Paradise Lost

Along with the belief of Creationism, I also believe that when it was all set up, it was as God saw it--good. God had an intention for this planet, and we are far, far from it.

I believe in an enemy. From before Eden, he has looked for every opportunity to see suffering carried out and point a crooked finger at God and say, "You are not what you say you are." Every bad and deformed thing comes from him.

The Bible describes the world before sin, when Satan was confined to a tree. It was a place that lines up with the words of Solomon, a place where one would work and be content with that. No drama, otherwise. But through deception, Satan broke free and galloped about the world twisting people's brains to see God as a fake. The results have been disastrous. Some forgot all about God, or chose to ignore Him. Even worse, though, Satan works with those who did remember God, persuading them to carry out Scriptures in a way contrary to the Scriptures.

Through his work, religion has become a place of bones and zombies. And the rest of the world fears it, steers clear, or attacks it. Through Christ's work, we are redeemed. Our religion is not that of condemnation, but of coming together and drawing others closer to Him. So where Satan has drug us off the path as a lion would drag his prey, Christ heals us through a straight forward message of love and forgiveness.

Potential Last Words: The First

"I forgot I was in here."

A student who has become synonymous with distraction and disruption was asked to leave class today. Throughout this year, he has belted out a laugh that makes shudders flee my spine only to be replaced by seismic convulsions that lurched my soul. He pulled this little trick again today, and I told him that I was tired of his distraction. He left with the saying, "I forgot I was in here." I picture some idiot sealing his fate by pulling the pin from a grenade with trapped in a bank vault, or a Darwin Award winner who tried to throw a stick of dynamite out a car window-but the window was still rolled up.

"I just forgot I was in here."

I can't say I've acted appropriately in every situation, but I think I have always been aware enough of my surroundings to know when not to do something. And even though this student only got sent to the office, I get visions from Burn After Reading in which characters find themselves stuck in places they never should have been or situations they didn't mean to end up in.

Verdict: these horrible last words would flag a person as clumsy in speech or action, leaving them remembered as a simpleton.