Some of you may know that I have a bit of an obsession with the undead. I am one of the admins at Zombie Theology. Since today is Halloween and zombies are awesome, I figured I would share a post that I wrote over there awhile back.

———————————

I feel like it would be an obvious oversight if we didn’t deal with one of the most commonly held beliefs about zombies in scripture: that the resurrected Jesus was a zombie. Jesus died on a Friday, was laid in a grave, and on Sunday morning, when some ladies went to check on him, he was gone. Later that day he visited some of his closest friends and over the next few weeks several other people saw him out and about as well. Jesus died and came back to life – that is the premise from which many assume that Jesus was a zombie. So the question is: did the resurrected Jesus’ behavior fit that of a zombie? Let’s try to consider this as neutrally as possible.

First we must consider our sources. For information on Jesus we will use Christian Scripture. We have two reasons for that: first because that is the nature of this series – to examine Scripture and see if the living dead can be found there, and second because if we believe Jesus really came back from the dead, which those in the zombie Jesus camp must agree with to understand that he was a zombie, then that conclusion would have to come from Scripture, the only historical document that tells of his resurrection.

For information on zombies we will have to loosely base our rules on the “Romero zombie.” I say loosely because Romero never wrote a rule book, but we can take our “rules” from the characteristics of the zombies in his films. There are many other zombie movies and books, but most would agree that Romero is the king of zombies therefore we will use his understanding as our standard on what a zombie is.

I would say that these are some fundamental zombie rules (let me know if you disagree):

• zombies are human bodies that died and have come back to life.
• zombies only possess basic motor skills.
• zombies cannot talk. At best they can communicate like animals through moans and groans.
• zombies have one intention: to eat the living.
• zombies are dangerous.
• zombies are physical, they have no supernatural abilities.
• zombies bodies are decaying and rotting.
• zombies are not capable of complex thoughts or problem solving skills.

Now lets compare these standards to what we see of the resurrected Jesus in Christian Scripture:

• Yes, Jesus did die and come back to life.
• Jesus built a fire and cooked fish for Peter and a few of his other followers. Building a fire requires use of very fine motor skills. – John 21
• Jesus talks to several people after rising from the dead. – John 21 (for one example)
• Jesus seemed to have no intention of eating people, we have no record of him eating any humans after rising from the dead, we do however see him  eating fish and honeycomb (so not even just meat). – Luke 24:42-43
• Jesus did not seem dangerous at all, on the contrary people were happy to be around him. He traveled with two of his followers (without them even knwoing it was him) and they asked him to stay with them when he was getting ready to part from them. If he were dangerous it would not make sense to ask him to stay. – Luke 24:29
• Something really interesting about the resurrected Jesus was his ability to walk through walls and disappear. These seem like some kind of supernatural function which zombies are incapable of. – Luke 24:31, John 20:19
• Jesus’s body did still have the holes from the spear and nails, but surprisingly Thomas, one of his followers, was not afraid to stick his finger in those holes. Jesus broke bread and cooked fish and people ate these things. If Jesus were a rotting corpse it seems unlikely that people would be so willing to eat the food he prepared or stick their hands in his side. John 20: 27, Luke 24:42-43, John 21
• The resurrected Jesus could talk, he prepared meals, he explained complicated doctrines, asked tough questions, performed supernatural acts, and did several other things that demonstrated problem solving and complex thought processes. His actions and words demonstrated something beyond human, not subhuman such as the living dead.

So whether you are a Christian or not, it is clear from Scripture that the risen Jesus it describes is certainly not a zombie. One is forced to disbelieve the Bible and write off the resurrection all together, or embrace the Bible’s story and realize that the risen Jesus was someone who was raised in glory, not decay. Whichever you choose, a zombie Jesus is clearly not an option.

Last week, when I was posting my wife’s poems, I had an idea of how I wanted to post them. The first couple days I wanted to share the ones that felt frustrated and hopeless. The ones where she seemed really defeated and the ones that didn’t have any real answers, just kinda said “this is what is going on, and it is very painful.” Then I was going to move on to the ones that seemed more outward. They weren’t necessarily hopeful, but they talked about things beyond her inner struggles. They talked about her struggles with others, with others not understanding her and pushing her and her issues aside. This seems equally hopeless, but in reality it is a great leap forward because it looks outward and not just inward. Anyone who struggles with similar issues probably already knows that. Then I was going to share her most positive poem, where she talks about trusting and resting in God. I thought this order would tell a nice story, from dark to light.

