[Industrialblog,
August 22, 2005]
Good cop, bad cop
Sometimes, when I think about my faith, and I think about the relationship of the parties involved -- God and His angels, Jesus, the devil and his minions, and we humans -- it seems like the whole thing boils down to an extended and frustrating game of Good Cop/Bad Cop.
Bad Cop accuses you. Good Cop doesn't disagree, but He's just nicer about it. Finally, the Good Cop offers to fix the rap for you. He's related to the judge (or is the judge), He tells you. The whole rap will go away if you'll just agree to allow the Good Cop to adopt you as His child because this is a family operation, and family gets off scot free. If you don't agree, Good Cop turns you over to Bad Cop, and you can just go on being an orphan. And do your time. All of it.
I'm okay with the first part, being adopted and all. That sounds nice and pleasant. I'm even okay with being accused of my sins and knowing that I'll be found guilty. It's the presence of Bad Cop who bothers me. I mean, there's more than an implied threat there!
Plus, it seems that the essential aspect of the universe and the fundamental reality of existence should be ... I dunno, a little bit more beautiful than a fancy game of Good Cop/Bad Cop.
Bad Cop accuses you. Good Cop doesn't disagree, but He's just nicer about it. Finally, the Good Cop offers to fix the rap for you. He's related to the judge (or is the judge), He tells you. The whole rap will go away if you'll just agree to allow the Good Cop to adopt you as His child because this is a family operation, and family gets off scot free. If you don't agree, Good Cop turns you over to Bad Cop, and you can just go on being an orphan. And do your time. All of it.
I'm okay with the first part, being adopted and all. That sounds nice and pleasant. I'm even okay with being accused of my sins and knowing that I'll be found guilty. It's the presence of Bad Cop who bothers me. I mean, there's more than an implied threat there!
Plus, it seems that the essential aspect of the universe and the fundamental reality of existence should be ... I dunno, a little bit more beautiful than a fancy game of Good Cop/Bad Cop.
But I guess that you're right that it's really unpleasant that reality is real and that the things that we do really do have consequences. In particular, if you go wandering in the jungle something might eat you.
Then again, you went to Africa where the same is true in a purely physical sense.
I see where you're coming from with this Good Cop/Bad Cop thing, but the best cop I've ever met isn't willing to stand before the judge in place of the guy he just arrested. As I've heard so many times, the distinctive of the Christian faith—that which sets it apart from every other—is grace. And no Good Cop/Bad Cop metaphor even begins to capture the depth and significance of grace.
Plus, God doesn't simply send some lackey to offer grace to us. He doesn't just sacrifice a few angels for the sake of our sorry souls. He sends his son.
Yes, the story is relatively simple. It's universal, it can be understood (and appreciated) by everyone from a young child to a brilliant scientist to a CEO to a native tribesman. But therein lies the beauty. Where Satan works to confuse us and to skew the truth of God so that we can't understand it, the truth itself is elegantly simple.
Thanks again for always offering a compelling thought.