Buzz and Woody Saved by an 'Alien Righteousness'

Spoiler Alert! Watching Toy Story 3 for the second time now with my son has given me some pause. In particular, I've been thinking of the sequence where all of the toys are in the incinerator and they're drifting downward in the garbage towards the burning furnace. Realizing their impending doom, the toys stop fighting, because they know that the flow of garbage is too fast and too difficult to escape from. They are trapped, and they are doomed.

Let me just pause to say that watching that scene puts a lump in my throat because I cannot watch this scene and not think of the condition of a lost person - myself included - apart from God's grace. Are not all human beings in this helpless position, ultimately unable to do anything to save themselves from the coming wrath?

So the toys are drifting towards the furnace, about to be burned to smithereens, and Woody bows his head in prayerful repose. Only moments later, after Woody has accepted the reality of his position, does a light shine down upon them from above, and their rescue arrives. The scoop - operated by none other than the Pizza Planet aliens - comes to their rescue, scooping all of them up and delivering them to safety.

I just love the picture because the rescue comes ultimately when the toys are completely helpless. The rescue is not synergistic. There is no 'cooperation' on the part of the rescued. Instead, the scoop drops and rescues the toys, garbage and all, to the glory of the aliens who save them. The toys were rescued by an 'alien righteousness,' if we might call it that.

Why yes, I do think that's funny.

"Who Could Fulfill It But a God?"

Jesus, whose blood so freely streamed
To satisfy the law's demand
By thee from guilt and wrath redeemed,
Before the Father's face I stand.

To reconcile offending man,
Make Justice drop her angry rod;
What creature could have formed the plan,
Or who fulfil it but a God?

No drop remains of all the curse;
For wretches who deserve the whole;
No arrows dipped in wrath to pierce
The guilty, but returning soul.

Peace by such means so dearly bought,
What rebel could have hoped to see?
Peace, by his injured sovereign wrought,
His Sovereign fastened to the tree.

Now, LORD, thy feeble worm prepare!
For strife with earth and hell begins;
Confirm and gird me for the war,
They hate the soul that hates his sins.

Let them in horrid league agree!
They may assault, they may distress;
But cannot quench thy love to me,
Nor rob me of the LORD my peace.

-William Cowper
Olney Hymnal, Hymn 22; "JEHOVAM-SHALEM"

The Pittsburg Gym Shooter's Theology

What I'm about to do is unfair. No doubt about it. But I'm going to do it anyway, because it's something that I've said for a very long time - for years, actually. I have long claimed that proclaiming a view of the atonement which says that Jesus died for each and every sin of every single person is destructive. Now, I have proof, plain as day.

Earlier this week, George Sodini fulfilled a year-long plan by shooting up an aerobics class and killing 4 women, plus himself. This was a horrible event. One disturbing aspect is the blogs that he left behind, detailing his mental state and even his plan of what he was going to do. The blog is a disturbing read because it is seemingly that of a rational (at least seemingly) man who lived a purposeless existence and knew it. Throughout his writings, one finds many of his self-justifying reasons for what he is about to do. At one point early on, he mentions that at his church they teach that God will forgive any and all sins - even mass-murder. A few months later, days before carrying out this despicable act, Sodini writes the following:

Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not matter. I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them.

I would say that the problem is that he never had the lordship of Jesus Christ preached to him, but he may have. The important part, which he latched onto was the proclaimation which he repeatedly received that Jesus died for all of his sins. When you tell people that all of their sins are forgiven, when you tell them that Jesus died for their sins, and you evangelize them based on the fact that Jesus died for their sins and that person decides not to respond to the message of the gospel, you stand a chance of them remembering someday that Jesus already died for their sins. The proclamation that Jesus covers your sins before they even respond to the gospel is, in my opinion, dangerous. Now, it's not the fault of the Hypothetical Universalists that George Sodini was a psychopath, I just found it profoundly interesting that he remembered Jesus' universal atoning sacrifice days before killing 5 people and then taking comfort in that. Let the hate-mail begin.

Poly-Gratia Not just a Duplex

Many in the Reformed world love to speak of the duplex gratia, a term Calvin used to refer to the two graces in salvation of justification and sanctification. While I am in full agreement with everything Calvin meant by this phrase, I think that these two graces have frequently been emphasized to the neglect of the other graces in the ordo salutis. There are other important graces in salvation such as, but not limited to, adoption, regeneration and glorification. These graces are great blessing and the Christian should learn to reveal in these great gifts of God.