Almost a month ago I promised that that my next post would address why I think that both Alexa and I both "deserve the same". I didn't think the post would be hard to write but for some reason I've had trouble articulating my thoughts on this and I've been sitting on a half-written post.
If you're not sure what I'm talking about, scroll down and find my last blog installment from September 10th, entitled, "Sowing and Reaping," and read that first. This is a follow up to that post in which I talked about how the Bible says that people (Alexa and myself included) generally reap what they sow. Considering my choices and her choices, I posited that because Alexa has sown little or bad seed and (though I'm far from perfect) I've sown better seed, I am reaping a more pleasant "harvest". But on two levels I believe that we are completely equal and therefore deserve the same.
Here I will insert a warning. If you reject the Bible as being true and accurate, you might just completely disagree with this blog entry because it's based on a Bibical worldview. But I would love for you to read on anyway. If you get a good chuckle out of it, and that's okay with me.
When I met my husband Paul, he had a framed copy of Psalm 139 hanging on the wall of his bathroom. Here are verses 13 through 16:
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
And here's Genesis 1:27:
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
My point from the Psalm: God made you, me, and Alexa.
My point from Genesis: God made you, me, and Alexa in his own image.
Wow! I truly believe that in his infinite wisdom, God created the first man and the first woman, and me, and you, and Alexa, in his own likeness. And that he crafted each one of us personally and individually, with plans and purposes for our lives. So Alexa and I are both hand-wrought by God, formed perfectly to his precise specifications, and most certainly equal in that we were designed by God--each with our own special gifts and talents--different, but equal.
Even my friends who think I'm in Crazyland will probably agree with the above in a general sense. We are immersed in a culture that holds up equality and human rights and I'm proud that those things are valued in this place and time. The second sentence of our very own United States Declaration of Independence states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..." Yes, even if we differ on who created us and how we were created, we can probably all agree that Alexa and I were created equal as valuable individuals, and in that sense "deserve the same".
So I'm thinking we all agree on my first point--that Alexa and I are equal, and on that level we "deserve the same". On to my second idea:
I took Elementary Education training in college, and I remember there I was presented with conflicting philosophies of children's behavior and basic character. One school of thought was the "tabula rasa", which if I recall correctly is the Latin phrase for "blank slate". The idea is that children are born not good nor evil, but as blank slates. This position holds that they learn their behaviors from the environment that surrounds them. Since it's been 15 to 20 years, I can't precisely remember what the competing idea was named, however, the gist was that children are born good and that any evil in them results from corrupting forces in the environment. Those were the only two possibilities taught to me as educational background theory of morality in children. Either they are born "blank slates" or they are "born good".
Umm, there seems to be another possibility. Perhaps in my educational training we should have explored the third logical possibility as well. In any case, the Bible takes the third position--that people are born not perfect, not blank slates, but actually born in a state of moral brokenness--that is, ever since "the fall". (This position may have helped me understand the student who threw a desk chair at me the first week I was teaching 4th grade!)
The Bible says that we all do wrong and we are "dead in our transgressions" and that we have no moral ability on our own to resurrect ourselves. I've heard my pastor Randy Pope give an illustration on this concept. Here's my retelling of it: Suppose one person dies peacefully in his sleep and is embalmed, dressed in his best clothes, and placed in a handsome mahogany coffin with cushioned interior. Now imagine another man who dies in the woods and is not found for three weeks. It is the middle of summer and the man as been exposed to the elements and the wildlife of the forest for 21 days. In you mind's eye, take a look at the two men side-by-side.
Which one is more dead?
Duh, they are both equally dead, even though one smells worse. My point here being that although Alexa does illegal drugs, has no money, has a criminal record, etc., it's only that she "smells worse" than me. While I don't show as many outer signs of brokeness, Alexa and I are both unholy individuals in the eyes of a perfectly holy God. Without his redemption of us both, we would both be completely lost.
Last week Alexa shared with me that she believes in God and has a relationship with him through his son Jesus Christ. She asked me to take her to church next week if she's still in the area. No matter what we smell like, I believe that Alexa and I are both beloved by Almighty God. Neither of us deserves his love, but he gives it to us anyway. Amen and hallelujah.
