Christianity in the World, part I

What I have been reading these days is very thought provoking, and combined with my experiences of the last few months, particularly the time I spent in Italy in November and December, is provoking me to express in written form things that are going to open up cans of worms all over the place, since they have to do with world views that are common to most people, but I think that's a good thing, since one of the worst things I can do for someone, in my opinion, is not tell them why I disagree with them, because then I'm not loving them, not respecting them.

Everyone in this world, eventually, in one form or another, chooses a team to be on, be it political, religious, cultural, often it's a combination of these categories, and interestingly, all these teams of people have something to say about Jesus, who they think he is, and what they think about his Church. They also usually either totally reject Jesus and the Bible, or they pick and choose passages and images from it to push their own agenda, because after all, one can interpret the Bible any way one wishes to, isn't that right? (Rhetoric question, just in case you're confused, the answer to that is a screaming “NO!” coming straight from my mouth)
One of the things I wish to clarify here (in this series, if I manage to write more than one) is the question of Christianity and politics, because a lot of people are rightfully confused about it, since all sorts of people claiming to be Christians do all sorts of things in the name of Jesus.

The first thing I need to do before I start out proper though and before anyone switches off, because they just read the word “politics” is that Christianity and the Bible are neither “left” nor “right”, though they have something to say about all the issues on the political boards across most countries in the world. However, I have never come across a political party that had 100% Christian values as I have never come across a political party claiming to be Christian in whose members there were the visible spiritual fruits of character and behaviour I would expect to see in Christians. Those who know me, probably know my political leanings, which I do not wish to express here, but they might very well show as I continue to type.

As I have mentioned earlier, people have to react to Jesus and to the Bible, there's no way around it, and they usually either reject all of it, or they use what they think they know about it in order to push their personal agenda and world view.
One of the world views which has highly influenced modern history and politics is communism. As a young man (I mean younger) I tried to see Christianity and communism as working hand in hand, but at a closer look, the most obvious thing is that Christianity is not communist (and it is not capitalist either).

The premise of Marxist communism is that every nation of the world is in a constant social struggle of classes: the poor, oppressed, working class against the rich governing class, and the dream of communism is that one day the proletariat (literally, those who for riches have only their children) would overthrow the leading class and change the nations into a government of equality, complete financial redistribution and mutual respect. The inconsistency of communism within itself is this: everyone is equal and deserving of the same respect, unless they disagree with me. The inconsistency there is between communism and Christianity is that communism identifies evil with the rich minority and sees everyone else as oppressed victims, while the Bible tells us that everyone is evil and all need to repent.

In his film called “Il Vangelo secondo Matteo” or “The Gospel according to St. Matthew” (which I admittedly have not seen), Pier Paolo Pasolini depicts Jesus as a Marxist preacher who attacks the powers of his day in favour of the poor people. This would be a perfect example of someone who uses the name of Jesus to push his own agenda, because in no gospel is Jesus rooting for anyone but his Father in heaven. Jesus was telling the religious people of his time that they had distorted the truth of the Old Testament, and never did he say anything against the Roman Empire, which was the real political power at the time; on the contrary, he told his disciples to live peaceably in the world, but that's something we'll talk about later. Pasolini, in his understanding of the world and probably to some degree his respect for the person of Jesus, saw something that was not in the text.

That interpretation, however enticing for those who hold a similar world view, is not shared by all communists, since most of them outright reject the Bible and its teachings, because they see that it is not consistent with their world view, but at least that's an honest reaction and they read the text right. However, I would point them to some places in the Bible they have obviously not read.

The Bible does actually talk about poverty and social iniquity: the purpose of the Law which God gave Moses was primarily to govern a nation effectively and in Deuteronomy we see probably the first mention in the whole of history of the need for social welfare (Deut. 15:7-11). This was revolutionary and that behaviour would indeed shock onlooking nations. The purpose of Israel as a nation was to be a light unto other nations, for them to see that the God of Israel was the one true God and glorify him as such. I add this parenthèse because most people will then say that God was unjust in choosing one nation above others and I would say to you, think about it as God's starting point in redeeming mankind (I would also say, you're not allowed to judge God).

