1) Because this world is going to be destroyed, we don’t really have to be faithful stewards of God’s first commandment to us and be good stewards of Creation. This also leads them to be vindicative and prideful in their responses to those who are “lost”. After all, they are going to be destroyed if they don’t believe rightly. And things that are already set aside or on their way to desctruction don’t get much respect or valued. A poor illustration of this might be with how people with older automobiles don’t take as much care of them since they know that they are old and are going to break down or be replaced. They don’t wash it. They don’t do the check-ups. They don’t clean it. Contrast this with how people treat their new automobile. And you can see how the perspectives are drastically different.

2) Salvation is often thought of us as getting people across a line. This is where they propose conversion happens and ensures salvation and heaven. So the goal of the Christian is to get as many people to cross the line (convert) as possible. Once they cross it they are pretty much set. Oftentimes this ensures that since everything is signed, sealed, and delivered one doesn’t have to do much outside of what Dallas Willard calls “sin management”. In contrast to the view that sees salvation or conversion as the starting line to a long journey.

3) Becasue the world is an evil and corrupt place and humans are an evil and corrupt people, it sort of feeds this fear that the best thing to do is for the “pure” to stay away from the “corrupt” so that “evil” does not rub off on them.

4) Since “heaven” or the “afterlife” is seen as the main objective, not a lot of value gets placed on this life.

5) There seems to be some sort of immediacy in converting people because this life is “so fleeting”. So there is this tendency to become zealous or zealots for the cause. Since time is short before all is lost . . . the best use of our time is to act now. Thus, many Christians overact and assume that God has only them to “save” people. Consequently, many take on the role of trying to “fix” people quickly instead of loving them deeply.

Those are just a couple of the initial thoughts that I have on how this narrative of destruction and escape can lead to some distortion.

However, there are a growing number of us who have come to see an alternative narrative at work.

For us, the story does not end with destruction and escape but rather with healing and renewal. So for us, our narrative doesn’t put the focus of the story on the last few chapters, but rather on the middle chapters and primarily the ones that immediately follow the death and resurrection of Jesus. For us, his death opened up a new perspective on life. A new way of living and being in this world. And we believe it’s our role to carry on doing the things that he did while here.

So in our readings of the gospel, we don’t see Jesus getting everyone to focus on an afterlife or on heaven. But on a kingdom that is here and now and yet coming. So it does encompass the future, but it also includes the here and now. We read the gospels with stories of Jesus healing the wounds of sin. Canceling out the bondage of sin by calling for repentance. Rolling back the effects of sin with grace and love.

We read a narrative that focused on the here and now. With healing and renewal and reconciliation in the here and now. To read the stories of Jesus with a future focus robs and effectively neuters them of their transformative power.

Fundamentally, there are two different narratives at play. So imagine two types of communities. You pretty much know what you’re getting with the first kind, the majority in the evangelical world.

They are a community shaped by the fear of the unknown, of the “lost” who are corrupting our country and corrupting our values, they ignore the environment and all of creation, treat those who disagree with little value or respect. Their goal is to get people across a line (numbers) only to ignore the rest of the journey. “Services” (I hope you’ve been catching my sarcasm when I put that word in quotation marks with how silly that word seems to me) take on this agenda of getting people across the line. Or warning them about the dangers and everything that is wrong with this life while praising the perfection of the afterlife, which sounds like escapism to me. And the list could go and on.

In comparison to a community that is deeply concered with its stewardship of all of creation. Caring for the environment, those in the community, and those in third world nations as if they are one and the same thing. None more important than the next and all inter-related. They treat gatherings as a time for encouragement on how to appropriately sort through this life and make it a more “kingdom of God” like place. They do not see salvation through the lens of getting people across a line but walk alongside people to get them to begin to “live like I live”. They see all things that are good as gifts from God. They walk through culture discerningly, unable to see things in black and white categories like pure and evil. But realize there is a little of both in all things. There is evil in me as there is something good in others.

I want to be a part of a community like the latter. That’s a non-negotiable for us.

Two different narratives. Each leading to a different conclusion.

So as we live, move, and have our being, we take seriously this idea that our role is as agents of healing, rolling back the effects of sin as best we can until that day when all will be set right with the world . . . finally and fully.

ADDITION: Jascon Clark also has an excellent post today on this same idea here. He wrote, “Why be distracted with discipleship, character transformation, attending to human nature, when the destination is assured?” You should read the whole thing.

Tags: Manifest Destiny, Sin Management, Dallas Willard, Emerging Church