Today, my weekly coffee buddy and I were talking about the Twilight Zone. Rod Serling, the producer, main writer, and director, would find short stories to turn in to a weekly serial for the entertainment, but also the thought provocation of those who watched. In particular, I was thinking about one starring Burgess Meredith, called “the Obsolete Man.” I know, you were probably thinking I’d say, “Time Enough At Last,” about that bookish little man who didn’t want to work, but instead, to read all day. His boss, his wife, and everyone he knew hounded his habit, and suddenly finds himself the last man in his area alive. No, not that one. The Obsolete man was about a Librarian in a dystopian society who was rendered obsolete and scheduled for termination. He faced his death with dignity, while his judge, though he claimed not to believe, called out to God for help when trapped in his punishment, and, humiliated, was released before the bombs that would kill the librarian went off. My coffee buddy thought of the beautiful woman who was deemed ugly by her society, and in the end, it turned out they were all ugly pig-like people.
I think about these kinds of stories a lot. As we grow in society, as AI does more for us, and we advance technologically, we lose our ability to think for ourselves, trusting others to handle life for us. We cope less and less. We give up freedoms for the sake of safety, and then wonder why we feel oppressed. Loved ones, I am not trying to sway you politically, one way or another. What I am saying is this: the more we read and think for ourselves, we grow as people. And that is why I like Christianity. God says,
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” -Isaiah 1:18
The Bible isn’t merely a book that tells one what to do. It’s a book that shows what the world looks like apart from God, presents what humanity should look like (especially in the person of Jesus Christ), and gives us the option to follow Christ, and benefit now, and receive eternal life in Him. It shows us humanity as it should be, and gives us a way to be those ideal people. And we cannot be ideal unless we’re in Christ. So I say that the Twilight Zone had it right: the world will hate us. The world will draw us in to itself, and thus seek to assimilate or destroy us. But only God will provide a way for us to be who we are, and face the world with dignity when it does come to destroy us. Seek Him while he may be found, don’t assimilate into the world. Seek the Lord while He may be found!
Isaiah 1:2-20
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.
Your country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
And the daughter of Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
If the LORD of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.
Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
“When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 55
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
“Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
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