I love
humor and enjoy a good joke. Religious topics are a great source of material
for comedians, and for the most part I don’t mind that. But there is a danger
if we take the jokes too seriously and allow them to define our faith and
perception of the truth. Truth is true, whether we like it or not.
Satan
portrays himself as an angel of light to mimic Jesus who is the Light of the
World. The Devil is a master at imitation and likes to bend our minds by subtly
altering the truth to destroy our faith in God.
Two
examples of this are found in Noah’s (or God’s) Ark, and in the perennial jokes about St.
Peter and the Pearly Gates.
Noah’s Ark
We all know
the comical pictures in children’s picture books. A wooden plank boat teeters
at an awkward angle with oversize animals on the deck, giraffes stretch their
necks out the windows, animals intertwine and Noah stands by looking puzzled.
Or animals neatly line up two by two by the ramp ready to board, with a clear
impression that they won’t all fit.
They might
be fun pictures, but it is a dangerous thing to mix a little truth with a heap
of imagination and pass it off as reality.
So, what is
wrong with this imagery? The main problem is the false impression it gives to
people who don’t know the true story or understand the dimensions of the ark
and its meaning.
Ha, they
say. The flood story must be a myth because there is no way all those animals
could fit on that little boat.
So how big
was the ark? The Bible says it was 450
feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high (140 meters long, 23 meters wide and
13.5 meters high). It was three stories high with lower, middle and upper
decks. It had room for all the animals and birds, a huge food store, and a half meter opening between the roof and the sides for light and ventilation. It
didn’t need pointed ends as it wasn’t going to sail anywhere, it just needed to
float.
Only eight
people went on the ark, Noah and his wife, their three sons and the wives of
their three sons. Many more could have fitted on, but chose not to believe
Noah.
We are told
that while Noah was building the ark, which took about one hundred years, he
was preaching to the people around him to tell them of impending judgment and
urging them to join him on the ark. Did they listen to him? No, they mocked and
scorned, and when the flood came they perished.
Ark model in modern setting on rugby field to show scale:
Model and photo by Dean Farrow
Today, as
then, the world is in a mess and judgment is coming. But God has made a way of
escape, and no one needs to perish. Jesus is our Ark, our refuge, our way of escape. Jesus
says “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except
by me.”
God doesn’t
want us to perish. His son Jesus Christ died in our place to bring salvation
and provide our escape from judgment. Don’t let the caricature cloud your
perception but read the Bible to find the whole story. Accept Jesus and live.
St. Peter and the Pearly Gates.
Where did
this image come from? Nowhere in the Bible are we told that Peter is standing
at the gates of heaven deciding who should come in and who should be rejected.
The common
theme of St. Peter jokes is that the criteria for entry into heaven is the good
things we have done. If we have done right we’ll get in, but if we’ve done bad
things we won’t. It is all by works.
What a coincidence
that this is a common theme of most religions. But the Bible says that our
entry to heaven is not by works, but by the grace and mercy of God.
God’s
heaven is a sinless place. Nothing impure can enter in. And that means you and
me in our natural state because we can’t cleanse ourselves to God’s standard.
That is why
Jesus came – to be the sacrifice for our sins. He took our sin on himself, and
exchanged it for his purity. He makes us
clean and spotless and fit for his presence.
Jesus said
“I am the door.” He is the only way to heaven, and it is nothing to do with
Peter or the pearly gates.
Laugh at St. Peter jokes if you want, some of them are really
funny. But don’t take them seriously or believe that our good works are the way
to heaven.
Heaven
Here is
another misconception – that in heaven we sit around on fluffy clouds playing
harps all day and it is totally boring. Where did that image come from?
We are not
told a lot about heaven, and some of what we are told is in figurative language.
The main thing about heaven is that it is the dwelling place of God. Remember
the saying – it’s the people who make a place? We travel through this life and
if we choose to follow God, when we die we go to be WITH God, which is heaven.
If we reject God, we go to eternity WITHOUT God, which is hell.
It is our
choice. God has provided the way to heaven – his son Jesus Christ. Don’t blame
God for ratifying your choice if you find yourself in hell.
Robert Bernecker
