....AND NOW A WORD FROM THE MARSHAL....

Instead of wasting my time on worthless, uninspiring "content" on one of innumerable streaming services, I prefer to listen to old-time radio shows in the evening as I settle down for bed.  I have thousands of them, and I find them to be just pure, pleasurable, relaxing entertainment.  Not woke, politically-preachy liberal indoctrination like almost all modern stuff these days.

At present I'm going through my collection of "Gunsmoke" episodes which yes, was actually a wildly-popular radio drama in the late 40s-early 50s before it later became a television series.  As I listen to these old shows, I am often surprised how "adult"-oriented most of the themes are and touch on issues deeper than just the basic "Crime Doesn't Pay" lesson. 

For instance, everyone is familiar with the expression "Get the heck outta Dodge" that is associated with the show, but don't know the reasoning behind those words.  While the stereotypical image of Marshal Dillon is this bad-ass lawman gunning down "the killers and the spoilers," when you actually listen to the show you discover his character is more of a reluctant upholder of the law and keeper of the peace, with violence and gunplay always being his last resort.  His first move is always to deescalate, to negotiate, to find a peaceful solution, or to calmly ask the perpetrator to just leave town, hence the "Get out of Dodge" line.

So the show is much more thought-provoking, and centered on Dillon making difficult moral choices, rather than just "shoot-'em-up" gunfights in the street.  In fact, almost every time a ruffian reaches for his weapon Dillon yells, "Don't do it!" because he knows what the consequences will be.  And after every face-off, there are those moments of regret, the depression of his taking a life when he did not want to, and the thoughts of "Do I really want this job any more?"

That is the character of Marshal Dillon.  A man who does what is right because he has sworn to uphold the law and protect the citizens of Dodge City, Kansas.  He is a good and righteous man who can always be trusted, and that brings up another scenario that occurs on a regular basis.

Often an exchange will occur when the bad guy of the episode has been caught in a dead-end situation with no chance of escape outside of a deadly gun battle with the marshal that he will surely lose.  But maybe he feels justified in what he has done and doesn't think he should hang for it.

"All right, Decker!" (or whoever the guy is), "We gotcha covered!  You don't have a chance!  Throw down your gun and come out with your hands up!" 

"Marshal Dillon?" the villain will yell back, "If I throw down my gun and give up easy, you swear you'll see I get a fair trial?"  Some variation of that.  Maybe, "You'll see my boy gets home to his mama," or something like that.  I mean, the guy's got nothing; his henchmen are all dead and he's out of ammo.  He can't hide in this alley forever, so he begs again:

"Dillon!  If I come out, you promise not to shoot?!"

And then there's that slow pause, the gentle intake of breath, and Marshal Dillon, in his low, gravelly drawl, replies, "You have my word." [Dramatic music swells] <End Scene> {Roll annoying cigarette commercial}

And there you have it.  Even the bad guys know Dillon is worth his word.

Nowadays with scammers absolutely everywhere, spam all over my phone, crooks in politics, liars in the media - - dude, I can't even trust the FBI any more -- nobody says, "You have my word" with any seriousness.  If anyone ever said that to me today I'd be like, "Yeah, sure brah.  Now give it to me in writing and have it notarized by the bank."  But can I trust the bank?

So with this topic on my mind and as if by Divine Investigation, later on I'm reading my trusty study guide on The Gospel of John, you know, trying to get a little more understanding of God in my life.  The author is explaining and expounding on all that stuff at the start that goes something like, "In the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God...."  All that "word" stuff that I always breeze past because it never made much sense to me and I didn't see how it fit in with the plot.

But YEAH, it definitely does!  The study guide reveals that the Greeks were totally into the whole "stand by your word" thing!  Words were super important.  In fact, they believed that God's "Word" was the actual power that created the World and holds the whole dang Universe together!  So John is writing to these people who are asking, "Is God for real?  Are His promises legit?  Can we trust these things we have read and heard?"

And John is telling them, "Dudes!  You know that whole 'God's Word' thing?  Well, God's Word is Jesus and God has sent Jesus down to you in order to assure you, 'You have MY WORD.'"

And I'm like, "OOoooohhh!  I get it now!  I like thinking of God as a Marshal Dillon who is good and righteous and completely trustworthy.

I'm definitely throwing down my gun....