Chanting the Lotus Sutra

 

chanting the Lotus Sutra

only his lips

are busy

This is a poem written by Master Sheng Yen (1930 – 2009), a Chinese Zen Buddhist monk. His criticism is of mindless, repetitive chanting with the mind being somewhere else. This was his final poem. He seems to be saying that real Zen enlightenment cannot be achieved by merely repeating a string of words, by performing a certain prescribed action. Distracting busy work.

The Apostle Matthew spoke on this subject twenty centuries earlier. "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words". Matthew 6:7 in the NASB. Meaningless repetition is just what it seems to be to unbelievers, just a string of words. Busy work with no actual effect on the world.

Christians can easily become mindlessly trapped in the busy work tar baby (look it up) of doing churchy things, attending worship services, singing in the choir, volunteering, providing funds for worthy social activities, working in a child care program, watching Christian movies and reading Christian books, Christian political involvement, running a food and clothing bank for the poor, social justice activities, organizing and attending meetings and events, maintaining a church library, participating in disaster relief programs, yada yada yada.

None of these things are wrong or inappropriate for a Christian, but they must never be allowed to replace or crowd out the truth. The truth is this: Jesus died on the cross and overcame death for me, for you, and for every single individual on the Earth. This was his gift to us, it is the one spiritual gift which every Christian possesses, and it is the one gift which we are commanded to repeatedly give to others. The paradox is that, when we give it away to others, we still possess it.

What if You Suddenly Died?

             

        Several years ago, a woman at the place of my employment received a devastating telephone call. Her husband was killed in an automobile accident while travelling for a work assignment. The woman was absent from work for about a week for bereavement and funeral leave.

        When she returned to work, she was still obviously very withdrawn and possibly in a state of depression. Unlike some, she was willing to talk. After relaying my sympathies to her, what I said next seems to have greatly improved her mood. 

        I told her that she could be proud that, when her husband died, he was where he was supposed to have been and was doing what he was supposed to have been doing.  He was a man of honor, fulfilling his responsibilities.  His wife smiled.

        If you had a sudden massive heart attack and died on the spot, what would you want your wife and children to be told? That you died on your way to a scheduled business meeting or that you lied to them and died while having sex with a prostitute?

The Voice of God

Today, I went to The Waffle House, a local restaurant, to get takeout breakfast for myself and my wife. When I got home, my wife was still in bed so I called her name and said "Get up!"

Out of a deep sleep, she suddenly shot straight up and looked around the room, breathing heavily. Then she laughed.

"I was dead asleep, " she explained. "I thought it was the Lord calling me home!"

One day we will all hear the Lord's voice, some to their great delight, others not so much.

Religious Place Names

Glennahaglish, Ireland: This place incorporates the Irish word “eaglais” which translates as “church.”

Saqqara, Egypt: This place name reflects the name of the ancient Egyptian hawk-headed god of death, Sokar or Seker. HIs name is believed to be derived from the ancient Egyptian phrase “sy-k-ri,” which means “hurry to me.”

Pihana - a- ka -lani, Hawaii State, United States of America: The Hawaiian word “lani” translates as “heaven,” “sky,” or “king” and “pihana” means “a gathering place.”  Pihana was used as a temple site for the sacrifice of war captives to the king’s Hawaiian deities. It was a “gathering place of the supernatural.”

Braganca, Portugal: Walled settlements began to appear in this area in about 1000 to 700 BCE, Brigantia, “the elevated one,” was a Celtic goddess whose name is believed to have come from the Proto-Indo-European words “bhrg hnti” meaning “high,” “lofty,” or “elevated.”

Luang Prabang, Laos: The Lao words “Phra Bang” translate as “royal Buddha image.” The city-state already existed when it entered history in 698 CE when it was conquered by a Tai prince.

Explode

Sequoyah (born about 1760 - died 1843) was a Cherokee silversmith who, although he did not speak a single word of English, noticed that the white men communicated using “talking leaves.” He thought that this was a wonderful idea and decided in about 1809 to create a way to make “talking leaves” for the Cherokee language.

In his first attempt, Sequoyah created a logographic writing system. He quickly decided that there were far too many Cherokee words for this to be practical. Japanese uses a logographic system, with symbols representing ideas, individual words, and individual syllables. Chinese uses a logosyllabic system with each symbol representing a separate sound. 

