The Limitations of Redemption

One of my favorite series of books is called The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever.  The trilogy follows a man named Thomas Covenant (duh), an author whose wife and child leave him as a result of his recent contraction of Hansen's disease, more commonly known as Leprosy.  Understandably, he has an exceptionally soured outlook on life when the reader meets him.  However, soon he is transported to a magical Narnia type land where he is hailed as a savior.  At this point, I immediately assumed that hope and salvation for this poor man was on the way! However, when the land returns his sense of touch (which Leprosy stripped from him), Thomas becomes overwhelmed by the renewed sense, and then rapes a child in the village.  As the reader, you lose all sympathy for the protagonist.  In fact, you begin to despise him.  To top it off, if you are to continue reading, you must then live inside the head of this despicable human being whose thoughts page after page are full of despair and annoying self pity.  What, in this case, motivates a reader to continue for 3 books??

The answer is two questions implicit within he narrative:  1.  Can this man be redeemed?  2.  Do I even want this man to be redeemed?  

Is redemption limited?

When two people enter the covenant of marriage, they do so knowing that one of them will most likely die before the other, leaving the other to cope and find meaning in the midst of such terrible loss.  However, people continue to get married even with the knowledge that this wonderful relationship WILL come to an end.  One is then faced with a daunting philosophical question: If something seemingly "good" is going to decay and die, is it still good?  As Christians we answer yes.

However, if something bad happens, only to turn into something beautiful.... is the bad, then, still bad?  As Christians we answer no.

Is this a double standard?  No.  These two Christian philosophies are a direct result of the concept of redemption.  I recently went to a conference where the concept of the hopelessness in prisoners was discussed.  Prisoners, even if released, are treated as walking talking cancer cells to be avoided at all costs.  What, then, does a prisoner have to look forward to?  The speaker, Efrem Smith, CEO of World Impact, stated, "letting people with no hope know that this is not the end of their story is really the gospel."

To Christians, redemption is the solution to hopelessness.  There is something about the the concept of redemption that attracts us.  It motivates us to read 1500 pages about a character we hate.  Redemption is powerful enough for a rapist leper, and it is powerful enough for whatever hopelessness captivates us.  So next time despair enthralls you know that whatever suffering surrounds you, it is not the end of your story.