Thursday, April 27, 2006
Fake Blood and the Da Vinci Code
When we were in early teens, a bunch of us boys in Green Acres subdivision in Franklin, Tennessee thought it would be cool to steal Mrs. Erwin's scarecrow she had in a rocking chair on her front porch. We had plans for the lifeless dummy. We wanted to make it look real by squirting it with ketchup. We'd seen fake blood when the wrestlers out of Nashville put on a match at a school.
Jackie Fargo, Koko B. Ware, ToJo Yamamoto, and Jerry Lawler would always bust open a few skulls as we sat at the edge of the bleachers anticipating blood. When it happened, when blood trickled down the face of a wrestler, we'd cheer for more. We'd jump to our feet and put each other in headlocks or throw our own phony punches, laughing and forgetting our own lives were so screwed up.
And once the blood was let, they'd mingle it with sweat and sling it around, trying to shake the bogus cobwebs from their heads. So we knew what fake blood looked like. We knew it made the girls squeamish. We thought it would make our stolen dummy look real. So we drug it behind the dumpster at Jewell's Market at the edge of the neighborhood, and we bought ketchup and soaked our dummy with fake blood.
Smug in our blood letting ability, we took the bloody dummy to the bridge that led through the neighborhood and laid him in the middle of the road. Then we hid in the bushes and watched like the producers of Candid Camera or Punk'd.
We wanted to see horror on faces. We wanted them to believe they'd nearly killed an already dead man. I can remember how my heart raced while I remained hidden and watched. It was exhilarating to watch cars approaching, wondering what would be the reaction.
Some slowed and swerved before gassing back to the neighborhood speed limit, which caused us to yell at their taillights, "Hey! You about ran over a man here!" Others stopped and rolled down their windows and quickly realized they'd been snookered by a dummy covered with ketchup. This hurt us. Even though Mrs. Erwin's scarecrow-dummy wasn't that realistic, we felt our fake blood was convincing.
A lot of people see the body and blood of Christ as a dead body with fake blood. No reason to stop and think twice. No resurrection. No eternal life caused by his blood. And if the new movie based on the Da Vinci Code book says anything, then it says, "Let us throw out a dead Jesus with fake blood. Let us remake him in our own image. For Jesus is not divine. He's a prophet, a good teacher, but not God."
Sad to say but there are many who are slamming on their brakes and falling for the movie's claim. Others are rolling slowly past with their windows down, while Dan Brown, the Da Vinci Code author and others like him are hidden in the bushes, loving the impact of their dead Jesus with fake blood.
Regrettably, all of us must consider the movie's claim that Jesus wasn't divine, that he wasn't a savior at all, but part of a conspiracy that the church has covered up. They believe inside Da Vinci's painting lies the truth in codes.
Maybe our reaction should be like one man who saw our dead-dummy with fake blood and stopped one humid night as the creek flowed below the bridge, as we hid in the bushes. He got out of his car and yelled, "Hey, you bunch of morons! This doesn't even look real from a block away." We didn't throw rocks or come out of hiding. We breathed through our noses and watched as he kicked the dummy off the bridge and into the creek, and then climbed inside his car and motored away.
So, come on, people. Who are these guys kidding with their dead Jesus covered in fake blood? Jesus was more than a prophet, more than a good man. He was God of very God. He was the real Son of God with divinity coursing through his veins. Without his death and shed blood there would be no remittance of sins. Without divinity, Jesus would be just a mere man who came to say, "Everyone must get better. Everyone must live holier lives to get to heaven."
But anyone who has tried to be holy for more than an hour knows it can't fully be done. We don't need a great teacher, which Jesus clearly was. We don't need a prophet to tell us to live holier lives, which Jesus clearly taught. Because to stop here makes everything depend on us. What are the consequences if the Da Vinci Code is right about Jesus being only a great teacher without divinity? Those who believe this will have to stand before God on the merits of their own strength. Am I good enough? Did I live a righteous life? Did I observe Christ's teachings rigidly? Did I sacrifice my life to follow these teachings? Was I good enough? And of course, there is a lot of ambiguity and chance, a roll of the dice with tremendous odds.
What are the consequences if I am wrong about Jesus' divinity? I will stand in line with everyone else to find out if I was good enough. What are the consequences if I'm right? Eternal life based upon the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. I'm not on trial before God. Christ is. And He conquered death and the grave for me. I live on the basis of Christ's death.You have to think about this, because this is the choice that Dan Brown's, The Da Vinci Code claims. It has nothing to do with how it interprets history. It has everything to do with how you interpret Jesus in history.
Their history debacle is a smokescreen meant to throw you off the trail of grace. Without grace, we are bumbling idiots with no hope. Who can keep the whole Law? Of course, the answer is no one. This is why we need a Savior who makes us holy by his death on a cross. Because anything less is a dead-dummy with fake blood.
