The Flaw in Post Modernism

This clip from the 14th Season of ER is fantastic! The episode is called 'Atonement', and I haven't seen it, but from this clip it will be a compelling show.



There are some amazing statements in that clip, which we had a bit of a discussion about tonight at church. This guy who obviously believes there is a God, is searching for answers which this 'chaplain' cannot give because she is obviously a product of a post modern society, a hospital 'chaplain' who is around just to try and make everyone from everywhere feel better when they are in the wards.

Some of the choice statements made by the old man.

"What are you saying? Cause all I'm hearing is some new age, 'God is love', one size fits all crap!"
I think that's seen as the general view these days, we can make God who we want him to be, Jesus and the cross and all that might be good for you but I'd rather see God as a kindly old grandfather who I can manipulate however I want.

However this old man shows us that even with that culture these days there's still something within people that stirs for the truth. Jesus was confronting this man with the truth, but there was no one there giving him the right answer, and he knew it!

Do we today in the church try and be too user friendly, giving off that God is love, one size fits all opinion that really does seem to watered down to be of any use to people on the outside walls of the church?

"I want a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real hell"
I know this is a story, written for the purpose of entertainment - through provoking thought - so on two levels this statement opened my mind. From the focus of society through the old man's eyes, we see what the expectation of a chaplain is. Not someone who'll just make you feel good, but someone who knows the truth, knows God and knows what he's on about (a real challenge to me as a Motorsports chaplain!).

Also the writers of ER, they nailed it when asking for someone who believes in a real God and a real hell! This man isn't scared of dieing, he's not even questioning what happens after death. What he's afraid of is what he knows happens after death, and he knows he needs the answers so he can stand before God atoned. That's what he asks in part of it, "I need to know if God can atone me". I wonder at what influence there was for the writers of the script to head down this path - divine influence? a sense of searching themselves? or a new found faith?

Also I wonder how many people in this post modern world are afraid of the same thing, deep down they do know what happens after death, they may ignore it all their lives but they know - and they want to talk to someone who believes in a real God and a real Hell. How many times when people ask you "What do you believe" are they really angling the question towards "Will I get to heaven"????

"I don't need to ask myself, I need answers, and all your questions and your uncertainty are only making things worse."
How many people out there professing Christianity are really only making things worse? Ironically read through some of the comments on this very video on YOUTUBE and you may see what I mean. People go 'gung-ho for Jesus' without any real certainty in Godly knowledge, and read some of the critical replies written by people who may want answers themselves but are only reacting worse due to bad responses.

This woman, the chaplain, you see after the old man blows up that everytime she tries to talk she's starting with those well drilled, counselling stereotype statements designed to calm or defuse a situation. There was no hint of stability in faith or certanty in truth, only falling back on human training and psycology. Obviously not what this old man needed.

"I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness cause I am running out of time."
Wow how much would I love someone to say that to me! Be that ready to hear what Jesus has already done for him, and that no matter how terrible he's been, how guilty he is, he can have it all wiped away because that God he's searching for left heaven, came to earth, experienced our existance and the took the punishment we deserve instead of us.

Only through living and experiencing our world and lives, but not sinning once, Jesus was worthy to then say "I can take the punishment for everyone else". If I murder someone, I can't then go into a trial of another murderer and say "Let him go I'll take his place", because we both belong in prison... there's no righteousness there. Only because Jesus was perfect can he redeem us through righteousness.

I wish I could be there to tell the old man that! I really wonder where the TV show goes from there, how it ends, does someone lay that out for him or does it follow the 'chaplains' plight instead?

It's such a challenge for us as Christians, and personally me as a chaplain, to remember that God is God - Jesus is the Saviour, and only through him will people find forgiveness. If people are guilty and looking for that forgiveness we need to lay it out for them in truth, not new aged, 'God is love', one size fits all crap!