"Reference Points" and a "G" Rated Life

So I got a wonderful Christmas card. It was actually beautiful. This is the link:

http://www.frontiernet.net/%7Ejimdandy/specials/xmas.htm

It has a fantastic message. But this one part made me think:

Entertainment: Joy, Peace, Truth,
Light, Life, Love, Real Happiness,
Communion with God, Forgiveness, Miracles, Healing, Power,
Eternity in Paradise, Contentment, and much more!
(All "G" rated, so bring your family and friends.)

From the mention of "Eternity in Paradise" I gathered that they were talking about the benefits of the party--what would come from it. But then it said it would be "G" rated.

I don't think life in the eternal realm will be/is "G" rated. I think that things that are Rated "G" are not really praiseworthy--I think they are actually neutral. Most of the "G" rated movies I have seen have been really dumbed down. Disney movies don't advocate much, because they don't have the opposition.

Life only becomes valuable when we overcome something difficult. It is like Satan's plan vs. God's plan. We needed to have the struggle to have the glory. Without struggle, adversity and trial there is no glory. So, I find it unlikely that following God and becoming like Him would be "G" rated. I think it would actually be rated R. God sees horrible atrocities. He sees suffering, incest, abuse, murder . . . everything. That is why He is God, despite His grudgingly seeing these things, He has no desire to partake of them. To be brought high, and appreciate it, you have to be brought low. You cannot recognize how high you are without something to compare it to. If everyone is high, you think you are on ground level, because you don't have another point of reference. So we have to see horrible sadness to experience amazing happiness. If we don't, we cannot comprehend what the happiness is.

It is like uniform motion. If you are moving uniformly with something and you have no other point of reference you do not know that you are moving. That is why we get motion sickness, our body is telling us something that our eyes are not seeing. I think reference points are incredibly important. We cannot know exaltation without having a point of reference to know what we are exalted from. The very word, exalt, means to lift up. We need to know that we were at one point down. You may say that "we get our reference point when we are on the earth, in the next life it will be perfect, we wouldn't need a reference point anymore." And I would disagree. We are going to become like God . . . hopefully . . . and that is an essential element of who God is. We will probably experience even greater moments of sadness in the next life, because we are experiences even greater moments of joy. There is opposition in all things. We will feel much more joy and eternal happiness when we see a soul repent and change, but we will feel loss like we have never felt during this life when a person chooses not to repent. We will have lower lows and higher highs. Life will not be Rated G, and thank goodness for that. However, I do believe that Satan's path was rated "G," and I am glad I escaped that future.

That is why I think, overall, many rated "R" movies stir people's soul more. They bring you lower at points, so they can lift you higher up at the end. You have a point of reference that gives you perspective. If you did not see the brutality in Gladiator, and his wife and kid killed (which surely would not be there in a "G" movie) you would not be as elated when he escapes the brutality of being a gladiator and when he returns to his wife and child. You would not feel as uplifted and edified in "Schindler's List" when you see him sacrifice everything for others if you did not see what he was saving those people from. You may say that they do not have to show those things for you to be uplifted. I disagree, you need a reference point and if you do not then you are not as edified and relieved after. Life is not Rated "G," and it is great that it is not. The actions of those who are righteous are "G," but the life and world they experience is not. You can have your actions be Rated "G" and still have a reference point--there will always be wickedness that you see, even when you are exalted. In fact, when you are exalted it is likely you will experience it even more.

Reference points are crucial. There is opposition in all things. To really "know" true happiness you must "know" pain and sorrow. To experience true elation in the soul that repents, you have to feel true despair from seeing a soul go astray.

And hopefully by seeing these atrocities, and by choosing a different path, we get to a point where our actions can be "G" in a Rated "NC-17" world.

But the original Christmas party invite was not trying to elaborate on reference points, or the nature of eternity (it kind of was). It was just trying to warm our hearts and give us perspective, which it absolutely did.