Plagiarism: The Existential Kicks

Epiphanies are coming thin and slow, so I've resorted to stealing other peoples' material. This is an excerpt from a sermon on Jesus' family tomb by my friend and pastor Mikey Lynch. He's talking about what it would mean were clear evidence found to show that Jesus is dead, never risen and ruling.

You get the existential kicks, sure. You have community, which is nice. You have spirituality, which is lovely. You have a hope for the future, which is not real but it sort of helps you now. You have some morals to guide you. You have a sense of meaning.

Sure you have the existential kicks, but ultimately forgiveness of all the things you’ve done wrong, your guilty conscience, trust in the forgiveness given by the death of Christ – you don’t have that. You’re still carrying with you your guilt. All of the failures and the hurts you’ve caused, none of that’s washed away because Jesus didn’t die for it. It’s still with you. You are still in your sins. You still have no right to ignore the guilt that is legitimate in your life.

And hope after death – well not in Jesus it’s not available. If he’s dead, well then his offer for life after death is annulled. So death is still, at least a nothing, if not facing God’s judgement without a Saviour.