Haywire is not a word I use often, but I certainly know what it means.  When something goes haywire, it means things spin out of control and what used to work no longer works.  Things go “haywire.”

Matt Chandler entitles the last section of Chapter 5 [“Creation”] “Haywire.”  All of Chapter 5 has been his writing about the cosmic view of the world, what he refers to as “the Gospel of the air” and I have discussed his thoughts about creation, man’s role in that creation and how we should give God the glory.

The key word that one should keep in mind in Chapter 5 is “cosmic,” what I call the “big picture” view of reality, not having concerns for the everyday details of life on a personal, human level.

Chandler chooses to focus on an incident that he experienced when he was preaching on the depravity of man.   He was interrupted mid-sermon by audience members, two women who could not bear the idea that their precious babies are born into the world as “depraved.”   So, they interrupted his preaching on Ephesians quoting Scripture from Genesis in defense of the goodness of the world.  Instead of trying to ignore them [he admits that’s usually what he does], he decided to respond to their concerns.  Their focus was on Genesis 1 where the Bible says “God made the world and it was good.”  That (of course) includes their babies. 

Let’s stop right there.  I want anyone who reads my blog know that I would love to support those women.  I want to live in a world where God creates beauty and good, where humans are created to reflect His glory and we give God the glory for the wonderful work that He has done.

I want people to know that I struggle to deal with total depravity too, but like Chandler, I know I can’t turn a blind eye to what happens in Genesis 3, where everything goes haywire.  On a cosmic level, sin enters the picture in Chapter 3 and the God-created order is turned upside down. 

Let me get personal.  I am hours away from attending a book club meeting at my church.  I guess this is overly dramatic but I am struggling with the book that we are reading this month [thank goodness I am not leading the discussion].  The book is entitled The Beekeeper of Aleppo and when I read it, I could not really relate to the content.  It is about the horrid conditions in Syria brought about by the rule of Bashar al-Assad, so I had to do more.  I watched a movie about this situation and then a documentary.  The documentary is entitled For Sama, and maybe, just maybe, God had me watch that yesterday so I could write this post today. [Please forgive me my thoughts about God’s personal intervention in my life for the purpose of blog posting].

For Sama was visceral.  I saw a father [a doctor] and a mother [a journalist] who were in the middle of the city of Aleppo as Assad wreaked horror on his own people, all so he could maintain his power over Syria.  The images that I saw are horrific and the ones I can’t get out of my mind are those of murdered children, innocents who died at the hands of Assad’s military who were ordered to help him cling to power at all costs. 

I guess what I am saying is this is evidence of total depravity.

I wish I had not seen the film but I did, and the idea of a man killing his own people is abhorrent, especially innocent women and children.

What happened in this documentary was traumatic for me; not like actually having to live through the civil war in Syria, but I can’t unsee the dead children.  Why did this happen?  Things went haywire in this country.  Things went haywire in God’s world, that someone in a leadership position could commit such heinous acts.

Even though I want to support the women who feel that their babies are born perfectly good, I know Genesis 3 happened when the harmony of creation collapsed and humanity’s relationship with God is ruptured.  Satan in the form of the serpent enters the picture and Adam and Eve fall to his distorted message. 

Evil enters into the world and yes, we are born into depravity…

Things go haywire; the ball is on the tee in front of us. We are ready for Chapter 6.

Entitled “The Fall.”