That Phony Death -- Addendum

After my last blog post, I felt I had to write a bit more about what I'd written.

First, one may wonder why I don't know the spiritual condition of my stepbrother. The reason is that I'm not really close to him. Physically he lives near Seattle, and I've never had the opportunity to really interact with him. Last summer (2005) we did get more acquainted at my father's 70th birthday party. Shortly after that he discovered his medical condition. We have communicated a bit since then, sending a card, exchanging emails, those sorts of things.

Second, I have only referred to him as "my stepbrother," because I have this nervousness about throwing names around on the web. I think I'm invading the privacy of others in doing so, however, in many ways that too is a Catholicist-based fear. People reading this may want to genuinely pray for him. With that in mind, his name is Randy. In fact, his fine blog is here.

I can make a pretty good guess about what his spiritual condition is, though. He was brought up with a lot of New Age inculcation, that nebulous idea that we're all just beloved children of the Great Cosmic Oneness, that sort of thing. He's a computer engineer by trade, and at the risk of stereotyping, many with such a mindset have put a great deal of faith in science and at the same time dismissed considerations of God. Does Randy do this? The one thing I can reference is his blog, and nowhere in it is any mention of God or a spiritual dimension to his plight. At times he'll make mention of a pithy saying or concern, but to some degree this tells me that his trust is just not in The Person but rather the philosophy of whatever it is that gets him through.

This relates to another key point to clarify from the last blog, that of the News Corp. promotion of O.J. Simpson. The reason this is so profound is that Randy has surely been blasted by the same "public relations" campaign that gets so many to buy into the rejection of God. How much power does News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch have to get millions of people to censure an utterly reprobate endeavor! How much power they have to get everyone to idolize O.J. to begin with-- even if that worship is a sort of an incessant visceral loathing.

So what to do? Yes, as I said, pray. Pray that God would blast Randy with Him. Thing is, He does that with those who are His.

And that could be me.

I could be the one who says "Jesus" to him.

Yesterday I lamented the concern that I'd mess it up. I wanted to address this for a minute.

It does indeed seem very self-serving. No question. To be so concerned about what I'll say and how that will affect me is reprehensible indeed. But that's part of precisely what I said yesterday--

That Catholicist stuff is still in there messing with me-- thus, the need to pray like nothing else about that. It is simple. I do want to love Randy, and the way to love him is to tell him about the One who will give him what it is he truly wants. Life, unending life, unending life with his loved ones, unending life with his loved ones in a place where no one can ever hurt anyone ever again.

It's what we all want.

But me, aagh, I'm just being honest-- the way I've been taught to tell others about Him is so damn Catholicized.

Me: "Ask Jesus to come into your heart."

Him: "Ah, yeah, a very scary dead guy hanging on a cross, in my heart. Riiight..."

Me: "Be born-again."

Him: "Sure, like I want to be with a bunch of crazy shaking arm-waving 'born-again' Christians. Nah, not for me."

Me: "You'll go to hell without Jesus."

Him: "So if I don't believe the way you believe, thennnn I suffer unending agony, and you'rrre eating ambrosia by the pool. How arrogant."

Strike three.

So, yeah, really...

I just want to let the Lion loose.

That's really all it takes. Just let Him be Him. He kicks the pants off of any of the World's idiocy. Why can't I just let Him loose?

Read a story today about how there is a gene in our bodies that causes us to age by destroying cells. Thing is, this actually prevents cancer. It prevents it because it keeps those healthy cells from getting so eager as to start becoming tumors. I thought about that, and about how the Darwinists will say things like this particular gene has an "evolutionary purpose."

Huh?

I only make note of this because here's Randy, probably has faith in the evolution thing, and he'll so readily buy into the idea that there is some "purpose" in something that by definition has no purpose.

If it were any more ridiculous it'd be tragic.

Well, wait a minute, it is.

So what to do. Pray, pray, pray, certainly. But what are the other patently non-Catholicist things to do? First, just ask him where he's at. How presumptuous for me to think he's so intractable that he wouldn't want the one thing that would be his life. If he is so disinclined, then maybe I will have still planted that seed. That's all Jesus wants us to do. He's the gardener.

Secondly, be willing to keep the conversation going. I'm already saddened that I can't tell him to gather with the elders of his church to anoint him with oil and pray for him. With all churches mere 501c3 God clubs, where would he find such a group? I am hampered a bit by having to communicate merely through email, but I should be thanking God that we have that!

Finally, again, just be His truth-- let the Lion loose. He meant what He said: "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will never die." Whoa. That's so major. And so easy to say! And at the same time, just be His grace. I don't have to pound anything over his head the way many Catholicized evangelicals do. I just want to be his friend.

Thanks for reading. Just by doing that, I've been moved to do the wonderful, simple things that are precisely what God wants from us more than anything else.

To love another with His love.