The Discovery is a film about a scientist who makes a discovery so
significant it drastically alters the world. He discovers brain waves continue
to emit from the mind after a person is dead. What's the big deal? It's
scientific proof of an afterlife.
Somehow, someway the deceased's brain continues to function after their heart
has stopped.
People
respond by committing suicide, millions of them, all around the world. Why?
With definitive proof of an afterlife, they now have hope for a better life.
They don't have to linger in loneliness or struggle with cancer. All they have
to do is pull the trigger, and they can be reunited with their loved ones.
If you had
definitive proof of an afterlife, how would you respond? If you knew, beyond
the shadow of a doubt, you'd enter another life after you die, what would you
do? Would you pull the trigger?
Pulling
the Trigger
St. Paul
also made a powerful discovery that radically altered history. He encountered a
person from the other side, the resurrected Christ, and came to believe that
Jesus was not only raised from the dead, but all who hope in Him will be raised
to eternal life. But his response was different. Instead of taking his life, he
gave his life. Instead of leaping to find what's on the other side, he
transformed his life on this side. You could say he "pulled the
trigger" on his old life, and his old life wasn't too shabby.
He formerly
went by Saul, and according to the standards of Judaism Saul was no slacker. He
was circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin (Phil. 3:5). In other words, he wasn't a newbie in the faith; he was
circumcised so early he
was raised in the faith. And of all the ethnicities in the world,
he was from the chosen people. And out of all of Israel, he was from a special
tribe, the tribe that furnished Israel with their very first king. Saul had
great pedigree, but he had even more.
His zeal
eclipsed many of his contemporaries, aligning him with some of Israel's greats
(Moses, Elijah, Phineas). An expert in the Law, Saul was esteemed by many. You
might say he was the Steve Jobs of Judaism, with a passion for perfection to go
with it. Saul arrested and persecuted Christians who perverted his Jewish
faith. No one questioned his commitment, until his encounter with the risen
Christ
Then something switched, and his zeal ran toward
Christ in a life of hopeful self-denial. He traveled unreliable roads and
weathered seas throughout the Mediterranean to share the good news about Jesus,
all while living off of his tent business and the support of friends. He wrote
letters to struggling churches, and his writings eventually comprised half the
New Testament. Along the way, he encountered misunderstanding, ridicule,
rejection, prison, flogging, and even shipwreck. Yet he persisted. Why? The
resurrection of Jesus had radically changed his notion of success…
Glory in Regret
Eventually the scientific crew working on the
"the discovery" realizes the post-mortem brain signals are actually
connected to episodes of a person's past, not to an afterlife. When they
convert the waves into images, they observe the episodes are actually moments
of regret in a person's life. Unknowingly, the suicides are waking up, not to a
circle of loved ones but moments of intense regret. The central character gets
stuck in a loop trying to prevent the suicide of a woman he loves.
Faith in Jesus, however, does not lead to an
eternal loop of regret. Rather, to borrow a phrase from C. S. Lewis, it allows
heaven to work backwards. The meaning, love, joy, and goodness of heaven are
transported back into the heart through union with Christ, which help us weather
things like loneliness and cancer. Of course, our experience of heaven working
backwards is uneven. We are, after all, still on earth so to speak. And once we
reach heaven, Lewis notes that even a past agony, and I'll add even a regret,
will turn into a glory. Why? Because that old pain will serve to intensify the
present, everlasting comfort of Christ's nail-scarred hands. Our regret will be
faint, but a vivid reminder of the grand discovery—the remarkable mercy of
Christ, who rose to forgive and renew all things.
Jonathan Dodson is the founding pastor of City Life Church in
Austin, TX which he started with his wife, Robie, and a small group of people.
They have three children. He is also the founder of gcdiscipleship.com and
author of a number of books including The Unbelievable Gospel, Gospel-Centered
Discipleship, and Raised? Finding Jesus by Doubting the Resurrection.