What Sequoyah eventually decided to do, rather than copying the English language alphabetic system, was to use symbols for each sound used in the Cherokee language. He created an eighty-five character syllabic system which represented all the individual Cherokee sounds.

The Cherokee Nation had no tradition of a written language and there was some individual resistance but Sequoyah’s syllabary began to spread rapidly among an excited populace. By 1825, the syllabary was declared to be the official written language of the Cherokee Nation. In the span of only sixteen years the Cherokees went from being totally illiterate to almost universally literate. I believe that Sequoyah’s syllabary awakened something which was already there among his people. It just needed a spark to make it explode.

(For more on Sequoyah and the Cherokee language see the end of this post.)

The same principle applies to the unevangelized. Many are aware that someting is missing in their lives, that there has to be more than just living a few years trying to be happy and staying out of trouble ... and then dying. They are like the Cherokee tribe, ready to explode. They just need to hear, they need a spark.

I have seen several people die. The color suddenly leaves their skin and they are gone.

If you have ever seen the spark of the Holy Spirit take over a life you realize that it is also just as instantaneous. The change in the person is immediately obvious. I have seen gasps of breath pulled in in surprise and eyes widened at suddenly seeing the Truth.

" ... since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made ... Romans 1:18-20   (NASB®)

**************************************************

Here is a statement from the Cherokee Nation website:

“Between the years of 1809 and 1821, he accomplished a feat, which no other person in history has done single-handedly. Through the development of the Cherokee Syllabary, he brought our people literacy and the gift of communicating through long distances and the ages. This one person brought to his people this great gift without hired educators, no books and no cost."

Shown below is a Cherokee translation of Acts 28:31, the guiding scriptural reference for this blog. From the Cherokee Bible Project. (Copyright ©2001. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/.)

ᎠᎵᏥᏙᎲᏍᎬᎩ ᎧᏃᎮᏍᎬᎩ ᎤᏁᎳᏅᎯ ᎤᎬᏫᏳᎯ ᎨᏒᎢ, ᎠᎴ ᏓᏕᏲᎲᏍᎬᎩ ᎧᏃᎮᏍᎬᎩ ᎤᎬᏫᏳᎯ ᏥᏌ ᎦᎶᏁᏛ, ᎤᏍᏗᎤᏅ ᎾᏍᎦᎢᎲᎾ, ᎠᎴ ᎩᎶ ᏄᏅᏍᏓᏕᎲᎾ. 

Here is an example of spoken Cherokee.

Family Crosses

This last Sunday was Easter day. At the church which my son and his family attend, the families participated in a wonderful ceremony. The parents and their children built small crosses and wrapped them in burlap. Nails were placed in the cross at the points where the hands and feet of Jesus were positioned. The parents read a text explaining the meaning of the cross and the nails and said a family prayer.

Then the parents explained the Resurrection and the children and parents placed flowers and plant branches into the burlap to represent the beauty of life. The parents explained to the children that Jesus was really dead and then rose, defeating death forever.

Afterwards, the families carried the crosses home. There were as many different crosses as there were families. The crosses were all different. The crosses were all the same. The crosses were all beautiful. Just like us.

ESCHATOLOGY SERIES, POST #2: ESCHATOLOGIES FROM VARIOUS CULTURES

Eschatology is theology concerned with the final events of history. The word is derived from the Greek words  ἐσχάτος  eschatos ("last") and λόγος logos ("word"). Eschatology is therefore the study of “last things.” The focus of eschatology is usually on reality as a whole rather than on the individual. The word eschatology first appeared in the English language about 1550. 

In most known cultures, including the most primitive, there has been a belief in some sort of existence of the individual after death. Some held that the afterlife would be a dull and dreary thing., others that only the good would survive into an afterlife.  Some felt that the afterlife would be largely an extension of this one, perhaps on a more exalted plane as reward for bravery or great skill.  Many held that the retribution for an evil life was annihilation.

The Babylonians and Assyrians felt that retribution for evil came largely in this life as did the divine rewards of long life, strength, prosperity, and many children. The ghost of the individual existed in the underworld with the other dead. Demons ran around in the underworld inflicting punishment for sins committed during life.

