Life is Short …

A great example of the difference between a “worldly” worldview and a Christian worldview: going through my spam I came across a message that read: “Life is short. Have an affair.” What would Christian “messaging” on the point look like? How about:”Life is short. Eternity is long. Have an affair and go to hell forever.”

Not that one should reduce the reason not to have an affair to avoiding hell. Before Pope Francis or Pope Emeritus Benedict writes me a reminder that we’re against things because we’re for others and that it’s best to lead with the Gospel, let me say that I know the mutual self-giving love of marriage is a sort of sacramental sign of divine love. We should allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by that love and we should not act in ways contrary to it. We’re made for more. And I know that one important way that I, by vocation, encounter and live that love is in the person of my wife, who is irreplaceable.

But commercial messaging being what it is, I thought I should get the big, worldly-attention-getting motivator into the bullet-point message. While we shouldn’t always lead with the moral rebuke, it can be helpful to heighten people’s awareness of a certain other form of heat besides the heat of passion.


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About Mark Brumley 66 Articles
Mark Brumley is president and CEO of Ignatius Press.

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