Christianity's Disposable World

[Jonah]

I suppose the title is a little shrill. But, it's the best I could do to examine Christian eschatology.

I am Jewish. I once was a Lutheran pastor. I left Christianity because I found that I was wrong. When I was a Christian, I always had a "tikun olam" (repair of the world) ethos in the back of my head. It was just always there. I assumed that the ultimate mission of Jesus was to save this concrete world, not my individual soul, not the church or the "elect"...but literally this whole created world. I understood other Christian theologies, but in the back of my head I subverted them all to a "repair of the world" idea...not that I had that terminology back then, but I had the idea...or the assumption. It is my guess that I inherited it from my father. He was raised Roman Catholic, but was non practicing. But, he was from a family which had a crypto-Jewish history. Indeed, Dad had retained a few dietary and linguistic traces of the history. But, more important was the values teaching he passed on. It wasn't from the priests. I think it came from the rabbis. My mother was Lutheran...but an odd specimen...part Irish, and part German Sinti (Roma). Is it any wonder I became a theological lose canon? My seminary was glad to see me go.

Enough anecdote. I was wrong. Sure, there are Christians that have a kind of tikun olam orientation, but overall, it's a minority report.

So. This Armageddon...Revelation...prophecy thing...or just silence on actual salvation of the world...rather makes the world disposable, huh? And how can that be? How can we truly imagine that God would ascent to such?

[InTheFlesh]

If we are disposable,
why would the Earth not be?

[Jonah]

I would certainly agree. Seems like a lot of investment to let go.