this?  As the minutes passed by and I couldn't fall asleep, my thought pattern drifted to this question, What happened to the human race?  

The easy answer for Christians is simple, it's because of sin.  I don't want easy though, I want a logical path that humanity went down to lead us to where we are today.  The Bible speaks to us from Genesis 4 telling the story of Cain and Abel.  The first murder recorded in human history was an older brother killing his younger brother because the Lord looked more favorably upon Abel's offering.  This murder came about out of jealousy, is that where we are today?  We live in a time where violence and murder is promoted in gang culture.  We live in a time where video games featuring war and violence involving military and fantasy characters are the best-sellers.  We live in a time where engineers and scientists around the globe attempt to create the most technologically-advanced weaponry that allows killing to occur distantly and without personal contact.  We live in a time where most Western Christian traditions accept, promote, and support their members to join the armed forces knowing they have a high likelihood of involvement in combat rather than peace.  We live in a time where murder and war takes place not out of jealousy, but because human life is viewed as a commodity and a mere representation of political and partisan ideals.  We live in a time where we accept pain, murder, and death, and we seem to be okay with that.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them...The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Gen. 1:1,27; 2:7 ESV).  

The God whom we serve has created and continues to create all life that exists.  He didn't just created Adam and Eve, and leave us.  He breathes life.  Our God, who made us in his image, is a life giver, and by his grace a live sustainer.  Why are we, his image bearers, so quick to promote life's end, so quick to fight wars, so quick to thirst for bloodshed as a way of "justice"?

My search for logical answers to why and how has taken me down a cold, endless trail, and ultimately, I'm left with the single word answer of "sin".  I'll probably still continue to watch Sons of Anarchy, but not with the same lens.  I have friends that have served and currently serve in the military, and I do not know how to bring up the issue.  The world around us searches for a lens by which will come answers, meaning, and value.  As Christians, our lens shows us that we have life and are called to preserve life because our God holds true life!  May our decisions and how we relate to everyone in our world show the lens we look through.

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