In the ancient Egyptian religion, the good individual could hope for unending life with Osiris, the sun god. The existence was in some ways physical and this is the reason for mummification of the body. In the afterlife the actions of the deceased during life are weighed and judged. The dead face several trials and are subject to a second death if they fail.

Ancient Persian (Persia, modern Iran) religion (Mazdaism, Zoroastrianism, Parseeism, etc) was dualistic with a conflict between equally powerful good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Ahriman) deities. The two deities were co-creators of the universe. The evil deity will, in the end, be vanquished and a judgement of people based on their life's deeds will occur. Those with evil deeds will be purified by fire, Hell will be purged, and the earth will be renewed by a purifying fire.

The ancient Greeks believed that life on Earth was the highest good for man. After death, the soul survived in a dull attenuated existence with little emphasis on retributive justice for life's misdeeds. A few very evil individuals would receive eternal punishment in Tartarus and a few favorites of the gods
would exist in eternal bliss in the Elysian Fields.  

Recently, there was much popular discussion of "2012." This was based on Aztec mythology which predicted the end of our current cycle of time on 21 December 2012. The Aztec mythology describes several cycles ruled by deities who are destroyed at the end of each cycle along with all the humans living during that cycle. The sun is the deity of the current cycle.

The human sacrifices regularly performed by the ancient Aztecs had a specific purpose. The blood and the extracted human hearts were seen as the food or fuel which maintained the ability of the Sun god to function. The stability of the universe depended upon regular human sacrifices.

Norse (Scandinavian) eschatology is presented in the story of Ragnarok, the climactic battle of the  cyclical Old Norse mythology. Nearing the end of the cycle, people, and the Gods themselves, will become increasingly corrupt, not honorable, dissipated, apathetic, and nihilistic. The Frost Giants, led by the renegade god Loki, will come and the battle will begin, accompanied by natural disasters. Most of the Norse gods will be killed and the world will eventually be dead and silent, covered with water and in total silence. After a time, fertile land will emerge from the water and the few gods who survived the battle will gather. A new first couple of humans will repopulate the new clean earth and the gods will celebrate.

In some religious/philosophical systems, such as Baha’ism and Jainism, there is neither a beginning nor an end.  Baha’is believe that reality consists of a series of progressive revelations by prophets. The coming of each new prophet is the judgement of the previous religion., with the prophet Bahaullah having brought the ultimate revelation.

The most severe forms of Buddhism deny even this. Within each moment in time, both birth and death are present. As each moment is born, the previous moment dies. The only reality is the present moment. There is no reward or punishment and no God. Individual existence with its cravings and desires is the ultimate evil.  Salvation is the extinction of every type of desire, even the desire for existence.

Hinduism sees reality and time as a series of repeating cycles as Shiva destroys and regenerates the universe repeatedly. The individual is part of this cyclical nature and ultimately will come to realize that individuality is an illusion. The individual consciousness is in actuality part of the Ultimate Reality and its ultimate destiny is absorption back into the Whole. All reality will contract into a singularity which will then begin again to expand.

Islamic eschatology points toward a Day of Judgement in which each persons good deeds will be balanced against their evil deeds. The sayings of the Prophet Muhammad give many signs which will indicate the approach of the Day of Judgement.

Judaism is most concerned with life now, in the present time, and is more corporate than individual. The concept is that the important thing is observance of the Law in order to prepare ourselves and the world for the coming of God's kingdom on Earth. The religion is absolutely monotheistic and God is absolute in His control of the universe. Man is intended to live in friendship with God during this life. There is very little discussion of retributive justice in the afterlife. 

Jewish eschatology is based on the Nation of Israel as a whole, not on the individual. The promises of the Old Testament are to the nation, the people of the land Am ha'aretz (עם הארץ), not the individual. The hope is for the establishment of a theocratic Messianic kingdom, based in Jerusalem, which will rule the world with justice and peace. 

An introduction to Christian eschatology will be presented in the next post.

Another Light Bulb Joke: Thanalogists

How many Thanatologists does it take to change a light bulb?
They would not change it because thanatologists prefer dead bulbs.

Wearing a Cross As Jewelry

“It would have been unthinkable in Jesus’ day to wear a cross as a piece of jewelry.  It would have been like wearing a miniature electric chair or lynching rope.” John Piper

The cross was used for only one purpose: execution.

