Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Radiation

For a brief period in our nation's history nuclear war was a very real possibility.  All of us have a pretty good understanding of how devastating that could have been to the world in general, to the human race, and to our selves specifically.  Hollywood has used the idea of nuclear fall-out for countless plots to describe the "end-of-the-world" results of unmitigated nuclear war.  

And science can attest to how destructive radiation is to human tissues.   They have even found that used in small doses it can kill cancer, however, the cure is almost as bad as the disease.  We worry about over exposure to ultraviolet radiation, ground radiation, and x-rays because we know it can lead to cancers and all kinds of medical problems.  Most of our solutions, like sun block, are covers to protect us but they are not 100% effective.  But everyone would agree that the best prevention is avoidance.  But what if you can't avoid it?

The thing about radiation is that it's so hard to detect until the damage has already been done.  It is invisible, odorless, colorless.  It's completely outside of our humanly senses yet we know it exists because we can observe the effects of it's presence.  Namely, the sickness it causes from exposure.

Imagine for a moment that a friend or family member lives in an area that has been irradiated.  What would you do if you found out?  If I really cared about them I would immediately bring it to their attention.  I would try to convince them to move as soon as possible and discuss with them the effects of prolonged exposure to radiation.  But being radiation's nature, completely invisible, they could simply conclude that I was wrong and had no idea what I was talking about.  There wouldn't be much I could do until the damage was done to convince them of the truth.

What if I told you that the place we all live, right now, is irradiated?  There is no place on earth that is safe.  How did this happen?  Just as we, the human race, were getting started a cataclysmic nuclear bomb went off.  To this day we are feeling the after-effects of the blast, centuries later.  It was so powerful that it altered the physical world, it causes all kinds of illnesses today, and we are so irradiated that we pass it along to our children upon birth.  Some would refute this claim simply on the basis that there is no physical evidence of this cataclysmic "event" but we know it exists because we can observe the effects even though the radiation is outside of our senses.

You should know that efforts are underway and have been for centuries to mitigate the damage of this "event".  At the beginning the infected were cast out and left to deal with the after-effects as best they could.  Our efforts to cover up our condition were laughably ineffectual but over time we developed sophisticated ways, or laws, of protecting ourselves.  But, as mentioned earlier, the only 100% effective way is avoidance.  However, since there is no safe place on earth we're kind of in a pickle.

But a plan had been formulated from the beginning to deal with the situation in a way that no one could have guessed.  Since avoidance of the radiation was impossible, and all our efforts were ultimately futile, we needed a way of improving our ability to regenerate from the damage.  This effort was centuries in the making but finally a breakthrough was made at enormous cost to the author of the "serum".

There was one born who had a complete immunity to the radiation and a serum was replicated from his blood that provides 100% ability to regenerate the damage of the radiation!  This is good news, right!  But the author sacrificed his life in order to provide us this cure. There are highly trained individuals among us who are standing by to administer this cure but use caution.  As this is a highly valuable commodity there are "snake-oil salesmen" trying to peddle their false concoctions.  You will know the real doctors because, when pressed for details, they are more than happy to provide you answers and the recipe.  Remember, they required the cure as well so they're uniquely qualified to offer insight.

So even though the earth is saturated in radiation, a cure is available.  However, many, because of the nature of radiation, will not accept the truth until the damage is already done. Some will even refute it to their dying day.  Don't wait!  

How can you get this amazingly effective cure?  Just ask.  But who?

By now you may have hit on what I've been alluding to but in case your still in the dark, allow me to illuminate you.  When humanity was just getting started a huge bomb went off called "sin".  It was so destructive that it forever altered our physical world from perfection to dysfunction.  Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, etc.  are all examples of this. Not only that but we were cast out of Eden and left to cover our shame and learn to live in this fallen world.  We went a long time scratching out a living but all the while God was working a plan for a "cure".  Over the centuries we learned how destructive sin is and we developed a complex set of rules to try not to sin.  But it was so complex that no one could keep it and so our sin had to be covered by the blood of sacrifice.  We suffered under this system until the time was right when Christ came and through His blood on the cross we were provided the "cure".  This "serum" was replicated by faith in Christ and lives inside us regenerating our souls by His Spirit.  As soon as we believe in Him we are "inoculated" but we require weekly "booster shots" or even better we can take a steady "dose" throughout the week.  We read the Bible, our daily "dose", and this keeps the "radiation" from destroying us.

Some will refuse this explanation because they can't quantify it or it simply exists beyond their humanly senses.  But we know there are realities that exist beyond what our senses can detect.  With a trained eye we can spot the effects of sin "radiation" exposure and apply the only appropriate "cure", Jesus Christ.  

Do not be deceived, the "radiation" is real and deadly.  There is no safe place on earth.  We can't avoid it or cover it.  Only through Christ can we regenerate from it, and God willing, build an immunity to it through our daily "dose" of the Bible.  But don't take my word for it.  Do the research yourself.  I recommend you start with Genesis and keep reading.

3 comments:

  1. I took the "cure" many years ago! And take daily boosters, too. I can not imagine what life would be like without my Savior!
    Thanks, WGM! Great perspective. I love it.

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  2. Warren, nice read. I kept thinking of a song I once knew while reading this so I went looking for it on youtube and came across another one I have never heard and thought I would share. I have never posted on a blog before so if my BLOG manners are not up to par let me know.

    Many do not get the "BATTLE" between good and evil that exists daily in our lives. You hit on something here "sin" in all forms now is odorless, colorless and otherwise undetectable because we have become okay with it, we have allowed evil to become common place. Nothing shocks us anymore as a society. In order to really understand evil, how to identify it and learn how to protect yourself you have to become closer to God. The closer your walk becomes the more the devil will attack you. God instructs us here:

    Eph 6:10-17 (NIV) ...Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

    I believe that if I am not being attacked by evil then I may want to examine my walk with God.

    In Eph 6:10-17 God summons us to battle, war, a life and death struggle. We are in a battle against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We are not going into a Fantasy Football competition here. This is a battle for our soul, how could you not suit up!

    As a society, as followers of Christ we have to add color, odor and detect ability to evil. You can tell people until you are blue in the face, only when they walk closer to Christ under their own volition will the radiation be completely visible to them and the effects inventoried.

    I came across this song looking for the one I was thinking of that I could not find. You may or may not like it, it’s a little heavy and confused but it is telling a story similar to what I imagined waking up in the world you explained in your blog. If they would have changed a few things it would be a pretty cool Christian song (“All systems Go the SON has not died” at the end for starters). One thing to remember is that by creation we are all radioactive. We all sin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klsnXVUDtEw

    Rob

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your input Rob and well put. We need to "suit up" every day because "the days are evil". I don't know how I would make it through any day without my savior! Praise be to God and our Lord Jesus Christ!

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