In his book “Love the Lord Your God with All Your Mind,” Dr. JP Moreland, a philosophy professor at Biola University, introduced a fictional character named Won Mug, a person he described as an empty self, a shell of a person, someone lacking substance. Well, I’d like to introduce you to his younger brother, Mug Won.
Mug Won, he’s a busy guy.
He’s always in a rush. Even if he is not late, he is the kind of guy who weaves through traffic and needs to get from point A to point B as fast as humanly possible. Because time is always ticking. Mug has to rush home after a long day because he’s got to watch his favorite shows on tivo. On the weekends, Mug has to rush from a little Jimmy’s soccer game and Betty’s music lessons and he is to take Bobby to a friend’s bday party.
And wouldn’t you know it, traffic ends up being horrible that day on the 405. By the time saturday evening rolls around, Mug is dead tired and he feels like he is entitled to some downtime.
He just wants to veg out at home and surf the net and because a new android OS got released and he needs to upgrade his phone. He’s a smart shoper so he checks a minimum of 10 sites to make sure he is getting the absolute best deal and he is conscientious of his family’s financial situation and money being a bit tight so he is even willing to get a used one on ebay or craigslist.
Ah, but he couldn’t resist and he ends up getting the shiny new one at the store. He needs that smartphone so that he can instantly see movie reviews and showtimes so that he and his wife can take a break from the kids and catch the latest movie at least once a month. That reminds Mug, he hasn’t called the babysitter yet.
But never fear, Mug is here. He set up a google reminder alert in his email which he receives also via SMS text. Besides, Mug can already see that the babysitter has time tonight because he is following her on twitter. As of 5 minutes ago, Mug sees that the babysitter seems really bored because it says, I’M BORED in all caps on her facebook page because she added him as a friend last month so he is relatively confident that she will have time to watch the kids tonight.
Mug is busy but he always tries to make time for God. He’ll do the church thing on the side because religion is good for him and esp. his kids need to grow up with good morals and he thinks his pastor is a godly role model.
Mug thinks of himself as a good person, too. When there is an earthquake in haiti, he’s one of the first ones to write a check because God has blessed him with abundant material resources.
On top of that, Mug tries to love his neighbor by smiling at the old lady down the street whenever he sees her walking around the block. He even on occasion invites some of his neighbors to church, but as soon as they start asking too many questions or start draining too much of his time, Mug will be sure to introduce him to his small group leader Rick so that Rick can reach out to him. Because Rick is better at that then Mug. Plus, Rick is getting paid to do that sort of thing.
So that’s Mug Won. Perhaps you may know someone like that. I know it might have been a bit exaggerated but the point is that many people, Christians included, live as if this life is all there is. How would Mug fill in to live is blank, to die is blank. Maybe it would be to live is to squeeze out all I can out of this life and to die is something I won’t think about until I am much older or until someone close to me gets ill.
I think it is pretty obvious that in many ways, Mug Won is earthbound because he is wrapped up in all the cares and concerns of this life. How about us?