About social and political injustice, the Bible cries out, particularly in Psalms 14 and 73, and the gist of them is this: God will judge those who commit these things, in this life or the next. The scary thing here is that people will say “that's not enough!”, because they look at these people and judge them, then look at their own lives and, making that comparison, declare themselves righteous, and thus doing, they sin, because instead of humbling themselves and repenting of their own pride and self-righteousness, they elevate themselves to the place of God and bring judgement upon others.
The Bible also talks against the rich capitalists who accumulate money and greedily do not pay proper wages to their labourers (James 5:1-6), but it generally talks against loving money instead of loving God! (Matthew 6:24) (Just in case people thought I was communist-bashing.)

My dad has a big problem about the fact that supposedly the Bible does not denounce slavery, which was a big social issue at that time, a very good reason for not believing it to be the Word of God. But what does the Bible say about slavery? Paul says to slaves: “obey your masters with respect and fear and sincerity of heart”. Oh my goodness! So does it condone mistreatment of humans? No! Paul says to masters: “Treat your slaves in the same way” (that is, with respect and fear and sincerity of heart!) (Ephesians 6) The fear he talks about is that of God. Why? Because God says “Love your neighbour as yourself”, and Jesus qualifies your neighbour as meaning everyone! (Luke 10:25-37)

So the Bible doesn't talk outright about whether slavery is right or wrong. Well, this is one of those cases in which we must say, “those were different times” and there were people who were slaves, that was their job and they were happy about it, if their masters treated them well. They were like full-time staff and I make no excuses for the analogy, because the way we think of slaves in our time is not the same as the way people thought back then and when we bring our own thinking to a text that has a different historical and cultural background, we automatically do a disservice to our understanding of it. God made every human being in His own likeness and wishes that all be treated equally. It's not because one's job is to serve another one that they are not equal and deserving of the same respect, it's their response to that that will show what is in their heart. *

But the point I want to get across here is that the Bible, though it sometimes does talk about social issues and social injustice, is not a book about social issues, it's not a book about the struggle of social classes, and it makes no apology for it, because it is talking about things that are far greater than the communist and capitalist world views!

Here's an interesting quote from Paul: “Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.” (1 Corinthians 7:21-22)

If you can gain freedom, do it, since in Christ you have freedom, but the one who was free when he became a Christian is a slave to Christ. This might seem very confusing to some, it's talking about being free but a slave at the same time, how does that work? Here's where the vision widens: it's not whether you are a slave or not, it's who you are a slave to! The Bible declares that the whole world is a prisoner, a slave to sin, but that if you trust in Jesus, you can become slaves of righteousness! In God's eyes there are only two teams: the World, a prisoner to sin and Satan... And the Church, those who have been rescued from their sin, by no merit of their own, thanks to Jesus' works and sacrifice! The problem with communism is that it says that when the working class gains power everything will be fine, but the truth is, those who are then in charge will become corrupt, because that is the condition of man's heart! But the great thing is that Jesus can change men and women's hearts by his power, granting them repentance. And the final outcome of the whole of history is going to be a new government, a monarchy, whose king is Jesus, but who will reign righteously forever and his people will all be equals, enjoying one another forever! And that is a far greater hope than any other.

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* On a side note, when the Emperor Constantine came to power around at the beginning of the 4th Century and the church started getting some influence over his opinion and decisions (which also marked the beginning of the decline of the church, but that's for a different post), one of the things that happened was that they influenced the laws on slave-trade, to the point that people weren't allowed to be branded in the face any longer, which of course is wrong and barbaric, and parents were discouraged from giving up their children as slaves, by giving them a family allowance from the imperial treasuries, a practice way ahead of its time (similar to welfare state laws)! (ref.: F.F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame, p.296) Now, that doesn't seem like much, but the church didn't have all that much influence on matters outside of itself, and that seems like one of the first examples in history where Christian ethics influenced for the better the laws and practices of the Roman Empire, whilst only a few years previously they were getting persecuted by the same empire.