JUMPING WITHOUT A PARACHUTE

I was just scrolling through my social media page, and happened on a post by one of my favorite people.

The post included a picture of a man standing on a ledge above the Grand Canyon. The caption? A passage from the Holy Bible.

“For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul.” (Mark 8:36)

I immediately wrote a response under the post, and will describe the background behind what I wrote.

A few years ago, a skilled photographer and parachutist boarded a Piper Cub, along with a couple of other parachutists. “Jim” had been hired to film a series of maneuvers which the pair planned to do on their fall to the earth.

Everything seemed to proceed nominally, as the two aeronautical video stars jumped from the plane. Following the pair, the photographer jumped behind them. However, in his haste and excitement,… Jim had forgotten to strap on his parachute!

Needless to say, the fall was nothing less than short and ecstatic, but the landing, well, it was, to say the least, a bit messy.

I have rarely spoken or written about the topic of Hell. After all, they say “you can catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar.” And honestly, verbal allusions to Hellfire and Brimstone “just isn’t my style.”

However, I will make an exception here.

Pt. 2

We live in an age of Political Correctness. The notion of ‘absolutes’ has no place in our society. One cannot be critical of abortion, homosexuality, fornication or adultery, or the inadequacy of every religion but one, even on one’s very own social media page, without being “called out” for it.

Any reference to the absolutes of Jesus, including the absolute nature of sin and Hell is unacceptable in our culture, as if the person who quotes the words, and alludes to the teaching of the Messiah, is intolerant, rather than simply recounting what the King of kings and Lord of lords had to say about the matter.

There is a dynamic in the Christian faith called, “Apologetics.” Apologetics is, simply put, the defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And while the root word for this dynamic is “Apology,” those who have been called to defend the Gospel are not apologizing for it.

I once heard a lady preacher speak about the heat, darkness and aloneness of Hell. And while I have been a Christian for a full half century, I can tell you the adjectives with which she surrounded her sermon struck me to the core. When she finished speaking, I can tell you, I knew I didn’t want to go there.

I think the guy who jumped out of the airplane without a parachute is an excellent illusion of the man or woman who leaps into eternity without, as it were, a spiritual parachute.

And what is that spiritual parachute?

Nothing more or less than the shed blood and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. To fail to incorporate Christ’ blood and sacrifice is very much like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute.

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending