Human – Andy Wrasman

Zombies! I went to a gun show recently and I was shocked to see Zombie Ammo and Zombie shooting targets! I even saw a Zombie Obama shooting target. I have a friend whose greatest dream would be for there to actually be a Zombie Apocalypse, so he can put to use all the knowledge and survivor skills he has learned from video games and movies over the years. Why the Zombie obsession? What’s the big deal? Why are we attracted to Zombie culture right now?

I have watched all the first two seasons of the Walking Dead, and I personally love it. Someone asked me why do I watch it? I told them because it is more than just shooting walking brain-eating zombies. The Walking Dead presents many interesting questions to consider, such as:

1. What makes us human? What separates us from the animals, in this case, the zombies?

2. Are there any scenarios in life in which it is better to kill someone, even if the person is innocent, for the greater good of the larger community? This scenario arose in The Walking Dead, Season 2. If they let a person live, he’d likely return to his community that would then come to wreck deathly havoc and pillaging upon the community that the series follows. It’s not certain, but it’s most likely? The guy could be innocent and could be trusted, but he’s likely guilty and could endanger everyone. The show had a debate and vote to see if they should kill him for the greater good of their community. It was an interesting debate from both sides, and again it makes us question the value of human life, and when it should be protected, and if it can ever be justified to kill a person to protect others we care and love.

3. Zombie movies and shows, if they are created for more than just depicting blood and guts, also do a good job making us question what we value most in life. What are we living for now? If everything was turned upside down in the world, and all of our consumeristic lifestyle was destroyed, with the loss of electricity and clean running water, how would we survive; what would we value most? People under zombie attacks living in a Zombe-Apoocalypse world usually discover that what is most important in life, isn’t the type of car they drive, how big their home is, how cool their last vacation was, or how attractive they are, but the simple fact that they have relationships, community, and love. These movies and shows do a good job of making us realize that our first world problems are trivial and not focused on what’s important.

4. And in the case of The Walking Dead, there is a Christian father who keeps his faith throughout the show and members of the community do ask questions about God and from time to time they do pray. It can make us ask, would I keep my faith no matter what happens? And for those who don’t have faith in God, would it make them consider their own mortality and lead them to ask, is there a God and is knowable? What will happen after I die? And Christians can use such questions spawned from Zombie-Apocalypse fiction as a launching pad to share the Gospel.

The Zombie Apocalypse (christianitytoday.com)
11 Zombie Apocalypse Scenarios that Might Come Your Way in the Future

You and I aren’t in prison right now. We haven’t robbed a bank, forged important documents, dealt drugs, or killed anyone. Well, I know I haven’t. I’m assuming you haven’t either. People who commit such crimes, go to jail, but often times, they get out for good behavior! It seems that eternal punishment doesn’t fit the crime for people like you and me who really haven’t done anything seriously wrong. I also know that a lot of people, who are not Christians, still serve the poor and the needy, physically and financially. By our standards of law and order, only the worst of the worst would deserve hell, and even then we wouldn’t wish such a punishment upon our enemies.
We must admit that we all have lied, cheated, stolen, lusted, hated, coveted, disobeyed authority, and the like. To the degree that most of us have committed such acts, we don’t deserve time in prison or exorbitant fines. I believe we all agree that punishments should fit the crime, and the problem I think you are raising with this question is that for the degrees at which we have sinned against God, most of us, if not anyone of us, deserve eternal punishment in hell! Let me explain, however, how hell does fit the crime. If a person commits murder with a gunshot to the head, how long did the murder take? A second, but the punishment is life. This is an equal exchange, a life was taken, a life must be taken in return. If a person runs illegal dog fighting and has dogs killed, his jail sentence won’t be the same as a person who murdered another human being. Why? The life value of a dog is not as great as that of a human. In the case of God and hell, the crimes are being committed against God, and the crimes occur over the course of an entire life. The laws being broken of course are God’s laws and we must be measured by his standards, of which all of us have fallen short. To his standard, hating someone in your heart is on par with actually murdering. In your heart, you have murdered that person. By rejecting God through hatred and open rebellion to his Word, existence, and provision, you have murdered God. God is eternal. The punishment likewise, for the crime that occurred constantly over the course of your lifetime, warrants an eternal sentence.

Even though none of us are good in God’s sight, God is good and gracious. He provided a substitute for us. Imagine if someone you loved was on death row, awaiting execution, and you are innocent of crimes and the judge allowed you to take the place of your loved one and be put to death in his or her place. Most of us wouldn’t make the exchange, but if the judge saw that the substitution still met the requirements of the law, a life for a life, the exchange could occur. God being the lawgiver and judge has made a way for such an extraordinary provision of both justice and grace, and he provided the substitute by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. Philippians 2:6-8 says, Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!” Jesus was innocent and took the place of all of us sinners, setting us free from the penalty of eternal death.

Tag: Human

Zombie Apocalypse Questions

Hell is too extreme a punishment! Hell is unjust punishment!

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