Yes…Yes (6)
An Appeal to all Christians
Who am I that I make an appeal to all Christians, as if I have the authority and know-how to make definitive statements concerning such issues as theology and economics and how they relate. Even though I come through sometimes as a ‘know-it-all’ I too see matters through a glass dimly. But in my long life – I am in my 81st year – I have always been an ardent student of the connection between faith and life, how religion relates to what we do in business, learning, eating and recreation, just to name the most relevant.
I know that I am correct that no church has a claim to the truth, negligent as all of them have been, and still are, in giving God the glory whose glory is revealed in creation. Whenever I go to church – which I do every Sunday – I often am promptly turned off by the pomp and elaborate vestments and historical rituals, and usually by the sermon as well, which frequently caters more to public acceptance than divine approval. The church in general, especially the Roman Catholic, the high Anglican-Episcopalian, and the Greek Orthodox churches, with their Old Testament approach to worship, is especially out of touch with the reality of life. That does not mean that denominations such as Southern Baptist and Pentecostal denominations make the grade: they don’t because of their rapture approach to eternity, which has done more harm to God’s beloved creation than any other dogma, as it has given both them and industry in general a church-sanctioned license to pollute.
Just as ecclesiastical Christianity has separated God from creation, so also ecclesiastical Capitalism has separated Capital from the environment, with the result that we now face immense natural challenges as well as tremendous resource constraints. Just as the economists had no clue that what they were doing to the economy would lead to a financial meltdown and the depletion of the most basic ingredients on which development depends, such as all carbon products, so the theologians too have led us astray in matters of God and creation.
Basically the old answers do not work anymore, because we live in different times. That’s why Christians now have a golden opportunity to take the lead in fashioning a society that embraces God’s justice, which is captured in John 3:16 “God so loved the cosmos” which means that we must do the same. It’s as simple as that. Jesus, in that same chapter also says that he came not to ‘condemn the world, the cosmos, but to save it’. When the church preaches that its members go to heaven, then, in essence it ‘condemns’ the world, in total opposition to the sacrifice Jesus made. The church generally has interpreted that passage to apply to ‘humans’ only, yet if Jesus had meant that, he would have used the Greek word ‘anthropos’ which means a ‘human being’. Instead he consistently points to the ‘cosmos’ which means the entire universe, that well-ordered entity, as opposed to ‘chaos’ the state we, under Satan’s guidance, have caused it to become. Our ‘heaven’ orientation is a perfect compliance with Satan’s aim to destroy God’s world, a direct violation of Jesus’ intent. He came to ‘save’ the world from the clutches of Satan, who now rules it. He saved it because it was lost. The French bible uses the word ‘racheter’, which literally means ‘to buy back’, the same meaning as the English ‘redeem.’ That is just one instance where the church has misread the gospel, under the influence of Gnosticism – which sees the world as an object of condemnation – and Greek philosophy which has separated Nature- the cosmos – from Grace – God.
Another striking example of misreading the Bible is in Jesus’ explicit call that when we “Seek the Kingdom, everything else will fall in place.” Seeking that kingdom where Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, refers to God’s beloved ‘cosmos’ and means pursuing its welfare.
That is the first and foremost task of the Christian and the church should give leadership there, but has failed to do so and, since ecclesiastical ways are so fundamentally ingrained, the leadership that churches should provide, will not be forthcoming, hence my appeal is not directed that institute, but to Christians at large.
In short, the system that our ecclesiastical and political leaders are trying to keep going or revive is spiritually bankrupt and also environmentally dangerous. I also have no illusion that my call to all Christians to re-examine our basic assumptions, will be heeded, so I see myself as a voice crying in the wilderness, where my whispers whirling through the world-wide-web may reach a person here and there, but whether it will have an impact, only the Lord knows, who also will, I believe, steer these words where they have to go.
I am convinced that any attempt to return to those good old days, are no longer possible. Society can no longer function that way for a number of reasons, the foremost being Oil depletion, Climate Change and the precarious state of the US dollar and the English pound, due to the great indebtedness of those nations.
The Bottom Line is no longer a ruthless pursuit of profit at all costs, at the expense of the environment. We all, rich and poor, young and old, are subject to the laws of nature, those four laws of ecology, which we have disregarded at our own peril. They are “nature knows best, nothing disappears, everything is connected to everything else and there is no free lunch.” When we observe these ecological guidelines, when we love all of creation as ourselves, then we express directly the great commandment: “Love God above everything else, and our neighbor as ourselves.”
I have no illusions that we ever will create a society in which people routinely act in altruistic and generous ways toward others, or see Creation as God’s precious gift to us. Our carbon-rich diet has made life too easy for us. Now that this slave-rich era is coming to an end -finite energy has given us North American the equivalent of 120 personal servants 24/7/365 – we have gone too far down the road to revert to physical self-sufficiency, while our television-honed existence has been an additional tool to mentally rob us of the ability to think for ourselves. Psalm 115 has a line which applies to us and the idols we worship: “those who fashion these idols will resemble them” says this psalm. Now that these idols are disappearing, we will go that same way unless we obey God’s rules for life.
Tinkering at the edges is not enough. Buying a Prius will not do it. A total new approach is needed. It looks increasingly likely that capitalism is indeed beginning to consume itself, the same way it devoured the minds, bodies, and labor of countless human and nonhuman beings over the course of centuries. For the first time in generations, perhaps ever, we may have a brief opening in which to imagine something else and to set the terms for a new way of organizing human society and economy.
But we cannot wait too long. The dangers are incalculable. Should we squander this historical moment through inaction or despair, it may soon be too late for Christians to do anything, except to see world events spiral out of control.
More about human nature in the next segment.