Check out this letter to the editor, at the top of this page from a local paper, that expresses the vague terms of the Christian hope, at least as it is commonly expressed.
After noting the hard economic times the USA is facing, the high unemployment, the mortgage crisis, the general emotional malaise, the writer tells how he was comforted by a song he heard the night before. It is a familiar Bill Gaither tune, very appropriate for the Easter season, Because He Lives.
The letter writer then quotes these words from the song:
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future.
And life is worth living the living, just because He lives.
I'm not trying to be snide in wondering in what way Christians have the advantage in this life over non-Christians. Having been raised in this mindset I do understand what is being said. But once I got old enough to think for myself and to question, it occurred to me that nothing this-wordly was being factually expressed.
How is Jesus a solution to unemployment? Well, individually a believer who finds a job during tough times will give Jesus credit. Nonbelievers will count themselves fortunate. But how does this help the country's high unemployment rate? I believe history will bear out that political solutions are better than religious solutions. When all else seems to fail, nature will eventually take its course and return balance.
How could Jesus having been raised from the dead solve the mortgage crisis? In the next life, perhaps, but what about the here and now? Again, this doesn't seem to be a religious problem at all.
As stress relief? Okay, I don't deny that some people find great comfort in various religious beliefs. Of course, again not trying to be snide, comfort is also sought and found in drugs and alcohol. And those who choose those approaches, I can't help but notice, are usually more devout in their method than the former! Meditation, sex, and exercise are other ways to relieve stress. In fact, there are a of number non-Jesus methods that appear to give good results.
"Jesus is the answer" we are often told. But empirically speaking, the believers don't seem to have an advantage over the unbeliever, at least in this life. The "afterlife" is a problem created by the Bible. With a naturalistic worldview, the problem doesn't exist and thus no "solution" is necessary.
Okay, this my take on the matter and it is an unpopular one. It is a minority view in the United States. For all the times I've heard ministers advance that Jesus is "the answer" to all our problems, for all the Presidents I've heard end speeches with "...and God bless America," despite the myriads of individual Jesus believers who have echoed the sentiment of the above letter writer, I've yet to find any reason to believe this idea has any tangible value at all.
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6 comments:
It is interesting that so many Christians give God credit for good and bad. He saves them from harm, but He also causes harm to come to them. He brings earthquakes because they have sinned, but because they survive the earthquake, it was His grace. Basically, He saves them from Himself.
To give the guy who wrote the letter to the editor credit, that song does make me feel better. For no particular spiritual reason, I just always liked Bill & Gloria and it makes me remember growing up in my younger days. I don't think your last paragraph is such a minority view as you indicate, though, I think a lot of people agree with you actually.
Hi GTE,
You have made my day with this remark:
"And those who choose those approaches, I can't help but notice, are usually more devout in their method than the former!"
My years of devotion to bourbon & Marlboros never gave me a hint of solace, no matter how rigorously I applied myself.
But "something" must have saved me from the obvious end of that path, right?
Ahhh, I dunno. My Copax shot-spot is sore and I have only had a bag of lettuce for dinner, so I may not be in my right mind.
YA ha ha. "right mind!"
-Lorraine
GMM - Right. And can a theory that purports to explain everything really be an explanation for anything?
Doug R - Gaither's music was a staple of my childhood too. No doubt he and Gloria are gifted musicians. (I still think their theology is childish.)
imascatterbrain - Hi back at you, and thanks for you reading and commenting!
I often find music very inspiring. Sometimes religious songs sometimes secular songs. I think a lot of folks reach for a song that will lift them up when they're down or a song that expresses the anger they feel about a certain situation.
And *I* have seen much proof that it DOESN'T!! At my former job, the most religious people were the most angry, stressed out, distraught at death, fearful of illness, etc etc etc, than the co-workers who did not buy into "It is in his hands and he will provide." I foolishly ASKED one person that question--if you believe so strongly that God will save you, why are you so upset? They SCREAMED and ran away. At work. Middle of day. I have MS, I had cancer, I have had loved ones die, and I NEVER needed a heavenly father to call on for my calm feelings.
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