Celebrating Depravity
Put 18 people in an isolated environment, give them the barest essentials of food and water, then place before them a prize; the ability to change their lives forever… if. If they manage to be the one left standing after 39 days.
The number 40 has a definitive meaning in the Bible. It appears many times in both the old and new testaments. This number is associated with a period of trial and testing. The trial always has an intended goal. In each case the trial was a measure of faithfulness and perseverance.
In both of these examples we have people being tested, each with a promise of fulfillment at the end of the testing. In the former we have people arranging their own circumstance. In the latter we have people being directed by God within their circumstance.
In the first we see men lying, cheating, stealing; preying upon each other in an effort to destroy their opponents physically and mentally in order to achieve the goal. In this game the winner is the person who is the best at manipulation, deception. This person is the epitome of depravity.
In the second we see men fall away of their own accord. The morally weak fall away one by one until, like the wheat from the chaff, the strong emerge having been refined in the fire. The righteous prevail and evil is defeated time and time again.
Yet, time and time again the depraved claw and scramble back into control because the righteous are righteous. They cannot use and abuse in order to gain power. More often than not, in the name of forgiveness and peace they forget that the principles of righteousness cannot be used against themselves and remain righteous. The righteous are not naive, nor are they stupid. They are simply righteous.
If popular culture teaches us one thing with certainty, it teaches us that without God, there is no good.
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