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Christianity from an Existential Perspective..
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Afterlife and Egoism
Recently a friend posed a very
challenging question to me: "If you were to die, and find out that
there is no afterlife (that there is no existence after death), would
you feel that the time and energy you devoted to your religion was a
waste?"
Heaven can be a number of things for Christians. Most commonly it is
viewed as a Christians home, this world being only a "pitstop" to where
we truly belong. Others emphasise the rewarding nature of a christian
afterlife, characterising heaven as a "divine thankyou for all the time
and energy I spent serving God". Or maybe as a "place where I can
finally attain rest from the perils and plights that fill this earthly
existence". Whatever we see it as, Christians tend to view this
lifetime as something that has to be endured, something repulsive, and
the afterlife as perfection that we are waiting for.
Evangelicals use a whole lot of rhetoric on heaven when trying to
convince potential converts to join the fold. "Be a christian and you
will get to be in heaven!" they exclaim, "Christianity's blessed hope
is that we have an eternal future dwelling in perfection, all we have
to do is get through this life following Jesus... and heaven is ours!".
Heaven is a big reason why people become christian. Hell also takes
center stage during the preaching of salvation messages, and is
consistently used as a tool to get people scared so they will convert
(that's why I got saved when I was young).
For many, Christianity and Jesus is merely a way for them to get into
the perfect afterlife. The underlying philosophy is "Although this life
sucks pretty hard, it'll all be over soon and I will finally be in
heaven". What we have to understand is this perception of an afterlife
is based on self-interest and an acute sense of egoism. We only act
morally because we know it will benefit us sometime later (in heaven),
and although few christians would accept that they think like this,
modern Christianity's theology and worldview is reek with this egoistic
thinking. We serve God because of what he can do for us, we evangelise
to others because we will be rewarded in heaven for it, we believe
Jesus because he promised us salvation, and we pray to God because we
think we can get something out of it.
Jesus, however, was starkly opposed to this. When the rich man came up
to Jesus and asked "How may I inherit eternal life", Jesus could sense
the egoistical nature of this man, and told him to sell all of his
possessions to get into heaven (which he couldn't do). We can be alot
like this rich man, refusing to give up physical wants and comforts for
Christ. Humanity in general have always been interested primarily in
temporal things, and accordingly jesus 'separated the wheat from the
chaff' by demanding that his disciples give up all physical comforts
and securities to follow him. Jesus advocated a life lived in servitude
and selflessness, and told people that they had to die to the world
before they were able to follow him.
Admittely, throughout his ministry Jesus did offer eternal rewards for
the extraordinary dedication his followers exhibited, but the
foundational principle of Jesus was sefless love as the means for a
fulfilled existence. Jesus said that "this is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent." (John 17:3). Jesus crucified the worldly preoccupations these
men had, and revealed to them a life that can truly be meaningful and
pleasing to God. Paul had in him this Christ-like attitude, and
expressed it amazingly when saying "That I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart. I could <span
style="font-weight:bold;">wish that myself were accursed from Christ
for my brethren</span>, my kinsmen according to the flesh:"
(Romans 9:2-3)
Here is real Christian love, Paul says if he could he would give up his
own salvation and eternal life for the benefit of his brethren. Modern
eschatology is ripping apart the christian attitude of self-sacrificing
love, heaven is the one responsible for our greed. Someone show me an
evangelical pastor that would give up his 'salvation' so a homosexual
could know Christ, show me a fundamentalist that says to God "I refuse
to be raptured, I want to be down here as long as possible so I can
help others through the tribulation". (I dont believe in the rapture or
any of that, im just using this as a good example as how a
fundamentalist could show Christ-like attributes within his theology)
So what am I saying? Is there no afterlife at all?... I certainly think
there is, but the nature of it is a mystery to me, and I think it would
be alot healthier for Christianity as a whole if everyone saw it as a
mystery and started focusing on this life.
-- By Timothy Neal
(ALSO: SECOND COMING POST)
Most Christians in one way or another believe that Jesus will return in
a fashion that is dependent on what eschatological beliefs the
Christian holds. I don’t really have any beliefs about when and how
Jesus will come again, but I do have some sympathy for the position of
‘partial preterism’. Nevertheless, the most popular and contemporary
view holds that all Christians will be raptured away by Jesus, the
earth will experience seven years of great tribulation which will kill
millions or billions of people (I forget the exact number), and then
Jesus will return with all of the saintly Christians riding in white
robes as he slaughters the people who attack Israel.
I have a
lot of trouble dealing with the idea that Christians are looking
forward to when Jesus will take them up to heaven, and then start
killing masses of people with meteors, oceans of blood, and locusts
with human heads that originally inhabited the deepest depths of hell.
The problem of evil is one thing, but believing in a benevolent and
loving God who purposefully slaughters millions of people is
incomprehensible. And the fact that Christians are looking forward to
the rapture, the time when they enjoy streets of gold while the rest of
the world suffers, is quite terrifying. Are we not the followers of
Christ, who are supposed to be self-sacrificing in our love and service
to others? Jesus instructed that the righteous course of action was
always the one that lowered ourselves and raised others, and today’s
grand theories of eschatology showcase the complete opposite of this
philosophy of altruism.
It was Paul who said that he would wish
himself to be accursed if it meant his brethren could know God, and it
was Jesus who said that there is no greater love found than in a man
who gives his life for a friend. Both of these attitudes are
irreconcilable with what is often brandied about today in “Christian”
circles. On an existential level, the talk of a rapture, tribulation,
and second coming do nothing but give Christians a feeling of vast
superiority, isolationism and separation from fellow human beings,
selfishness, egoistic roots to their Christianity, apathy, and an
ignorant sense of security.
Furthermore, the belief in this
fundamentalist interpretation of the book of revelations has
significant political repercussions. Many of the Religious Right in
America has given Israel unflinching support solely because the Jews
have to resettle their home land for prophecy to be fulfilled. More
significantly, the integration of the state of Israel into prophecy has
demonized the Arabs in the region into evil and bloodthirsty soldiers
who are seeking to kill God’s people. Moral depravity lies on both
sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, with the slaughter of
civilians being perpetuated by both Israeli missiles, and Palestinian
suicide bombers. There is also the fact that Israel resettled by taking
land from Palestine, and is now conducting illegal land grabs with
those extremist settlers continually pushing the border of Israel into
the West Bank. Siding with Israel because they are on “God’s side” is
simply absurd. This “Second Coming” has done much to negatively shape
US policy towards the Middle East, and also the opinion of masses of
Christians regarding the conflict.
Fundamentalist eschatology has become one of my pet peeves; apologies if this post was too ranty in style and substance. |
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