The Purge

This is not a test.

This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government. Weapons of class 4 and lower have been authorized for use during the Purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity from the Purge and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire, and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. when The Purge concludes. Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn.

May God be with you all.

Thus announced the loud speakers in the dystopian Purge films, set in America. The New Founding Fathers political party have established a police state, but allow all laws against violence to be suspended for a 12 hour period each year. During this time, murder, theft and assault are all discriminalised. This, the opening credits explain, results in almost zero-crime the rest of the year, very low unemployment and a reduction of those living in poverty. The rich and the violent relish the opportunity to exterminate the poor (who cannot flee the cities into safe houses) and release their pent-up aggression. The most hideous acts are performed and the directors’ imaginations are able to run wild.

The whole idea is an interesting sociological concept. It is also an intriguing theological reflection of hell. Right now, the unregenerate have their sinful natures restrained by such things as human government, the conscience and even Christian heritage. In hell, that place where God has utterly and irrevocably removed His presence, the fallen human nature is set loose and lets rip. Pure, unadulterated, and undiluted evil runs amok. Hell is a terrible doctrine, not least for this terrifying truth. All vestiges of morality and civility are gone, all traces of a benign influence are removed. God will purge the universe of all evil by concentrating it one small corner of existence, and thereafter removing it from all knowledge and experience.

Image by Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay from Pixabay