Skip to main content

The Necessity of Pain

The keeper jabbed his finger at the vellum. “Let her heart be a sign of that promise. You will see, you who have life and aren't grateful; you who speak to an old man who would give his head to see a single day of the life you now have.”
“Keep your words. This pain is no life.”
“You only feel pain because you’re alive, boy!” the keeper thundered. “This is the mystery of it. Life is lived on the ragged edge of that cliff. Fall off and you might die, but run from it and you are already dead!”
“Then I would rather be dead!”
“And Avra’s death will have been in vain. The world fled the precipice of life once. It stripped us all of humanity and established its Order of death. Now you speak like those who conspired to kill every living soul.”
From Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee. It is the first of the trilogy Book of Mortals series. I had read this book before but thought I should read it again before turning to the next instalment. It is the challenge of trilogies that one usually forgets what was read before the next instalment comes out! Forbidden transports the reader 500 years in the future to a world where the only emotion people have is fear.  Dekker and Lee do a great job to build a compelling story that keeps you on the edge and along the way offers challenging thoughts about the nature of life.

The quote above exemplifies the many insightful exchanges that are found within the book. It  reminds us of a truth we so often take for granted : in a fallen world pain is necessary for living. It is mark of being alive. Yes, there are many moments when we wish for the opposite. When the pain appears overwhelming as is the case in the above exchange when Rom painfully loses Avra and can't seem to contain the loss. But as the Keeper reminds him, at the end of day pain marks us out as those who belong to the land of the living. And of course at the deeper level we should add that it reminds us that all is not as it should be! We are not built for pain. It makes us long for a better world to come where there will be no pain or nor tears. When pain is no longer necessary. A world too glorious to imagine! 

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013
Labels:

Comments

Post a comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jesus Never Fails

Many a times in my life, the words of this childhood hymn has been a tremendous encouragement. I pray this may encourage you too. Keep looking to Jesus!
Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails.
Your mother will let you down Your father will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails.
Your husband will let you down Your wife will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails
Your brothers will let you down Your sisters-will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails
Your church will let you down Your work will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails
Your friends will let you down Your country will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails
Your wealth will let you down Your health will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails
Copyri…
5 comments
KEEP READING →

Pornography as Occultism

There is a kind of helplessness that a man engaged in pornography exhibits. He often speaks of it in terms of a “struggle” or an “addiction.” Now both of those terms are accurate, I believe, but they distance a person from his sin in a soul-decaying manner. Pornography is not just an addiction; it is occultism. The man who sits upstairs viewing pornography while his wife chauffeurs the kids to soccer practice is not some unusual “pervert”; he is (like his forefather Adam) seeking the mystery of the universe apart from Christ. That’s the reason the one picture, stored in his memory, of that naked woman will never be enough for him. He will never be able to be satisfied because he will never be able to get an image naked enough. I say pornography is occultism because I believe the draw toward it is more than biological (though that is strong). The satanic powers understand that “the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18). They understand that the pornographic …
Post a comment
KEEP READING →

7 fascinating facts about Bexleyheath

I just finished reading Bexleyheath : A History by John Mercer as part of my effort to know a little about the history of our new local area. We have been living here for the last four months and it is a wonderful area indeed. Here are seven fascinating things about Bexleyheath mentioned in the book.

1. Two hundred years ago much of Bexley Heath was an area of wide-open land largely uncultivated. It was not until 1894, that the two words were put together.

2. On 5 June 1739, George Whitfield, a prominent preacher associated with John Wesley, came to the highway and preached by the pond opposite the Golden Lion. He was welcomed to the district by Henry Piers, Vicar of St Mary's (Bexley), who was a supporter of the new evangelical movement which was to become later known as the Methodist Church. Over 300 gathered to hear Whitfield preach from his horse: travellers, labourers, gypsies and villagers from Bexley village.
3. One of the early inhabitants of Bexlyheath was the polish emigre …
Post a comment
KEEP READING →