The Joker

Allen and I had a rare, and I mean rare, chance have a date last week. We went to see The Dark Knight. Now I'm not going to endorse a movie here, but we had a chance to go see it, so we did.

I wasn't fully prepared for the range of emotions I would feel watching that movie.

It was mostly Heath Ledger. I wasn't a huge fan of his. I hadn't even seen him in a movie. I knew who he was, of course. And thanks to People magazine, I knew a lot about him. About his little girl.

Watching that movie, though, was like watching a ghost. I kept looking for glimpses of the real Heath. And let me tell you, there were none.

I knew from reading press about the movie that he has a huge chance of being nominated for an Oscar. There has been only one other win for a leading actor by a posthumous actor.

(Okay I am totally distracted by that word - posthumous. I love to say it. I have a list of words I love to say. Cyclical-medicinal-misogynist- I love these words. I have to think carefully when I say them. It's like exercising for my brain.)

Anyway, I was just wrapped up in his performance. It was electrifying. It consumed me. It was amazing.

But I found myself praying my brains out for him.

As I understand it, LDS people pray for their dead. They can even baptize the dead, just so you won't be taken back like I was when I first heard this. I felt a little funny praying for a deceased person. But hey, God is the Creator of the universe. I believe all things are possible with Him. So I prayed.

I've always struggled with the finality of death. For us, for those of us who believe what Jesus did for us, we just step from one life to our other life. That's easy. But how does it go for those that don't believe?

We did the play Diary of Anne Frank in high school. My best friend Amy and I had numerous conversations about how to get to Heaven. She struggled with just the one way. She also happened to be Anne in the play. The play was pretty heavy, for a high school play. After a performance one night, she clung to me sobbing. She said that Anne couldn't have gone to hell, after everything she went through on Earth. She went through hell here. Didn't she deserve heaven? I knew the correct answer, the Biblical answer, but it didn't seem to fit at that moment.

God loved her more than me. Did any of that matter to Him?

So I thought about that. A lot. And kept thinking about it through the years.

I get the only one way to heaven thing. And like Pastor David said not too long ago, if there were 1,000 ways, we'd want just one more. It's not how many ways there are. It's are you willing to do anything to get there?

And my view of salvation had evolved over the years too. It's not just moving from the "hell" line into the "heaven" line. It's a life style. It's a relationship. It's an all consuming desire to know Him. And be holy like He is holy.

But there is this whole "staying out of hell" thing. I wouldn't want to spend one tiny second separated from my Jesus. We're talking about an eternity here. Can you even fathom? I think if we could, we'd be terrified of anyone we knew actually spending an eternity there.

So I thought, "Maybe there's more to it." Bear with me. Because this is not only not Scriptural, it's maybe even blasphemous. I do think that God was a tad bit vague on some things in the Bible. I mean, we have a world that's either 6,000 years old or millions of years. Vague.

So maybe there's more to it. Maybe at some point, in between life and eternity, unbelievers get just one. more. chance.

They missed a life full of a relationship with Him. That's reason to mourn right there. But just maybe. They get one more chance? Before eternity? Before they are separated forever?

I know that we are saved by faith. And I know that faith is the belief in the things unseen. A conviction of things not seen, according to Hebrews. So they have to belive with out seeing.

But if the God of the universe looked at you, and asked you if you believed, would you say "yes."?

I know that the pride of man would keep some from saying yes. But for most, would they believe?

I know that God's mercy is way above my ability to understand. I also know his wrath is mighty too. Maybe He's not interested in one more chance. Maybe He gives all the chances people need while they are still here.

I just absolutely cannot imagine hell. Or going there.

So I prayed for Heath Ledger. That he somehow escaped hell.

Now I can hear you thinking, "Who are you to presume that he wasn't saved?" I'm not judging. Please hear me say that. I'm really not. He surely could have been a believer. I just don't ever hear of a person dying that my soul doesn't cry out, "LORD, let them KNOW you. Please." And I pray that they did. Pray that if they didn't, that somehow, some way, God saved them. Can't He go back, and speak to them in a dream? Can't he make those rocks cry out and speak of His glory? Can't He save them all??

It's free will. I know. It's a love that I just can't grasp. That Jesus died for those who would. not. believe. I just cannot get that love. I would die for my kids. My husband. For someone who hated me? Heh.

And then the question begs to be asked, "What am I doing to keep anyone out of hell?" *sigh* Not much, I fear.

Other than that, I pray for his little girl. She doesn't have a Daddy now. He did an amazing job in that movie, and however tiny. However minuscule. I hope she gets some comfort out of that.