Christian Inaction and the Second Coming

 Literal belief in Jesus and the Bible restrict climate change legislation

 

I am a scientist and a Christian.  I received my doctorate in chemistry at the age of 25.  I became a Christian at age of 29. The above article is very good on the views of scientists, but very poor on its analysis of the Christian belief in the  second coming of Jesus. I have a literal view of Jesus but still believe in all the tenets of modern science including evolution and that climate change is man-made.

The only conflict that exists lies between fundamentalist Christians (a small but media savvy group) and atheists who enjoy portraying all Christians as fundamentalists.  There is no conflict in belief about the reality of man-made climate change and their faith in the minds of mainstream Christians.  Mainstream Christians believe just as scientists do that we must take action now.  My own view is that we are too late.  We have sown the wind, we will reap the whirlwind.

The author of the article failed to realize that it is not the belief in the Second Coming of Christ that determines how a Christian acts, but whether the belief is that the Second Coming is predictable and imminent. The immediacy of the Second Coming is a staple of fundamentalists who believe that the trumpet shall sound and Christ return within their lifetimes. Most believers in the immediacy of the Second Coming will tell you that they expect it to occur at any moment. Essentially, they are always looking over their shoulder for God.

I believe in the Second Coming but do not believe we will ever know how close or how far it is from us.  Jesus himself said in the Gospel of Mark that only God knows the schedule, that he did not.  If the Word of God did not know, how can we? 

Ministers, tel-evangelists, and end times writers teach an all too gullible Christian fringe that the end is upon us, so get your spiritual affairs in order.  This teaching that we know Christ will return in the present day yields at least two results.

First, the imminent Second Coming scares believers.  This fear triggers a blind obedience to the purveyors of this fear.  Out of fear that they are not right with God, believers give money to or buy things from those who claim that they know how believers can be safe. The focus is on saving yourself and lost souls by converting them to the only correct faith. (For my views on the many paths to God, read this. )

Second, the idea of an imminent Second Coming encourages believers to ignore the injustices around them. They reason that if Jesus is due any day now there is no need for them to take action because Jesus will fix everything.  Better to spend their time focused on getting right with God than follow Jesus' command to help the least.

The time has come for mainstream Christians to make the media acknowledge a more complex faith than fundamentalists' sound bite theology, and to destroy the miasma of fear that too many create to line their own pockets.  We must stand up for the intellectual truths of Christianity, for knowledge and understanding.  We must embrace science and show there is no reason to fear it.  We must demonstrate a faith inspired by a holy book, not bound by it. Above all, we must make known the diversity and intellectual honesty of modern Christianity.  

 

 

Lectionary Musings for January 13, 2013

I have decided to bring a little discipline to my religious life.by musing on one of the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday.  Yes, I now belong to a church that follows a three year cycle of readings from the Bible. As a Southern Baptist reject, I have found these readings to be surprisingly comforting.  My musings today will be on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, labeled by commentators as the baptism of Jesus.

Why did Jesus have to be baptized?   I know scholars can provide answers.  I suspect that in the past I had explored the question either on my own or in a study group setting, but no glib answers spring to mind. 

We know some people were confused and thought John the Baptist was the Messiah.  Even John's own denial may not have stopped their belief in him. Jesus knew he was the Messiah, but he does not wish to announce it to the world.  He is content to let the confusion continue for a while.  This will give him time to call his disciples and begin the long, circuitous death march to Jerusalem.  I think with his baptism Jesus is announcing the beginning of his ministry to God.

One oddity in Luke's narrative is that John is arrested and thrown into jail before Jesus is baptized.  I had never noticed this because all the narratives of Jesus baptism have long since blurred into one preferred story in my mind.  A commentator called my attention to this strange glitch in Luke's story of Jesus' baptism.  If John is in jail, who baptizes Jesus?  God, the Creator.

By going to the place of baptism, Jesus announces his intention to become the God that has always been within, the God submerged within the human until this time. Now that divinity will be free and fully engaged in the world around him.  

Jesus prays, heaven opens and the "Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.""  Here for me is the Trinity: Creator, Holy Spirit, and Word.

In the beginning, the Trinity is one.  The Holy Spirit (Love) is the binder between Creator and Word as the universe is spoken into existence.  In choosing to be born of a woman, the bond was not severed, but I believe it must have been stretched.  How could it not have been as the Word of God was poured into a vessel as limited as a human being? 

At baptism, Jesus acknowledges who and what he is.  The Holy Spirit  descends and binds Creator and Word together.  The Trinity is whole.  Jesus will show us God in human form linked by Love to the Creator.

How does this passage speak to me?  It reminds me that Jesus made a conscious commitment to pursue the purpose God had set for him.  I believe that we are confronted at some point with existence of God, just as Jesus was confronted at his baptism by the Creator.  When does this happen?  At different times, in different ways, with different concepts of God.  Then and only then are we required to make a choice.  We can choose to become some small part of God's plan, God's being, or God's eternity, but it is our choice and I believe it comes for everyone on this planet. 

For me, this choice came at age 29.  I had received a doctorate in chemistry at age 25 and was actively engaged in science.  I was a confirmed deist, not attending any church and not interested in doing so. I had been told as a child by Sunday School teachers and ministers that Christians did not ask questions about God or about our faith.  Any faith that did not like questions was not for me. After age 13, I never attended a church of any kind again. 

As the years passed,  I did feel I was missing something in my life.  I began a totally unsystematic study of various faiths minus Christianity, of course.  I also made random attempts at finding some volunteer opportunities (none religious) where I could be of service. Nothing seemed to fit. 

I was a voracious reader.  I had enjoyed C. S. Lewis' Narnia series as a child.  Now, I read his science fiction trilogy.  I was a little put off by the obvious religious overtones, but I enjoyed all three books.  Looking for more by him, I read The Screwtape Letters.  Suddenly, there was more to Christianity than I had believed.  I decided perhaps I should see if there was an intellectual side to Christianity afterall.

I made a choice and joined a liberal Baptist church with an engaging minister who presented short messages that challenged you to think.  At the same time, I joined a study group led by a doctoral candidate in philosophy.  Both the minister and the study group made me realize that Christianity was a faith of the intellect as well as the soul.  I could ask all the questions I wanted.  So when I was asked to be a deacon, I said yes to serving and yes to God.  My choice was to believe. 

As a Christian I met a God who revealed herself in the Bible as Creator, Love and Word.  Now that Love came to me as the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.  There was no speaking in tongues, no tongues of fire. no overwhelming emotion.  Just a quiet assurance that I had found my way.  

Jesus was a year older than I was when he made his choice.  Perhaps the message of his baptism is that even if one committed oneself to God as a child (remember Jesus in the temple at 12), adulthood demands a fresh decision. Choose.