Easter Musings

So, today I'm going to ramble through a lot of theological 'maybes' and 'perhapses', mostly because Easter makes me think.  But I don't just write stuff like this, I write because I want you to think about it.  If you don't like what I say here, please don't panic.  This is just wondering.

So, here are a few things I think about Easter.

I think that we don't really understand how much suffering was involved in the work of the Cross.  Christ had been beaten; we think that only means they whipped him a few times.  But Roman beatings were absolutely brutal.  Onlookers might catch a glimpse of the victim's internal organs through the blood.  Imagine someone ripping your back off and adding a few more lashes to your liver for good measure.  But worse was the guilt.  We're miserable when we know that we did something wrong and disappointed someone we love.  Now imagine never having disappointed someone you love infinitely, and then the load of guilt from every person that ever lived suddenly hits you somewhere in the heart region.  You still aren't seeing it properly, but you're a little closer.

I think that Christ's final words on the Cross dramatically challenge some ideas about salvation that a lot of people hold.   They think that they have to add to God's grace, but He said, "It is finished."  Absolutely finished.  If it's already finished, how could we add to our own salvation?  You couldn't make a better cake by baking it twice.  You'd get a blackened disk that was once edible.  In the same way, you couldn't make finished salvation better.

And I think that the world would be a much better place if we remembered that Easter applies to every part of our lives, every day of the year.

HE IS RISEN!

Laura

Introductions

Hello, Blog-reader.  My name is Laura, and I tilt at windmills.

No, no, not literally.  Horses cost too much, not to mention the expense of armor and a windmill.  It's annoying.  Maybe someday I'll save up enough money, and then I'll tilt at windmills.  But not now.

So, on with the introduction.  I am a Christian Homeschooled Kid living in a city that's out somewhere near the middle of nowhere.  I have three sisters, no brothers, a dog and a cat.  I'm approximately in my teens, psychotically reclusive, and scared of shadows.  (But only when I'm wandering around the dark house at 11 P.M. wondering where everyone is because I stayed up too late reading.)  I have fun with cooking, cleaning the house (as long as it doesn't involve scents, I'm allergic to most chemical smells), and petting my cat.  I have multiple food allergies and am currently on a crazily restricted diet, but I don't mind because that way Mom gets me more exotic things to cook with.  I make jewelry sometimes, try to keep my room clean, and hide whenever someone rings the doorbell (just kidding, I'm not that reclusive).  Life at the moment involves frantic memorization so that I can get a small scholarship, my cat's incapability of walking down the hall without company, a small Monopoly city abandoned in the living room, and attempts to get to bed on time.

Oh, and one other thing you should know about me:

I have a bizarre mental life.  I write about it, too.  I have to pick and choose various parts, of course; sci-fi weapons do not belong in the same universe as regency romance novels no matter what the voices in my head say.  But no decent genre has escaped my mind as far as I know.

This is the only place where anyone will ever see the pure, unfiltered chaos of my crazy brain.  Try not to panic if dragons and WWII meet; that's the least unusual of the clashes.  This stuff just happens.

I try to give credit where credit is due, but sometimes I forget Who made my brain, and my allergies, and my sisters.  It's literally depressing when I do.  Everything gets a lot heavier and it feels like the light is fading.  If it feels like this blog is going downhill, please post a comment about God's strength, or His Sovereignty, or anything about Him.  Thanks.

And now, the evidence of my tangled brain: an argument between myself and a character I'm writing about.

Character:  I don't think it's fair for you to control us all like this.
Me:  I'm the author, I can do what I want.
Character:  So, you're like God, in a way?
 Me:  Yes, sort of.  I'm not God, but-
Character:  But isn't there a God out there where you are, too?
Me:  Yes, there is.  Why?
Character:  Then He has control, right?
Me:  Yes....
Character:  So what He wants there to be in this book will be in there, right?
Me:  Yes....
Character:  So you can't just pour in whatever you want!  It has to also be what He wants!  And if the two of you want different things, He wins!  Therefore, you can't just do what you want.
Me:  Uh.... Um.... Well....

Yes, I did lose an argument with someone I made up.  Scary, huh?

So long!

Laura