Jesus called for us to take up our own cross and follow Him.   What is being executed?  Our self-centeredness, our insistence that we are in control, our self-justification that we are not “that bad.”

When we choose to follow Jesus and take up the cross, it can mean much more.  The world did not like Jesus and it will not like us, regardless of what it may say.  We may, in some countries, be guaranteed freedom of religious choice.  That will not prevent us from being considered odd or peculiar when we insist on choices other than those of the larger culture.  Social disapproval can be quite uncomfortable. (Hebrews 13:12-13)

AND, there is always the possibility, even in the most “enlightened” cultures, that we may be forced into a situation where we must choose between betraying the Lord or facing death.  At such a time, we are called to be witnesses.  Witness, μάρτυρας in Greek, from which we derive our English word “martyr.”

The Young Man Who Fell From the Window

Paul is considered to have been one of the great intellectuals of the Western world, even by his detractors.  As brilliant a theologian as he was, he may have been very long-winded and possibly even a boring speaker.

“And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.” Acts 20: 9-11

A fall from a third story window onto to the ground below would, at a minimum, have produced very serious injuries.  Those present thought that Eutychus was dead.

The implication is that Paul brought the young man back from the dead and then diverted the attention of the group.  A confirmed resurrection would have abruptly ended the meeting.  Paul still had much to say.  He talked until dawn.

Eternal Security of the Believer

The funeral of Whitney Elizabeth Houston (1963-2012) was held today and was broadcast online and on numerous television, cable, and satellite channels in the United States.  Whitney Houston was an internationally known singer, actress, music producer, and model who sold more than 170,000,000 musical albums, singles, and videos during her lifetime.  On 11 February 2012, she was found dead in her room at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California (USA).

Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of noted Gospel music singer, Cissy Houston.   She was of African-American, Native American, and Dutch descent and was raised in a Baptist/Pentecostal background.  In her early and teenage years she was a singer in her local Baptist Church.

Her death, at least at first glance, appears to possibly have been the culmination of years of substance abuse.  It also appears that only legal prescription drugs were found in her hotel room.  The official toxicology reports are still pending.   Regardless of the cause of her death, Houston’s life seems to have gone into a downward spiral from which she could not recover.

Whitney Houston’s death brings up troubling questions for those who are members of the ἐκκλησία, the Body of Christ.  Was she, as some claim, truly a Christian?  If she was a Christian, how could she so obviously go into so precipitous a freefall?  Was Whitney ultimately saved despite her questionable final few years?  What does the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer really mean?  Paul was quite adamant that eternal security does not mean that Christians can live in whatever way they wish (Romans 6:1-2).

Dr. Harry Ironside, on 24 April 1934, in Chicago, Illinois, said, 

“When we speak of the eternal security of the believer, what do we mean? We mean that once a poor sinner has been regenerated by the Word and the Spirit of God, once he has received a new life and a new nature and has been made partaker of the divine nature, once he has been justified from every charge before the throne of God, it is absolutely impossible that that man should ever again be a lost soul. Having said that, let me say what we do not mean when we speak of the eternal security of the believer. We do not mean that it necessarily follows that if one professes to be saved, if he comes out to the front in a meeting, shakes the preacher’s hand, and says he accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, that that person is eternally safe. It does not mean that if one joins a church or makes a profession of faith, is baptized, becomes a communicant, and takes an interest in Christian work, that that person is forever secure. It does not mean that because one manifests certain gifts and exercises these gifts in Christian testimony, that that person is necessarily eternally secure.

“Our Lord Jesus Christ said to the people of His day, as recorded in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Such people then may have been very active in what is called Christian work--they have preached, they have cast out demons, that is, their influence has been such that men and women have found deliverance from satanic power through their ministrations in the name of Jesus, they have professed with their lips, they have accomplished many wonderful works, but they are found in that day among the lost, and when they plead their great activity and their earnestness in Christian testimony, the Lord says to them, “I never knew you.” Notice, He does not say to them, “I used to know you, but you have forfeited My favor and I do not know you any longer.” He says, “I never knew you.” “

Read Dr. Ironside’s full statement here. 

