Dear Friends,

There are two sides to every drachma. In today’s Christian thinking the Nihilist is on one side and the Humanist is on the other. Both are extremes of essential doctrines taught by Jesus Christ during His life on earth, and after His resurrection when He visited St. John on the Island of Patmos. Either extreme is a dangerous proposition that polarizes people against each other.

The Christian Nihilist believes nothing really matters since the whole Earth will burn in a zealously anticipated conflagration. The Christian Humanist believes Jesus Christ was an outstanding community organizer whose life ought to be studied (with a heavy pre-crucifixion focus) and emulated in order to “discover what it means to be human.”

I began thinking about these polarized ideas when I imagined George Handel and Michelangelo standing before God on Judgment Day. Will God destroy Handel’s Messiah sheet music one day? Will God lay waste to the Sistine Chapel? The Christian Nihilist would tell us, “What does it matter, everything is going to burn anyway. Besides, if Handel and Michelangelo weren’t truly saved they won’t be in Heaven.” The Christian Humanist would say, “Those things were entrenched in the religious political systems of their day, pure propagnada. Michelangelo and Handel were part of a system of oppression, keeping the common man excluded from the privileges of the wealthy elite.” To me, neither of these answers gives God or the artists much credit.

I stand beside Handel and Michelangelo and say the world does matter and it is worth fighting for. Each good deed we do counts. The risen Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is fully activated and working in the physical world right now. Everything we do on Earth matters. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice gets us back in the game; it doesn’t give us immunity from playing.

The thought that this whole world is going to burn and the “present age” doesn’t matter is not in the Bible I read. In the same way, focusing only on being a good human isn’t in the Bible either. We need to focus on both. God is with us. The Kingdom of Heaven is now, infusing our external and internal world. Like in the parable of “The Wheat and the Tares,” the good is growing with the bad. Having your ticket to Heaven punched by accepting Jesus into your heart then sitting back and waiting for the end isn’t enough, remember the Parable of the Two Sons ? In the midst of economic crisis and human influenced global climate change, let us remember that loving our neighbor includes creating artwork, building houses, economic policy, environmental stewardship, ending slavery and the sex trade, consumption habits, legislation, as well as watching your neighbors kids, cleaning their gutters, learning their names, hearing their stories, praying for them, and even passing out hugs.

Illuminating Understanding,

The Cinematographer
Stewart H. Redwine
C: 310-770-0448
E: sredwine@36parables.com