Finding Forrest: 21 February 2010

Hope is powerful and a lot of people attempt to sell it.

As long as people have hope, people will continue to look for more. You will wet appetites if you can provide a product that yields hope. But for the person who is completely hopeless, you may not be able to convince them to buy your product, because hopelessness keeps them chained down.

As long as there is a glimpse of hope, people will find a way to move past their fears and shame. If this is true, then we have two demographics we must target differently when it comes to selling products that result in discovering hope. Those with any hope at all and those with none.

To those with none, they must first learn how to hope for hope.

Sunday, Lee Camp delivered a message on the subject of shame and guilt. Camp always challenges my thinking. He has the ability to make me think beyond the "hour of worship" by consuming my thoughts for days. Sunday was no exception.

Upside Down: Shame and Guilt - Lee Camp

Otter Creek Church

This was the third time in a week where the story of the Garden of Eden was brought to my attention. Rather than go in depth on everything I've read and heard, let me share the most disturbing yet freeing thoughts that have come to mind.

God never accused Adam and Eve of sinning because they were naked. After eating from the tree, God wanted to know who told them they were naked. Did God give them coverings because they were sinning in nakedness or was it out of love in order to help them deal with their shame?
"The curse of knowledge" can indeed be a curse. Our own experiences, both positive and negative, give us knowledge. That knowledge can cause us to take our own negative experiences and cast shame on the innocent (those who do not yet have knowledge of the evil). If there were no shame, would we find fewer things sinful?

There is much more to think about, but this is where I am at the moment.

Selling your hope

Shame and Guilt