I cannot even pretend to know the answer to the question of Whitney Houston’s eternal fate.  Only she and the Lord know that.  None of us actually know for sure about anyone else, but we have the assurance that we, as Holy Spirit indwelled partakers of the divine nature, can never be separated from the protection and grace of the Lord.

Another discussion of the eternal security of the believer is here . 

Film Comment: Forbidden Games

The 1952 French film, Forbidden Games (Les jeux interdits) , won numerous best film awards including a 1952 special foreign film Academy Award and a Golden Lion best actress award for the five-year old Brigitte Fossey .  Some of the published comments describe the film as "childhood innocence corrupted," "the horrors of war through the eyes of children," "children using their powers of fantasy and denial to deal with death in wartime."  It is a film which is both funny, creepy, horrifying, and incredibly sad.  The children are real children, not little adults.

Paulette (Brigitte Fossey) really is the center of the film.  Film critic Roger Ebert says of her, "Fossey's face becomes a mirror that refuses to reflect what she must see and feel."  And it is her eyes that house the mirror.

The plot of the film: a young girl is orphaned in a Nazi air attack on civilians fleeing from Paris and is taken in by a ten-year old boy and his family.  The boy helps Paulette secretly bury her dog, which died along with her parents in the air raid.  Worried that the dog is alone in the ground, the children begin to bury other dead animals and they create a secret cemetery, stealing crosses to place on each grave.  They build an elaborate fantasy world around the cemetery.  The fantasy world will, of course, eventually come crashing down.

In this film, as with most others I view, I appreciate and understand the artistry and intentions of the filmmakers.  I also see things which may or may not have originally been intended; specifically, I see things through a Christian lens.

The main thing which I see in this film is how all the adults failed the children.  The Nazis callously killed adults and children alike with their air raids.  The adults who pulled Paulette onto their wagon were so intent on their escape that they failed to restrain or go after Paulette when she jumped off the wagon to retrieve her dead dog.  The kindly and basically well-meaning peasant family who took Paulette in were so wrapped up in their sometimes silly adult dealings that they basically ignored the children because they were "just" children.  The priest is more interested in catechisms and confessions and correct ritual than in understanding the children.  The government officials who come for Paulette want to make sure their papers are properly completed.  The kind nun at the train station tells Paulette to quietly sit on a bench and then leaves her alone.  None of the adults, except for the Nazis, are "bad people."  They just fail to actually see the children.   Sometimes you have to take a crayon, get down on the floor, and color with a child.

Film Comment: Zardoz

Zardoz (1973) is a film set in the extremely  distant future, so far in the future that no attempt is made to tell the audience when it occurs.  Over the untold centuries, Earth’s population has split into three distinct cultures: the Eternals, who used science to become telekinetic and immortal and have long since become bored with everything, even science; the Brutals, who live muddy lives of primitive mind-numbing poverty and ignorance; and the Exterminators, who gleefully hunt and kill the Brutals for their bloodthirsty god, Zardoz, a giant flying stone head.

One of the Exterminators, Zed (Sean Connery) is smarter than the others and wants to know the answer to one question, “Why?”  Committing an act the other Exterminators would see as stupidly blasphemy,  Zed jumps into the open toothy mouth of the enormous giant head, Zardoz.  When the head begins to move, Zed stays inside and is carried away to his destiny.

Standing in the mouth of the idol, Zed sees sights he’s never seen before; forests and a settlement with buildings.   Zardoz, which is obviously a mechanism, carries him to the Vortex, a force-field surrounded paradise in which the Eternals live.

The presence of a barbarian stirs up long-dead emotions in the Etertnals, especially in one woman (Charlotte Rampling).  The Eternals allow Zed to link his mind into their computer which controls the tedious day to day functions of maintaining their environment.  Zed is suddenly no longer an illiterate barbarian Exterminator; he is now a hyper-genius barbarian Exterminator.

Along with all the Eternal’s accumulated historical and scientific knowledge, Zed has also learned their secret: “It was all a joke.”  Zardoz is a machine, his name is stolen from the book, The Wizard of Oz, and he was created to find the perfect Exterminator.  The Eternals have groomed Zed to be their executioner, to do for them for what they could not do for themselves.