Unfortunately, the story that I wanted to tell was not reality, and not honest to my wife’s story, which is more important than the happy fairytale story I wanted to tell. I realized this because I had to move all her poems out of order to make my story work. At first I didn’t think anything of the actual chronological order (because I am dumb) but then it dawned on my dull brain that the chronological order told the real story. The real story is that things don’t just get better. Sometimes things are better and sometimes they are worse. Sometimes you can work through something, and sometimes it shows its ugly face again when you thought you had finally worked through it. The two poems I wanted to put first, were actually the book ends. So, where I wanted to say here is the great resolution (in the poem I wanted to use last) the reality is that there was no great resolution. Things were back to where they started in a way.

We do this all the time. We tell our testimonies to people and say “then Jesus saved me and then everything was great!” Guess what, that is not at all the way the real world works. We go through times of doubt and frustration and darkness and sadness and all the other crap that everyone struggles with everyday. If I were to try and retell Stephanie’s story as a happy ending type story I would be doing her a disservice, because she didn’t just beat this thing and move on. She has to deal with it and overcome it everyday. That takes a lot more out of a person than simply “toughing it out” for a short time. Another problem with my idea to rearrange the poems to tell a happy easy resolution, is that it wouldn’t be very helpful to other people who have similar struggles. I mean, if someone happened to follow my blog and saw as I published these poems and thought “Man, she got better over time, but I’m still going through the same struggles I was going through five years ago” that might be really discouraging.

The truth, for my wife, for others who struggle with depression or anxiety or OCD or whatever, and in a more general sense the truth for all of us, is that life is not a process of dealing with something difficult and overcoming it and having a happy ending. Real life is a matter of ups and downs and losing and winning and feeling great and feeling terrible. Sure, there is a great ending, after we eat dust, but right now, while we live in these bodies on this fallen ball of shit, life is a struggle, and anyone who tries to tell you different is fooling themselves.

This post is part of a chain blog, you can read more about that after you read my awesome post.

One of the best things about being in a Christian marriage is that when your spouse isn’t doing what you want you can use the Bible as a weapon against them. I don’t mean that you throw it at them, even though that would sometimes seem effective, it is also illegal and could be construed as physical abuse. Fortunately there are no such laws against spiritual abuse, and you can weaponize the words of the Bible to beat your spouse into submission with no worries about getting hauled off to jail. See, when a wife doesn’t make you the dinner you asked for, or actually has the audacity to form her own political or theological opinions, you can tell her that she is called, as a Christian woman, to submit to her husband. When a husband wants to go fishing or watch football on Sunday afternoon, the wife can tell him that he, as a Christian husband, is required to love his wife before himself so he must watch Top Model or go to the Mall or whatever.

I realized today that this power that we can exercise over others through the Bible is not simply limited to marriage. Chris shared a great post where he explains that we should be paying off one another’s debts. This is awesome! I can rack up my credit card bills with that 72″ LCD TV I’ve been eying, and you, as a fellow Christian, should be paying those off for me. If we start looking at all the “one another” passages in the Bible, we have a whole arsenal of weaponry to use against ANYBODY who claims to be a fellow Christian. It’s totally going to change my life! Let’s look at a few examples:

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. – Rom 12:10

Application: Oh, you don’t want to let me cut you in line? Have you read Romans 12:10 that says you should give preference to one another? Yeah, that’s more like it.

Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? – 1 Cor 6:7

Application: Did you rear-end a fellow Christian, cause them severe neck injuries? Are their medical bills going to skyrocket your insurance? Well, if you let the guy know that he shouldn’t go to law against you, then you’ll be all set, and he can figure out how to get the neck injury fixed for himself.

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. – Gal 5:13

Application: Can you get me some food? No? Well, a good Christian knows that we should serve one another.

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. – Eph 4:32

Application: I’m about to punch you in the face, but you can’t be mad because you have to be tenderhearted and forgiving to me.

