Imagine Frankenstein

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (II Timothy 3:10-13)

          Remember the story of Frankenstein’s monster? At least in the popular versions (as seen on TV) the doctor stitched together pieces of a variety of corpses and brought the creature back to life. The doctor had it easy because he was working with physical bodies. If he had tried to put a hand on the monster that was still attached to the original body, he would have noticed it didn’t fit, that there was something in the way, or that the hand suddenly had two arms. When you Frankenstein philosophically, it’s not always easy to tell that you haven’t detached a particular “hand” completely from the first philosophy before adding it to the second. The monster created doesn’t function well because there are two “brains.” One is determined to go to the mountains. The other is just as determined to go to the sea. 
          Post Modern thought claims there is no over-arching narrative. Because personal beliefs are nothing more than one’s own interpretation of a common experience, each person is free to pick a hand from Hinduism, an eye from evolutionary theory, a leg from Liberalism and put them together like Leggos. They are interchangeable. One size fits all. It’s perfectly fine to believe in reincarnation, evolution and abortion. When we die, if we’ve been good we’ll be reincarnated into a better life form, perhaps even one that is the next step up on the evolutionary ladder. What of those who are aborted, who don’t have a chance to be better in this life than they were in the last? Do they get reincarnated as a worm? Or are they granted the fast-track to nirvana because they were somehow innocent? Is karma frustrated by abortion? The easiest way around it is to ignore the consequences of the ideas we adopt, but sometimes that’s easier said than done.
         If there is no god, and no over-arching meta-narrative, then there can be no absolute right or wrong. You can do what you want, when you want, with whom you want, where and how you want… oh, wait, there’s that strange little phrase, as long as you don’t harm anyone. What does that mean? Who gets to decide what harm is? What if the other person doesn’t agree? Have you seen that question in the news? We can get abortions because, OK, well, that does end a life but there’s no pain – or, OK, there might be pain but it’s less pain than they would have suffered if they’d been born. It doesn’t matter anyway because carrying the baby to term would be too traumatic for the woman whose body would have to house and feed it. The woman’s suffering has meaning but the baby’s does not. 
          Another example. Love is love, unless it’s the love of a pedophile. Then love is a sick crime. Love is love, unless the lover is abusive. Then love is another sick crime (unless it’s presented as a case of Fifty Shades of Gray, in which case it’s romantic.) Love is love, unless you happen to disagree with someone, because then you become dangerous and should not be permitted to have or to raise children even if you might love them. Your ideas cannot be permitted to spread. 
          This is how the imposters to whom Paul referred go from bad to worse. They may accept Christianity, except for that bit about Jesus being THE way, THE truth and THE life, and no one getting to the Father except through Him. That’s too exclusive. No, Christianity is true, except that all religions lead to God. Immediately, Christianity can no longer be true because of the claim just mentioned. Either Jesus was lying or he was just wrong. But if He was either lying or wrong about being the only way to God, what else was He wrong or lying about? What parts of Christianity are we free to amputate and replace with some other philosophical appendage? Oh, I know a good one, “in this world you will have tribulation.” That definitely needs to be replaced. You see, we can build a just world all by ourselves, a world in which we do as we’re supposed to by eliminating all tribulation.

          Or, let’s add this one:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

          Imagine there’s no heaven, and no hell. Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer and those sick folks who abuse children or animals facing no ultimate judgment for their deeds. Imagine…no possessions.  Women do not own their bodies? Wait, your Face Book wall isn’t yours – you don’t have a right to tell anyone they can’t post whatever they want? I suspect that would be a surprise to some folks who love this song. Are you going to publish your checking account number – since it’s not yours? There are some very expensive things I’d like to buy. Oh, but the song is so pretty and it sounds so good. Beware the Frankenstein monster created by combining it with Christianity, or your own ego.