Zombies

I have noticed my youth have no problem accepting the spiritual realm but however only think about it as another place to go like walking out of a house to go outside. They see no transaction or the reason for believing it is wrong to take one's life. Suicide is unfortunately very high in New Zealand and from talking with youth I can understand somehow they were taught this way. My first step to teach them correctly is bring in ideas they are familiar with such as zombies. Who does not know about zombies? Put your hand down Dave, we talked about it many times. Since 2010 there have been 638 movies made about zombies our world craves the unnatural and spiritual warfare. Here is what I would like to call the zombie rule book of what makes a zombie a zombie:

reanimated corpse (discussed fairly well in Wikipedia) 

1)      Zombies are human bodies that died and have come back to life.

2) Zombies only possess basic motor skills.

3) Zombies cannot talk. At best they can communicate like animals through moans and groans.

4)  Zombies have one intention: to eat the living.

5) Zombies are physical

6)  Zombie’s bodies are decaying and rotting.

7) Zombies are not capable of complex thoughts or problem solving skills.

That being said I hope we all can agree upon the basic formula of what makes a zombie a zombie. So let's go further into this out of the 638 movies I have reviewed my personal favorites are:

(Not in any order from best to worst)

1)      Day of the Dead (1985)

2)      28 days later (2002)

3)      Resident Evil (2002)

4)      Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (2012)

5)      Zombie land (2009)

6)      Shaun of the Dead (2004)

7)      Dawn of the Dead (2004)

8)      Army of Darkness (1993)

9)      Night of the Living Dead (1968)

10)  The Crazies (2010)

  As we have learned through two thousand of years people can take scripture to mean anything they want if they do not read it in the context and the hermeneutic breakdown of its real meaning.

That being said how many Christian denominations are out there currently because people have taken scripture to mean what they want it to mean? Wikipedia tells me all over the world there are around 41,000 different forms of Christianity.

So let's go to some scripture:

Isaiah 26:19-21: Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, wake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead. Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while until the wrath is past. For the Lord comes out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no longer cover its slain.

  That sounds like zombies to me right? People should stay in their homes as the undead come back to punish earth. However, the verse section before this is the judgment on Moab and this section is the lament and reassurance. It is a moment where the wicked people are punished but God's people have been given a promise for a resurrection to a new life. They must be patient a little longer, until God's judgment comes. After the verses spoken of pass it leads to God's redemption of Israel. Therefore, punishment of the Israel's enemies and punishment on the wicked people in Israel then a new life comes after God's judgement and Israel is restored.

I could continue through different verses of scripture and take them out of their context to mean almost anything I can think about. But if I apply contextualized hermeneutic tools and understanding of the scriptures then I will learn what it is really telling me. To take the zombie out of the equation entirely let's visit

1 Corinthians 15:35-57   (that discusses our two bodies)

The first body is the physical body, made from the dust as they will return to the dust. The second one is the spiritual one similar to Jesus' body after the resurrection. Able to eat but at the same time walk through walls. 

let's see from verse 50 to 57:

 50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, when we pass from this existence our second body is given to us made imperishable and immortal. Zombies are not being raised up from the ground to kill the living that Hollywood has illustrated since the 60's. We are given this spiritual body that God has designed for us and won by Jesus Christ. We are the children of God given the promise of resurrection in a new life. Amen.