The list could go on and on. See, the biggest thing to remember is that these passages should not be interpreted through the perspective of how I should act toward others, but how others should act toward me. When you shift your focus from others to yourself you can really start tapping into the power of the “one another” passages!

 

 

—————————————————

The fine print (I didn’t write this, which is why it is full of “pleases” and “your comments are important” type crap!):
1) If you would like to write the next blog post (link) in this chain, leave a comment stating that you would like to do so. If someone else has already requested to write the next link, then please wait for that blog post and leave a comment there requesting to write the following link.
2) Feel free to leave comments here and discuss items in this blog post without taking part in the actual “chain.” Your comments and discussion are very important in this chain blog (both this post and the other link posts in the chain).
3) When you write a link in this chain, please reply in the comments of the previous post to let everyone know that your link is ready. Also, please try to keep an updated list of links in the chain at the bottom of your post, and please include these rules at the bottom of your post.

—————————————————

The Chain (I didn’t write these, so they won’t be as good as my post, but they’re ok.):
1. “Chain Blog: One Another” by Alan
2. “Linking One Another” by Swanny
3. “What Does It Mean to Love One Another? by Chuck
4. “The treasure of “One Another” by Jim
5. “This is how the world shall recognise you…” by Kathleen
6. “Accepting one another in love” by Chris
7a. “One Another-ing: A meta-narrative for the church”  (Part 1 of 2) by Greg
7b. “One Another-ing: A meta-narrative for the church”  (Part 2 of 2) by Greg
8. “Individualism and ‘one another’” by Pieter
9. “All Alone with One Another” by Jeremy
10. “When it’s OK for Christians to compete” by Joshua
11. “Jesus Christ, the Corner Stone for One Another” by Peter
12. “Be Superficial with One Another” by Jon
13. “The Unmentionable One Anothers” by Alan
14. “Loving more fully and widely” by Chris
15. “the one another weapon” by Dan
16a. “Corporate One-Anothering” (Pt.1 of 2) by David
16b. “Corporate UN-Anothering” (Pt. 2 of 2) by David
17.”“The Last Revival” by Tobie
18.“love: a ‘one another’ comic” by Dan
19.“I Can Only Love You If…” by Rob

This morning I was reading through some poems my wife has written over the last couple years. They are really honest and I think that they might be meaningful to other people. Most of the crap I write on this blog is just blabbering nonsense. Stuff that I think and write in frustration and to work through my own backwards thoughts. So, to show off how awesome my wife writes, to maybe help connect with other people, and to generally improve the value of the content on this blog (at least for a week) I will be sharing some of her stuff on here.

Here’s the thing, I will not tolerate bullshit comments. I love it when I write stuff that pisses people off and they call me a dick for it. This is not what we will be doing this week. I say I am honest, but in reality I very rarely get vulnerable, everything I say I really do think and I really do put out there as close to the way I think it as possible. This, on the other hand, is someone’s honest FEELINGS, not honest thoughts from her mind, but honest feelings from her heart. I will moderate the comments on the following posts very strictly. Don’t make me want to punch you in the face.

To give you an idea of what Stephanie deals with and writes about, it may be helpful to share an excerpt from one of her posts, OCD and Me.:

I suffer with obsessive thoughts. Thoughts I don’t want to have and cannot control. Every fear, bad experience and even scary images I have seen on tv or in movies are bundled up into this little package in my brain. When I have an episode, all of these thoughts and images get put on repeat in my brain. Like when a record skips, and just plays the same part of a song over and over again. Most of my fears are completely irrational, and there is a part of my brain that can recognize that. This means that during an episode, my mind is literally fighting with itself. The fears try to convince the sane part of my brain that they are real, the sane part of my brain tries to reign in the fears and restore reason… I have found that writing is helpful to me. It is a way for me verbalize my pain and fear. It’s a way for me to understand it, and for others to understand.

I will share links to each piece in this post and keep it at the top of the pile:

• Good morning, misery
• Be Still.
• See Me.
• Ignore the Screams.
• A poem on a broken heart.

