No One Is Uncontaminated

In Sioux Falls,
about to lead some worship

No one has a full deck "upstairs." We're all screwed up. Theologically, we are all "subhuman." That is why we need a Savior. The person who believes they "have it all together" will not see the need for rescue.

When a person is rescued (redeemed) by Christ, do they become fully human as Christ? Of course not. Redemption marks the beginning of Christoformation (Galatians 4:19). Christomorphology. Christ, formed in you, formed in me. This is a process that finds its effectiveness in abiding in Christ.

I love the way Thomas Merton writes about this: "We are all under judgment. None of us is free from contamination... Mere commitment to a decent program of action does not lift the curse. Our real choice is between being like Job, who knew he was stricken, and Job's friends who did not know that they were stricken too - though less obviously than he. (So they had answers!)" (Seeds, 108)

Here ignorance is not bliss, it is illness. No one is free from contamination. This is pure Gospel stuff, explaining our need for the Cross.