Gaia versus Christ - A Reason to Live

Every man needs a reason to get up in the morning.

Gaians get up in the morning to make the world a better place than it was yesterday. As integral parts of the organism of earth, they want to contribute everything they can to the health of the planet. Among other things, that means improving themselves physically, emotionally and spiritually. They want to see the world more truly for what it is, the people around them more clearly, and themselves more honestly. And they are willing to make necessary sacrifices for the greater good. They look on sacrifice as an investment, really. A Gaian might invest a little more for a hybrid car for the environment's sake, and might invest time in prayer to support the earth's spiritual balance.

Harm Never, Help Ever is one of their many mottos.

Gaia teaches her children to fight evil, foster good, and always help.

So, as I look at Gaia versus Christ, can Christ supply a stronger reason to live than this?

Let's compare Gaia's and Christ's messages to Joe, a depressed guy thinking about ending it all.

[Quick clarification: I'm personally familar with Joe's state from decades ago, but I'm not secretly talking about myself here.]

Joe is a part of the web of all life, and Gaia will remind him of this. Gaia needs Joe to be the best he can be, and she reminds Joe how fulfilling it is to contribute to the needs of the universe by contributing to the needs of his community.

Gaia relies on Joe to pull his weight in the complex web of life. And when Joe is too depressed to contribute to society, he is both failing her and consuming valuable resources. So, Gaia is going to marshall all the forces at her command to help Joe get better. She will send Joe better nutrition, more friends, caring counselors, and some poetry to help him feel understood. She will send books and helpers to feed his spirit, and to help him see that he was meant to be a spiritual being. She will work hard to help Joe take his place back in the dance of life.

The problem is that Joe is drowning in his depression. To get Joe back onto dry land, Gaia sends him lifeboats, but Joe takes a quick look at them and decides to drown. And why not? What is he really doing by being alive, anyway? What difference would his death make? What difference does his life make? Gaia could give his life purpose, but only when he was healthy enough to reach out and grab it.

Once Gaia is sure that Joe cannot be helped, she looks down on him and says, "Well, the gene pool won't miss him," and lets him die. Nature is like that. Gaia helps those who help themselves. Once you're past the point of helping yourself, Gaia cannot do anything for you.

But what does Christ say to Joe?

For starters, Christ stepped into Joe's world as a human, and suffered every temptation to which Joe has succumbed. He has the pain of each setback that is crushing Joe.

More than that, Christ suffered all those things intentionally, so that He could be there to comfort Joe when the time came. He willingly took on every burden so that He could carry Joe at just this moment.

But the amazing thing is that Christ did this because He knew Joe - from before Joe was conceived, Christ knew him - and He loved Joe. It's not that He loved everyone, or that He loved because it's His nature, but that He knew Joe and fell in love with Joe for being Joe. Everything Christ did, He did because Joe was that important to Him.

And there's something even more amazing than that. When Joe turns around and responds to Christ's love with love in return, he blesses the omnipotent Creator of the universe. Joe's love makes a difference to God. Joe can make a difference in the eternal, invisible realm.

Less amazing, but easier to appreciate, is that Joe can make the same difference right here on earth. When Joe loves Christ's brothers and sisters, he makes a difference in the eternal but visible realm!

To some, that might even seem like a sufficient reason to get up in the morning.

The ultimate contrast between Christ and Gaia comes when Joe cannot overcome his depression. Gaia has no use for the man who will not eventually provide something back to her body. Gaia is hungry, and she feeds on her own.

Christ is already satisfied. Rather than feeding on His body, Christ supplies it with everything it needs. When Joe is joined to Christ, he is born a new creature - a glorious man made new by Christ through the pouring of divine Life into Joe's spirit.

Codepoke is emotionally crippled, and if I thought my hope were in Gaia I would give up - right now. There is no hope down her road. My life, though, is in the hands of One Who loved me, and gave Himself for me. While I was in rebellion against Him, He bought me at the most extreme price. He could have given me wealth beyond my imagining, and delighted me at no cost to Himself. Instead, He healed me by His stripes.

Remember Gaia's true nature when you hear someone describe the beauty of tolerance, and the wonderful light and life-force that lives in each of us. Remember her vampire nature when they talk about how we are all interwoven and how we are connected to each other in a cosmic tapestry of life. Remember the imperative to evolve or die when they talk about how we are all growing toward a higher plane of existence.

And remember that Christ frees you from all of that.