“A pome on a broken heart.” is a poem written by my wife, Stephanie, and was originally published on her blog, Dead and Domestic on July 11, 2012.

shes chained to a bed by a broken heart
they ask her where it hurts,
she doesn’t know where to start
they pump her full of poison
it’s suppose to keep her sane
injections, pills and potions
with lines straight to her brain
the drugs work quick and swiftly
and the fog comes rolling in
confusing her with darkness
letting demons in
demons she’s been fighting
since she was just a girl
when she was chasing shadows
of nothings in this world
she suffocates on sadness
it’s bleeding from her eyes
as shes chained to a bed in peices
crumbling
she gives in to the lies

 

Comments on this post will be moderated.

“Ignore the screams” is a poem written by my wife, Stephanie, and was originally published on her blog, Dead and Domestic.

I have a problem, so I am ignored.

I am different, so I am ignored.

I make you uncomfortable, so I am ignored.

I am in pain, so I am ignored.

I am tortured, so I am ignored.

They don’t understand me, so I am ignored.

My hurt must be sin, so I am ignored.

I’ve made it up in my head, so I am ignored.

The monsters aren’t real, so I am ignored.

I am dying inside-because my pain is ignored.

 

Comments on this post will be moderated.

“See me.” is a poem written by my wife, Stephanie, and was originally published on her blog, Dead and Domestic on April 23, 2012.

see me. don’t you see me?

as I’m lying here in pain

hear me. don’t you hear me?

or are my screams drowned out by rain

feel me. can’t you feel me?

though my minds so far away
i lay curled up at your feet
but you have nothing left to say

love me. don’t you love me?

or is the damage just too much?
the wounds too deep? torment too real?
to come near enough to touch?

leave me. please just leave me.

in the darkness where i lie
sorry. you’ll be sorry
when this kills me, when i die.

Comments on this post will be moderated.

“Be Still.” is a poem written by my wife, Stephanie, and was originally published on her blog, Dead and Domestic on April 2, 2012.

Be still, love, for I am here
I know your pain, I know it’s real
Do not wait for them to understand
Be still, love, and take My hand.
In Christ alone, you will find power
He will lead you through your darkest hour.
When hope seems gone, so hard to find
When demons scream and cloud your mind
Be still, love, for I am near
To give you peace, to ease your fear
So be still, love, Be still.

 

Comments on this post will be moderated.

“Good morning, misery” is a poem written by my wife, Stephanie, and was originally published on her blog, Dead and Domestic on March 31, 2011. 

Good morning, misery

Good morning, pain

I was hoping to wake up and not feel the same

as I did yesterday, and the day before

and the night before that, when I fell asleep on the floor

in the corner of my closet, it’s the place I go to hide

where i cry myself to sleep

then wake up and wish I’d died.

Because the hurt just keeps on hurting

It’s so deep inside my bones

And the only thing that numbs it

are the pills that sink like stones

To the bottom of my belly

They dissolve so happily

Laying lies inside heart and head

They whisper things to me.

They tell me that im worthless

I have nothing left to give

They ask me why i try so hard

to sleep, to breath, to live?

Because dying would be easy

A sweet relief to heart and mind

But I know these pills are liars

They’re only mean. They’re never kind.

 

Comments on this post will be moderated.

Everything I believe is biblical. You know the funny thing? There are a lot of people who believe VERY different things from me AND everything they believe is also biblical. You might be thinking “how can you believe something and someone else believe something contradictory and you both be biblical?”

I think maybe the confusion comes from what the word biblical means. Most people think that biblical means that a person reads the Bible, understands what it is saying, and then believes whatever truth they may have found through that process. In reality this is not what a biblical view is.

A biblical view is a view that you can defend with Bible verses. The real goal is not to learn from and develop an understanding from the Bible, but to use the Bible to defend whatever it is that we believe. If you don’t like secular music tell people that it is biblical to only listen to Christian music, I mean, obviously Psalm 1:1 states that “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,” but if you think it’s ok, you go to Matt 15:11 and remind someone that Jesus said that “it is not what goes into the mouth … that defiles a man.” (but in this case we apply it to the ear).

That is just one example. Basically, whatever you believe, you can find Bible verses to defend it. Then your views are biblical. It is important that we don’t let this true definition get out there for the general public to understand, because, by keeping people ignorant, when we tell them our views are “biblical” it makes it sound like we got them from the Bible, not that we put them into the Bible, and then we will seem more believable.

So, keep this post a secret. Thanks!