A Better World For Nothing

(from USA Today)

I have been reading "Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, Resurrection and the Mission of the Church" by theologian N.T. Wright. This cartoon illustrates a prevailing mindset in most evangelical Christians. I'm not commenting, yet, on the rightness or wrongness of this, simply noting, as Wright's book and this cartoon imply, that we as Christians are acutely affected in the way we live this life by our view of what comes in the after-life.

If we think we just go to heaven when we die, and eventually God will destroy this world with fire and start over, then it makes complete sense as to why evangelical Christians typically don't really get very passionate about environmental issues, social change or alleviating suffering with long-term solutions. I'm generalizing, I know—there are many evangelical Christians who do care about these things.

My point is that I'm wondering if, somewhere along the way, we Christians have begun to think incorrectly about heaven and the "end-times", causing us to ignore or throw aside parts of what it means to follow Jesus, in a way that drastically reduces the relevance and hope of the gospel and the significance behind what Jesus' resurrection really means for Christians.

I haven't finished the book, and so I haven't reached a point of digesting all that Wright is proposing in his book, but he definitely raises compelling questions that deserve to be asked and wrestled with, especially if we view this world as irrelevant and passing away. We need to have open eyes and ears to consider that maybe these questions are valid. Maybe we need to do some self-assessment as to why we believe the things we believe. Because if we can't articulate what might be motivating our beliefs, our apparent lack of concern, in the world's eyes, about climate issues, social justice and the like, we are going to get caught looking very selfish, uncaring and unconcerned about the needs of the people around us. And if they don't believe that we care about their needs, they won't care at all what we say when we try to tell them about what we believe.

I'm not saying we need to blindly jump on the band-wagon of climate issues or any other global cause. That would be equally counter-productive and intellectually irresponsible as well. We just need to question why we are doing things the way we are doing them, and make sure we can articulate well, without hostility compensating for poor logic, why we believe what we believe and have the humility to change the way we live in the face of inconsistent or false ideas that might be motivating our decisions.