Some people find this film to be excruciatingly slow, and it is.  I think the speed of this film is intentional.  It moves slowly to highlight the deadly boredom of the Eternals.  They have done everything, seen everything, discussed everything, learned everything, and have absolutely no challenges to which to respond.  Perfect health, limitless wealth, and eternal life have become their prison.  Zed, the ruthless killer, is exciting because he is dangerous, because he can end it.

Many Christians have a deficient understanding of eternity.  I doubt that many actually believe the Hollywood idea of the dead becoming angels and sitting on clouds playing harps for eternity.  Besides being totally confused about who the angels are, this future would become a Hell just like the one faced by Zardoz’s bored Eternals, because it would never end or change.

More likely, many Christians probably never give it a thought.  Thinking about death and eternity are unsettling to most people.  To the Christian, though, they shouldn’t be.  Jesus has defeated death.   We have absolutely nothing to fear.

The biblical understanding of eternal life is expressed in the Greek words, ζωὴ αἰώνιος, “life aeon-long.”  An aeon (αἰώνιος) is the longest period of time the human mind can conceive, endless time.  Jesus has said (John 8:58), “Before Abraham was born, I AM,” an existence of NOW in which the past, present, and future are all one thing.  There is no beginning and no ending, everything is now.

In this eternal now we will not just float around on clouds, playing harps.  We will be “kings and priests” (1Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6, 5:10) and we will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).  And here is a secret: our eternal life has already begun.  It started when Jesus said, “It is finished!” 

A Christian Father

One day in 2008, a two-year old boy named William Bronner "Cornbread" Burgess fell into the family swimming pool and drowned.  How his family, and especially his father, responded is an inspirational Christian story.

Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey are "Rick and Bubba ," a nationally syndicated radio team whose humor is based on their Southern heritage.  There is much more to them than the average morning radio talk show hosts.  They appear primarily on secular radio stations but never shy away from clearly stating their Christian faith.

David Wilkerson is Dead

Assemblies of God evangelist-pastor David Wilkerson died Wednesday in a head-on crash with a tractor trailer truck on a highway in Texas.  Wilkerson was the subject of the film, The Cross and the Switchblade, about his encounter with the street gang thug, Nicky Cruz, who is now a Christian evangelist.

Here is his seemingly prophetic final blog post: 

"To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights, and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, `I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident." 

PushinDaisies.com

PushinDaisies (http://www.pushindaisies.com/)is an online store devoted to novelties, books, food, clothing, etc., all based on death and mortuary related issues. The store sells trinkets, t-shirts, greeting cards, jewelry, DVD's and CD's, books, music, death-themed candy; you get the idea.

One startling item is a ten ounce anatomically correct chocolate human heart for $12.95. If it's not big enough, they also sell a one pound version. Both come wrapped in clear cellophane bags with a red ribbon. Just the thing for your sweetie.

Or, if you are feeling especially romantic and have a slightly dark side, a dead rose might do the trick. You can send a single rose, a half-dozen, or a full dozen. The website also suggests that the roses might be appropriate as "over the hill" gifts or as a love gift for someone you dislike. All of them arrive in a coffin-shaped box, complete with a toe-tag gift card.

I'm not entirely sure this website is intended to be humorous.  I have met people who would take it very seriously.

This preoccupation with death is alien to Christians, because "the gift of God is eterrnal life...τὸ δὲ χάρισμα τοῦ θεοῦ ζωὴ αἰώνιος ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν."   Romans 6:22-23.

Film Comment: It's the End of the World

     We're not talking here about easy stuff like an alien invasion, or rampaging hordes of flesh-eating zombies, or dystopian post-civilization films like Last Man on Earth (1964), No Blade of Grass (1970), Glen and Randa (1971), Idaho Transfer (1973), A Boy and His Dog (1975), Death Race 2000 (1975), Mad Max (1979),  Rollerblade (1986), The Time of the Wolf (2003), and I Am Legend (2007).  Those are just inconveniences.

     We're talking about end of the world, nothing left, world gone bye-bye films. There are many more than you might imagine.

     1931: La fin du monde. As a giant comet hurtles toward Earth, two brothers think the event may end all war as mankind unites against the threat. Some pray, some have orgies.

     1951: When Worlds Collide.  A wandering planet is on a collision course with the Earth.  A group of scientists/survivalists must pick who to save, fight off the rest, and make sure the survivors safely leave.

