"It's okay....I can take it..."

You'll have to forgive me, because the geek in me is really going to come out on this one...

I watch Heroes avidly. Rain or shine, good season or writer's strike, busy or not--my eyes will be glued to the TV every Monday night at 8 PM. Judge me how you will, but I cannot deny it. ;-)

I remember a particular episode when Claire--a teenage girl who discovers that she can heal incredibly fast, even to the point of growing back severed limbs--and her mother found themselves trapped by a man who could control people's bodies much like a puppeteer. The problem--he was also very very sadistic. He forces the women to sit at a table and play a game of Russian Roulette. Then Claire gets an idea. If she gets shot, she won't die. It will hurt like nothing else, but she won't die. So, when fate hands them a good card and Claire's mom gets the gun, Claire looks at her and says, "Its okay, Mom. It's okay."

I forget how the scene ends exactly (the good guys win of course), but I think it's a pretty good illustration of what we've been talking about. Let's recap (see previous posts if this is your first time here): God is loving and just, which puts Him in a precarious position, because we, his favorite creation, are all guilty of breaking His law. So, while it pains Him to do it, He has to punish us. But thankfully, God is God, and He had a better idea. He sent us Jesus.

Without getting too deep into theological discussions (unless you want to go there!!), Jesus came to us as God in the flesh, and lived a perfect life. He never did, said, thought, or otherwise committed anything that was even close to breaking God's standard. But despite all that, He still died a horrible death. He was wrongfully accused of trying to start a rebellion and nailed to a cross. After He died, He was buried in a tomb for three days. But on that third day, He came back from the dead and went back to Heaven where He came from.

I know it's a crazy sounding story, but its all true (check out The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel if you're skeptical). Here's what it means to us: Jesus was truly a righteous man, and the death He received was undeserved. That means that the punishment that was given to Him had no sin paired with it to be punished for. Compare that with us, who have sins to be punished, but so far God has stayed His hand and not delivered it yet. So what did God do? What a loving and just God would do--He took the punishment given to Jesus and applied it to our sins. So, basically, we're the ones who broke the law, but it was Jesus who got punished for it. This is extremely unfair for Jesus, but it works. Now, because of Him, God's need to punish us is taken care of. We're set free from the results of our own law-breaking actions.

There is only one catch. In order for all of this to work, you have to completely believe it. Here's what that looks like: You have to admit that you needed Jesus to come down and die in your place to start with. You have to understand that because Jesus died, now you don't have to. And you have to be willing to do things God's way from now on--because Jesus' death was not a get out of jail free card, it was a second chance to do things right.

Those are the basics of what 99% of all Christianity is based on--Jesus coming and dying in our place for things that we did. From here, I want to start discussing some of the things that you have questions about. This is where you get to share what you've experienced, and hopefully, with the Bible and a little wisdom from God, I can try and patch up some of the holes that have been left. Feel free to comment on what I've said already or ask questions about other topics. Anything goes. Email and comment boxes are ready.

Keep Soaring,

B