intro/translation for non-Christians before I get to part 2 April 28, 2008
Posted by Zack in : Uncategorized , trackbackYou know all that “Left Behind” stuff? It’s real. There really are Christians who believe that, in a very specific Armageddon scenario, Jesus will come back, make grape juice out of non-believers, and send everyone else to heaven.
Do you know what Jesus’ criteria will be for who gets to stick around in paradise and who burns forever? Just look, the Bible is perfectly clear. Jesus, after separating all humanity into two groups…
“…will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“[Jesus] will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
For most of the 20th century, fundamentalist Christians took the hell and heaven part of that and other passages literally; but they they took Jesus’ constant focus on social justice as figurative or ancillary.
Many of the Christians I’ve been writing about on this blog have retained their belief in the heaven and hell stuff. But they’ve taken off the blinders about what what Jesus was actually talking about: i.e. that “the meek shall inherit [a redeemed] world.”
And that has turned millions of Christians into fanatics behind the cause of ending world poverty. What is so exciting is that they have gone beyond charity and are seeking ways to change the fundamental structure of the world economy. They do not believe profit should be the primary organizing principle of the relationships between people and communities, but rather—as corny as it sounds—that love should be.
And they’re serious about this. They’re giving up Christmas to build wells in Africa. They’re selling they’re suburban homes to move to broken neighborhoods of the city. They’re sending teams to buy back land for the landless in Central America.
For me, this “conversion” of millions of Christians, has all been the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
In Part 1 of this series, I teed up a challenge to these social-justice oriented Christians over the means by which they’ll actually change the world. In Part II, I’m going to try to spell out my critique and suggestions for a way forward.
By the way, I have been having this same conversation (without the brimstone) with the progressive mainstream. Interestingly, they/we have absorbed the same obsessive focus on small-scale, piecemeal changes as the Christians. Hmm…I wonder how that happened. If you ask me, it’s obvious: we’ve absorbed the official ideology of the current economic system so deeply that we’re simply unable to think in terms of any alternative.
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