     1964: Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Considered by many to be the ultimate American film, or at least the ultimate American comedy.  A rogue military commander flips out and sends his planes to deliver nuclear warheads in an attack against Russia.  Comic mayhem ensues.  

     1988: Miracle Mile.  A young man answers a ringing pay phone.  It's a wrong number, but he learns that all-out nuclear war has begun and the missiles will arrive in little more than an hour.

     1998: Last Night.  It's the last night before the Earth is destroyed, with six hours left.  The reason is never explained but everyone is aware of it.  Some are trying to get home, some are having wild parties, some are reaching out for God, and others are just reaching out for someone.

This is described as a comedy/drama, but the comedy is of the classical tragedy type.

     2008: The Happening: Director M. Night Shyamalan's misfire starts with the disappearance of all the world's bees.  The mass suicides begin.  Earth has begun rejecting an irritant, us.

     2009: 2012.  The last day of the world according to the ancient Mayan calendar is 21 Dec. 2012.

This is a big-budget special effects spectacular.  One man may hold the key to stopping it.

     2009: Knowing.  A teacher comes to believe that a number-filled sheet from a time capsule unearthed at his son's school contains codes pointing to disasters with accurate dates and death totals.  As he checks, everything lines up, 100%.  Then he finds dates for three disasters which have haven't happened yet, including one extraordinarily special event.

     John Cusack, talking about his role in 2012, said "the movie is a big action film , but it's also about emotions.  It made me think that, if you just had this finite time left on earth, then what would you do with it?"

     The truth is that we all already have "just this finite time left on Earth" and we don't know how long that finite time period is.  Right now is the only time we have for sure.  We ...you might be dead tomorrow, or later tonight, or two minutes from now.  The end of the world comes for each of us.

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.²But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.  Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.  [For the Son of man is] as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.  Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:  Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.  Mark 13: 31-36. 

     

Film Comment: Over and Over Again, With Variations

     Hinduism and Buddhism are the major religions which believe in reincarnation, the belief that one returns to a new human (usually human) life after death.  In the new life, one advances or regresses in their spiritual evolution based on their actions in their prior life.  Eventually everyone becomes so spiritually advanced that they return to their true self, God, and are not reborn on Earth.  In essence, everyone gets a second, third, ... three-thousandth, ... four millionth chance to get it right.

     Numerous films and television episodes have grabbed onto this idea over the years. Here are a few:

1961: "Shadow Play," The Twillight Zone (television series).  A man is found guilty of murder and sentenced to the electric chair.  He insists to everyone around him that it's all a nightmare; that he'll be back in court after his execution, with all the same people present but playing different roles.

1992: "Cause and Effect," Star Trek: The Next Generation (television series). The Enterprise becomes caught in a repeating time loop which always results in the destruction of the ship.  Luckily, one of the crew is an android who can think outside the loop.  He realizes what is going on and takes steps to stop it.

1993: Groundhog Day.  This funny Bill Murray film has a totally bored weatherman reliving the same day over and over, with him making slight changes in his actions each day in an effort to finally get things right and escape the loop.

1993: 12:01.  At one minute after noon, a man repeatedly tries to prevent the murder of a woman.

1998: Dark City. A man with no memories realizes that the same night is being repeated over and over again with changes each time.

1998: Run, Lola, Run.  This is a love it or hate it film; a mixture of cartoon and live action footage.  Lola has twenty minutes to come up with 100,000 deutsche marks to give to her boyfriend so he won't be forced to rob a supermarket, so ... she runs, and runs, and runs.  Several different possible outcomes are presented by the film. 

2004: The Butterfly Effect. A man finds that he can return to earlier events in his life.  Each time he tries to make changes in events, unexpected twists make things worse than before.

2006: The Deaths of Ian Stone. Ian is brutally murdered each day, only to wake up in a new life and be murdered again.  He meets the same people, always in different roles, in each life.  This continues until one day one of the recurring people lets him in on the secret.

2006: The Butterfly Effect 2.  Largely a rehash of the earlier film.

     This idea of repetition of events until one "gets it right" makes for good stories, but is not compatible with a Christian understanding of reality.  It is clear that the Bible teaches that we have this one life and are responsible for what we do with this one life.  

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrews 9:27