Note: This is an article from one of my favorite Christian thinkers - Marcus Borg.
I am a committed Christian and a complete agnostic about the afterlife. I use “agnostic” in its precise sense: one who does not know. Moreover, I know that I cannot resolve “not knowing” by “believing” – whatever we believe about an afterlife has nothing to do with whether there is one or what it is like.
There is more to say. I think that conventional Christianity’s emphasis on the afterlife for many centuries is one of its negative features. I have often said that if I were to make a list of Christianity’s ten worst contributions to religion, it would be its emphasis on an afterlife, for more than one reason.
When the afterlife is emphasized, it almost inevitable that Christianity becomes a religion of requirements and rewards. If there is a blessed afterlife, it seems unfair to most people that everyone gets one, regardless of how they have lived. So there must be something that differentiates those who get to go to heaven from those who don’t – and that something must be something we do, either believing or behaving or some combination of both. And this counters the central Christian claim that salvation is by grace, not by meeting requirements.
Another problem: the division between those who “measure up” and those who don’t leads to further distinctions: between the righteous and the unrighteous, the saved and the unsaved.
Another problem: an emphasis on the afterlife focuses our attention on the next world rather than on this world. Most of the Bible, on the other hand, focuses our attention on our lives in this world and the transformation of this world. At the heart of the Lord’s Prayer is the petition for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth: your kingdom come on earth, as it already is in heaven. There is nothing in the Lord’s Prayer asking that God take us to heaven when we die.
As yet another reason for my agnosticism about an afterlife: does it involve the survival of personal identity and reunion with those we have known in this life? Are family reunions part of the afterlife? For some people, this is much to be desired, for family has been the primary source of love and joy in this life. But for perhaps an equally large number of people, family has been the primary source of pain and unhappiness. So, are we going to be with those people forever?
What I do affirm about what happens after death is very simple: when we die, we do not die into nothingness, but we die into God. In the words of the apostle Paul, we live unto the Lord and we die unto the Lord. So whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For me, that is enough. My not knowing anything more does not bother me at all. And I am very wary when the Christian gospel becomes a message about the afterlife. I am convinced that it invariably leads to distortion. This is not the Christian gospel.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Hey John,
I like and dislike this article. I like it because it makes so much sense, it has the possibility of removing some doctrines that have caused serious walls between people, and it, and it is incredibly freeing to feel ok with not knowing.
I dislike the article because it means I could be wrong about some beliefs that have basically formed me for the past 20 years. If I was so wrong about those doctrines, according to this article, then it is just as possible that I am just as wrong about the doctrines I am forming today. Secondly, there are these pesky scriptures that are jumping around my head that, because of my former teaching, address this issue. I'm going to have to look all these scriptures up and do some thinking. I dislike that because I don't got the time... If I learn anything, I'll get back to you.
I guess I should have started off with this: thanks for posting this article. It is good to think about these things.
Very thought sparking article, Thanks for posting buddy.
Lisa and I went to the Church of Christ In Chennia India yesterday (beyond conservative with 'my way or the high way thinking'), and I was turned off by some of the ideas that came across during the service about requirements to be a Christian. Kind and caring people with giant hearts but no room for deviation from their beliefs or you are heading for the extra hot curry hot for eternity...or something like that. Good timing for me on this article John, it is making me think.
Kori Jones
John, I really like Marcus Borg, though I don't agree with everything he says, I love that he makes you think and doesn't shy away from challenging some basic Christian presuppositions. I really enjoyed "The First Christmas" which he co-authored with Crossan.
However, this is not one of those ideas that I have problems with. Borg is a part of movement of Christians who are trying to reclaim what we have missed out on over the past few decades. We have reduced the gospel to something that happens after you die, vs. something that is very present now. N.T. Wright, a more moderate scholar, has written extensively on this. He had a recent interview with Time magazine that you can read here: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1710844,00.html
Anyway good post John.
I agree too much of an emphasis on the "as it is in heaven" can take a whole lot away from the "your kingdom come on earth". But as critics often do, Borg goes so far with his thinking that he does the very thing he is criticizing: he camps out in "either/or" thinking. It's usually a cop out, on both sides of the issue. I see a lot of "both/and" in scripture. To me, the answer to the very real problem of Christ-followers ignoring His kingdom on earth is not to downplay the role of the afterlife (whatever it looks like) in God's redemptive plan. Brian is right when he suggests that some serious biblical cutting and pasting are necessary to rid the gospel of any afterlife. The answer is to raise the emphasis on the here and now. I think we can do both. I think we have to. If we ignore one or the other (heaven or earth), I fear we are just shaping scripture to fit our own ideas. (Yes, we all do it. No, that doesn't mean we should give up trying to quit!)
Robert
Great discussian guys. The article has achieved what I hoped it would, thought.
There's much more where that came from, perhaps I'll keep them coming.
My favorite quote on this issue comes from a small end note in The Divine Conspiracy:
"We've become vampire Christians. People who want Jesus for his blood and little else."
ya, i tend to agree with borg. while he seems content to simply say he is okay with not knowing, i can't quite place myself in that category yet. dealing with people on a daily basis who are convinced one way or another makes it difficult to not have an opinion yourself. at least for me.
i feel like there has been way too much emphasis on the afterlife, and it has driven me to the point of insanity at times. to completely negate everything that is here and now and God's work in all of that. we focus on God's work in the past as magnificent and then we wait for the day when it will be real to us as we all worship in heaven. and i am not denying heaven. what a beautiful thing that will be. it just frustrates me when we put so much value on the past and future, but none or little on what we are doing today.
i wish i could say that i am content with not knowing. i like his sentence about whether i live or die, i am God's. that should be enough. and yet there is this longing inside of me to know. i tend to shy away from the typical christian idea of afterlife and lean towards a more secular view mostly because christians have dealt so poorly with this in my lifetime. i would rather not believe in an afterlife than believe in a very literal heaven and hell where unbelievers perish for all eternity. i don't know. i know i am getting a little off the main topic, but this stirs up emotions in me that are too big to deal with on my own...
so you guys deal with them.
Post a Comment