El mito del progreso

Hace unos meses es decir - enviado de mis pastores en mi iglesia después de que él diera un sermón en el reino del dios. Como parte de un E-mail largo, frustrado, escribí el siguiente:

¿Mi pregunta más grande somos, por qué no estamos viendo el progreso en la tierra? ¿Por qué no tenga los cambios cósmicos que venir de Jesús el' traído dado vuelta en cambios verdaderos en la tierra? ¿Sé que el reino del dios es un trabajo largo en marcha, pero porqué no puedo ver ninguna cambios concreta grande hacia el reino del dios? Sé que ha habido muchas muchas muchas pequeñas cosas que los cristianos y las iglesias han hecho sobre los últimos 2000 años para hacer tierra poco un más divino, pero no se parece como ha habido realmente un movimiento total adelante, aunque él es un poco más delantero justo. En lugar se parece como somos en mucho el mismo lugar, si no en un peor, condición más sinful, y más malvada. Ahora no puedo agarrar definitivamente el alcance entero de la historia alrededor del mundo en los últimos 2000 años, pero no se parece como el mundo se está moviendo hacia paz mientras que estamos acumulando militaries más grandes, las armas nucleares que amontonan, y el excedente que lucha recursos siempre más de disminución. No se parece como nos estamos moviendo hacia el final de la pobreza mientras que el boquete entre los ricos y los pobres está creciendo un alambique siempre más grande, y los cristianos alrededor del mundo tienen los recursos para terminar pobreza extrema en sus el propios, con todo no los están haciendo. No se parece como nos estamos moviendo hacia comunidades cariñosas auténticas mientras que nuestras vidas cada vez más individualista y medio-se basan. Is it getting better and I’m just not seeing it?

My longing for the Kingdom of God led to deep frustrations when I couldn’t see it coming. I wanted tangible examples of the redemption of God here on earth. Small examples wouldn’t do; I wanted to see progress towards the glorious return of Jesus, when there would be a new heaven and new earth, and all of creation would be redeemed. I believed that if the Church just got it’s act together, and we all agreed that we needed to end injustice, love our neighbor, and overthrow the Empire, we could do it. I believed that the Church could usher in the Kingdom of God through strong effort and unity.

I realize now that I started believing in the “myth of progress.”

N.T. Wright, in his book Surprised by Hope, explains the myth of progress:

“[The myth of progress is] the idea that the human project, and indeed the cosmic project, could and would continue to grow and develop, producing unlimited human improvement and marching toward a utopia…. This utopia dream is in fact a parody of the Christian vision. The kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world come together to produce a vision of history moving forward towards its goal, a goal that will emerge from within rather than being a new gift from elsewhere. Humans can be made perfect and are indeed evolving inexorably toward that point.”

We believe this myth when we believe that the next political leader will finally solve some the world’s problems once and for all. We believe this myth when we believe medical advances will eventually rid the world of disease. We believe this myth when we believe economic growth will eventually end world poverty. We believe this myth when we believe the Church can build the Kingdom of God

When we stop believing in this myth we see that it is no longer our responsibility to build the Kingdom of God, but that doesn’t mean that we should try to slide through this life as painlessly as possible, waiting to go to heaven or until Jesus’ return. Please don’t get me wrong, we have a very real work to do here on earth, building for the Kingdom of God. We are not going to build the kingdom on our own; it will come from God as a new creation, as an act of redemption, not as the final conclusion to the progress we are making here on earth. Yet every work of grace, every work of love, justice, and compassion, is building for the kingdom, and will be part of the kingdom when it comes in full. In 1 Cor. 15, Paul speaks about the resurrection of the dead and the coming new creation, and he ends the chapter in verse 58 by saying, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” We may not be able to build the Kingdom of God on our own, nor will we slowly progress towards it, but let us be assured that our work here on earth is not in vain, that we really can build for the kingdom, with the assurance that in the end God will redeem all of creation.

I encourage you to read N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope to explore more of this idea.

Author Bio:: Maria currently lives in Chicago with her husband and works with teenagers. She always has more questions than answers, but is hoping to find a few more answers next year when she goes to seminary. In the mean time you can find more of her questions at www.mariadrews.wordpress.com.

for further reading . . .

• Onward, Christian Soldiers