It is recorded in Wikipedia that Clairvius Narcisse, a Haitian man (1/2/1922-1994) said a Haitian vodou priest had given him a combination of psychoactive drugs. As documented and verified by two American doctors, these drugs rendered him seemingly dead. He was buried May 2, 1962 but that night the priest who administered the drugs to him, dug his body up and forced him to work as a zombie in a sugar plantation. This priest died 16 years later so as the regular doses of the hallucinogen drugs worked out of his system, he regained sanity and returned to his home. There he proved his identity to his sister and several other villagers by using a childhood nickname and sharing intimate family information. Wade Davis, a graduate student in ethnobotany at Harvard University, was the strongest advocate of this case.
Regardless of the veracity of this story, it does illustrate what Paul references in Ephesians 2:1 where he states, you were dead [the unregenerate are also referred to as blind] in trespasses and sins in which you walked. Ezekiel the prophet wrote Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house (Ezekiel 12:2, ESV). Jesus saidYou blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. (Matthew 23:26, ESV).
Paul describes the origins of spiritual zombies and what you can expect from them.
They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools (Romans 1:19-22, NLT2)
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else (Ephesians, 2:1-3 (NLT2).
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more (Ephesians 4:18-19, NIV). You see, without experiencing a spiritual regeneration that creates a deep desire to love and serve God, a person is a spiritual zombie.
Consider this: Can we honestly expect a naturally blind person to behave like one with 20/20 vision? Of course not. Relax! Understand that a person can only receive spiritual sight by humbly admitting their need to see and ask God’s Spirit to give them a portion of His sight. Becoming angry at a spouse or anyone because they make wrong and hurtful choices is as foolish as getting mad at a blind person. Remember, Jesus said No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. (John 6:44a, ESV) Therefore calm down, if possible take proactive steps to stop enabling them, pray on behalf of and have compassion on the zombie instead of being angry. Then refocus on endeavoring to help whomever you do intuitively sense the Spirit is drawing to Christ. Working in cooperation with the Spirit of God in bringing spiritual light to that zombie will be most rewarding.
Good analogy
This is so good! Maybe reevaluate ourselves and be humble.