Zombies? Really?

If I were to compile a list of possible topics for this blog on connecting dots to God, zombies would never enter my mind.  Ever.  But, after reading an Associated Press news article yesterday about a recent internet interest in “zombie apocalypse,” I’m going to connect some dots between zombies and God.  Work with me here…

Apparently, the phrase “zombie apocalypse” is (or was) #2 among Google’s trending search terms. 

Why? 

Tamara Lush, in her AP article, suggests that recent bizarre and gruesome events have sparked a fascination with a scenario in which a mutant virus, on the loose from a government lab or introduced in an act of bioterrrorism, turns people into zombies. It is preposterous of course, but we live in an age in which many absurdities have become reality.

So, whether Google searches for “zombie apocalypse” are done in comic book type fun or out of genuine fear, they reveal a sense of foreboding as described in Lush’s article:

“Symbolic of both infection and evil, zombies are terrifying in a way that other horror-movie iconography isn’t, says Elizabeth Bird, an anthropologist at the University of South Florida.

Zombies, after all, look like us. But they aren’t. They are some baser form of us — slowly rotting and shambling along, intent on “surviving” and creating more of their kind, but with no emotional core, no conscience, no limits.”

Creepy.

Lush goes on to write, “For some, the news stories fuel a lurking fear that, ultimately, humanity is doomed.” 

I find Lush’s article insightful, because there is some truth in the fears she describes.  Humanity, in a self-gratifying sinful state, is in fact doomed.  Foreboding is justified.

Zombies are a fitting metaphor for the cultural rot, heartless self-gratification, and soul-less existences that are increasingly evident in this world.

It is creepy.

Thankfully, zombie fiction notwithstanding, sin will not devour humanity because  of the day that the Living God defeated death on a cross.  Jesus Christ offers eternal life in place of spiritually dead flesh and a loving heart instead of an empty emotional core.

Christians understand that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, the antidote for sin and the source of life, and we can share this hope in the face of foreboding.  Maybe zombie stories are an opportunity to do just that.

“‘I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”  John 5:24