I have been renting episodes of "My Name Is Earl" from Blockbuster Online, and I have absolutely fallen in love with the show. I know, it's no "Office," but they are two completely different types of comedy.
Anyhow, the show's premise is all about Karma--do bad things, and bad things happen, and vice versa. The main character is trying to make up for all of the bad things he's done by helping and repaying the people he's wronged over the years.
It sounds great....at first. Honestly, I find myself wishing that life worked exactly like this. There are several problems, though. First, I find it interesting that in the show, every time Earl finds a way to cross something off his list of wrongs, he almost always wrongs someone in the process, thus, adding to his list. Basically, the list will never come to an end. Hmmm. So then, what happens when someone finishes life with an unfinished list of bad karma????
To be brief, the Bible teaches that there is a connection with sin and righteousness and consequences, but not an absolute connection, because A) no one is completely righteous and B) no one is completely sinful. Generally, everyone pays the consequences for their behaviors at some point of life.
Karma has yet to find a way to explain death and why good things happen to bad people, and the other way around. Why do all humans want to strive and think of themselves as "good" in some form, but everyone understands that they are not perfect. Something is wrong....we know that right exists....what's going on here?
Christianity can say that God's grace coexists with mankind's fallenness, and their interactions are sometimes mysterious to us. Why does God heal, feed, and bless people who will never acknowledge these things as coming from Him? Why do Christians experience pain and suffering?
Karma?
It's just not that easy....
1 comment:
good post andrew. i also like to watch (and even enjoy) television shows and movies with a critical eye. i haven't seen enough of "my name is earl" to make the connection that the list keeps growing as he crosses things off! that's a lot to think about. this arena of thought is why i'm fascinated with theodicies, especially comparing biblical ones to others.
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