(For further reading on this subject, see the second chapter in my new book, God, How Much Longer? Click link to buy: http://snipurl.com/pqxx).
Jackie Fargo, Koko B. Ware, ToJo Yamamoto, and Jerry Lawler would always bust open a few skulls as we sat at the edge of the bleachers anticipating blood. When it happened, when blood trickled down the face of a wrestler, we'd cheer for more. We'd jump to our feet and put each other in headlocks or throw our own phony punches, laughing and forgetting our own lives were so screwed up.
And once the blood was let, they'd mingle it with sweat and sling it around, trying to shake the bogus cobwebs from their heads. So we knew what fake blood looked like. We knew it made the girls squeamish. We thought it would make our stolen dummy look real. So we drug it behind the dumpster at Jewell's Market at the edge of the neighborhood, and we bought ketchup and soaked our dummy with fake blood.
Smug in our blood letting ability, we took the bloody dummy to the bridge that led through the neighborhood and laid him in the middle of the road. Then we hid in the bushes and watched like the producers of Candid Camera or Punk'd.
We wanted to see horror on faces. We wanted them to believe they'd nearly killed an already dead man. I can remember how my heart raced while I remained hidden and watched. It was exhilarating to watch cars approaching, wondering what would be the reaction.
Some slowed and swerved before gassing back to the neighborhood speed limit, which caused us to yell at their taillights, "Hey! You about ran over a man here!" Others stopped and rolled down their windows and quickly realized they'd been snookered by a dummy covered with ketchup. This hurt us. Even though Mrs. Erwin's scarecrow-dummy wasn't that realistic, we felt our fake blood was convincing.
A lot of people see the body and blood of Christ as a dead body with fake blood. No reason to stop and think twice. No resurrection. No eternal life caused by his blood. And if the new movie based on the Da Vinci Code book says anything, then it says, "Let us throw out a dead Jesus with fake blood. Let us remake him in our own image. For Jesus is not divine. He's a prophet, a good teacher, but not God."
Sad to say but there are many who are slamming on their brakes and falling for the movie's claim. Others are rolling slowly past with their windows down, while Dan Brown, the Da Vinci Code author and others like him are hidden in the bushes, loving the impact of their dead Jesus with fake blood.
Regrettably, all of us must consider the movie's claim that Jesus wasn't divine, that he wasn't a savior at all, but part of a conspiracy that the church has covered up. They believe inside Da Vinci's painting lies the truth in codes.
Maybe our reaction should be like one man who saw our dead-dummy with fake blood and stopped one humid night as the creek flowed below the bridge, as we hid in the bushes. He got out of his car and yelled, "Hey, you bunch of morons! This doesn't even look real from a block away." We didn't throw rocks or come out of hiding. We breathed through our noses and watched as he kicked the dummy off the bridge and into the creek, and then climbed inside his car and motored away.
So, come on, people. Who are these guys kidding with their dead Jesus covered in fake blood? Jesus was more than a prophet, more than a good man. He was God of very God. He was the real Son of God with divinity coursing through his veins. Without his death and shed blood there would be no remittance of sins. Without divinity, Jesus would be just a mere man who came to say, "Everyone must get better. Everyone must live holier lives to get to heaven."
But anyone who has tried to be holy for more than an hour knows it can't fully be done. We don't need a great teacher, which Jesus clearly was. We don't need a prophet to tell us to live holier lives, which Jesus clearly taught. Because to stop here makes everything depend on us. What are the consequences if the Da Vinci Code is right about Jesus being only a great teacher without divinity? Those who believe this will have to stand before God on the merits of their own strength. Am I good enough? Did I live a righteous life? Did I observe Christ's teachings rigidly? Did I sacrifice my life to follow these teachings? Was I good enough? And of course, there is a lot of ambiguity and chance, a roll of the dice with tremendous odds.
What are the consequences if I am wrong about Jesus' divinity? I will stand in line with everyone else to find out if I was good enough. What are the consequences if I'm right? Eternal life based upon the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. I'm not on trial before God. Christ is. And He conquered death and the grave for me. I live on the basis of Christ's death.You have to think about this, because this is the choice that Dan Brown's, The Da Vinci Code claims. It has nothing to do with how it interprets history. It has everything to do with how you interpret Jesus in history.
Their history debacle is a smokescreen meant to throw you off the trail of grace. Without grace, we are bumbling idiots with no hope. Who can keep the whole Law? Of course, the answer is no one. This is why we need a Savior who makes us holy by his death on a cross. Because anything less is a dead-dummy with fake blood.
(For further reading on this subject, see the second chapter in my new book, God, How Much Longer? Click link to buy: http://snipurl.com/pqxx).
