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Two posts have caught my attention, first Night Wind’s, ”The World Doesn’t Want to Be Saved.” Precisely. Well done, well said. I enjoyed that Huxley quote at the end, about the sheer insanity of being a normal in a society that no one in their right mind would accept and adjust to.

So it is a bit amusing that Pastor Wilson wrote, “The Revolt of the Normals.” Hmm. Let me tell you, the normals are revolting, indeed. Not quite in the way Wilson imagines, but revolting for sure.

Do you know what I used to call the normals of the churchian world? The Beautiful People. It was not a compliment, I hated them, and sometimes I still do. What marks the beautiful people? Apathetic, complacent, devoid of empathy, self absorbed.

The kind of people who seem to believe the unregenerate are going to roast forever in hell, and yet they can’t even be bothered to invite you to church. My fate is allegedly eternal damnation and now you’re just off to watch a ballgame??? Get in a fight over worship music? Complain about the thermostat in the sanctuary? Peeps, I am allegedly roasting over here and no one even seems to care! But hey, at least you guys look all clean and shiny……

A bit amusing, but when I was a young mom I had an existential crisis because I realized if I ever managed to raise sober minded, healthy, well adjusted adults, they simply wouldn’t be able to survive in this mad world of ours. Given the circumstances we find ourselves living in, it would actually be immoral to be well adjusted. Seriously, the only healthy response to the world around us is to stand on our front porch at 3 am in a long white night gown with a candelabra and scream. Fortunately the Lord intervened in my abyss and pointed out that it is virtually impossible for me to do anything perfectly, ever, so it was a moot point. I need not fret, like the rest of humanity, my kids were guaranteed to have flaws, imperfections, and issues.

If anyone asks, my children are absolutely perfect, amazing creatures, just the way God wanted them. I am just saying, thank God my kids were not afflicted with the normal. In fact, I worked very hard to plant seeds of not normal. The Bible tell us to be a peculiar people, a royal priesthood, set apart, and then we go chasing after normal? What part of ”Be not conformed,” do we not understand?

In Wilson’s defense, I think I do understand the kind of ”normal” that we all long for, a world where kids can have a mom and dad, and perhaps a dog, and there are only two genders, and the bad guys never win because love conquers all.

Listen up people, that is not ”normal” at all, that is extraordinary, way outside the mainstream. It is actually so unusual as to be downright radical. You have got to be half mad to have such a vision, to try to create such things. Most of human history is just dominated by endless greed, perpetual injustice, and random acts of brutal and pointless violence.

Indeed, the world does not want to change, in fact, it doesn’t even realize it is broken. Much like vampires cannot even see their own reflection, the world cannot see itself in a mirror either. Fish do not know the water is wet because they are too busy swimming in it.

We are not here to change the world but rather to give glory to God. We are called to salt the Earth. Back in ancient days babies were actually salted, to establish their parenthood, to declare their Fatherhood. Ezekiel 16 tells us, ”And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth.…” He is calling them (us) bastards, fatherless children, the unsalted, the cast out. Fatherless orphans who don’t know who we belong too.

We are called, those of us do who know who our Father is, to go forth and salt His babies, to claim them, to tell them who their Father really is and who they are in Him. Go forth and salt His babies, most who are now grown and not nearly as cute, and prone to frequent forgetfulness.

Those of us who are in Christ will actually do some of this work without even realizing it. You are shaping and influencing those around you, even when you don’t realize it. One need not be a literal father to be a spiritual father to many. There are plenty of spiritual mothers doing the same thing, reminding people who their Father is, salting the earth on His behalf. Salting His babies.

I don’t wish to harp on normal too much here, I just want to say it is way too small. We aren’t called to be normal, we’re called to be extraordinary, a peculiar people. Most of the world doesn’t know it is broken because it doesn’t even know what is possible.