Re: Jean- Baptiste's "friend" -- Great Books II

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Date Posted: 22:44:21 04/27/08 Sun
Author: tsawyer
Subject: Re: Jean- Baptiste's "friend"
In reply to: asmith 's message, "Re: Jean- Baptiste's "friend"" on 22:56:58 04/26/08 Sat

I think that, before we can really recognize the beauty of the truth, the beauty of Christ's sacrifice, we must first understand the our own complete iniquity. Baptiste lays out the iniquity in human action - in human thoughts, motives, and deeds - quite clearly. Say what you will - perhaps you would jump in for the woman at the bridge - but there are certain faults that we cannot avoid. In this, Baptiste creates (or should create) conviction. He gives an honest (kind of) view of what he experiences as a human being: failure.

That being said, I certainly don't think that he has the whole picture. He is an Elijah without a Messiah. He has no redemption. As Christians, we realize our failures and then give them up to Christ. In a sense, we take Camus argument one step further.

If you think about the greatest commandments (Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself), Camus simply ignores the first and bases his sense of responsibility on the second. We fail at the second, therefore we break the whole law (James 2). As Baptiste shows, we fail. The beauty is that we have a Saviour who will redeem us from our failures. It seems to me that such redemption does not change the fact that we fail; it gives us a second chance, over and over again.

So I guess, to me, the Christian response to this is to go one step further. Give the Elijah his Messiah. Recognize our utter transgression of the law - like Baptiste - and then recognize that truth that you were talking about - that we have been saved. We must be convicted by our sin (against our God and our neighbor) and then we can be redeemed.

That was a really quick explanation for a kind of thick concept / topic, so forgive me for any ambiguities. I hope I answered the question, at least a little bit.

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