Dead Lions

Quote from "How Shall We Then Forgive": Chapter Twenty-Four~The Reprimand

Solomon said, "Better is a living dog than a dead lion." Christ is the "lion of Judah," CS Lewis depicts Him for us as "Aslan the Lion." If He is not physically risen from the dead, we have a cruel myth by which we live. If He be not raised from the dead, all perceptions and interpretations of our reality are no more than cruel myths and delusions. And so Paul says, "And if Christ be not raised , your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." I would add: If we have hope in the afterlife only, we make God miserable. The virtues of the resurrected Christ are dispensed to us now by His Holy Spirit. The victory procured on His cross is ours now, in this life, by His resurrection. Because He lives, we may live Him out in this world. Because He lives, the great forgiver acts by His Spirit in our Hearts. He Said, "Because I live, you shall live also." Forgiveness being a critical aspect of His life, we can hear Him say, "Because I forgive, you shall forgive also.