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Life

           Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (I John 5:12)

          Imagine a beautiful woman or a hunky guy with a fancy muscle car with some gorgeous landscape in the background. The wind blows through her/his hair, and from the look on his/her face, life clearly could not get better. I don’t watch TV, so I don’t know if they still use that advertising ploy, but social media is full of opportunities for me to become a great writer, a self-reliant homesteader, a better Christian, or otherwise to reach the “life clearly could not get better” point – for a small fee. Maybe you’re not as gullible as I am, and don’t get as many offers.

          Into that marketing maelstrom, various religions and philosophies ply their wares, including today’s verse. And, in true Lewisian fashion, we must consider the options. It could be a lie. It could be an error (or madness on the part of the author.) It could be true. But before we explore that, I need to repeat a claim: religions and philosophies are functionally the same. They both explore the nature of reality and guide their followers in the best way to function within it. The appearance of the model behind the wheel or draped across the hood doesn’t change the car. Neither does the label “philosophy” or “religion” change the observations about the nature of reality and our relationship with it.

          That being said, philosophies tend to be limited. They describe how we can relate to the universe during our lifetimes. Useful, but short-term. Many religions describe how we must relate to the universe during our lifetimes in order to gain eternal life. I know of no other philosophy or religion that makes present-tense claims about life. And this isn’t the only claim about present-tense life made in the Bible. If in no other way, Christianity and Judaism differ from other religions in this manner. We haven’t defined “life” yet, except that in the Bible, it’s not limited only to physical participation or to eventual eternity. It includes both.

          

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