Thursday, October 16, 2008

Our Only Hope

Somewhere between 6pm and 8pm, Central Time, on November 4th, 2008, the eschatology of American evangelicals will become clear.

If John McCain wins and the evangelical becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive...

Or, alternatively, if Barack Obama wins and the evangelical becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive...

...if a more Democrat oriented evangelical becomes depressed and hopeless because McCain wins, or if a Republican oriented evangelical becomes depressed or hopeless because Obama wins, those evangelicals are caught in an empire-shaped eschatology of politics.

Where is our hope? ...where does my hope turn when I think of war or poverty or education or racism? Does it focus on November 4? Does it gain its energy from thinking that if we get the right candidate elected our problems will be dissolved? ...participation in the federal election dare not be seen as the lever that turns the eschatological designs God has for this world.

Where is our hope?

Our hope is in God...the church’s mission is not in fact the “church’s” mission but God’s mission...

Our hope is in the gospel of God...the gospel as God’s good news for our world...

Our hope is in the gospel of God that creates God’s people...God’s gospel-shaped work always and forever creates a gospel people...We are tempted to divide the USA into the good and the bad and to forget that the gospel has folks on both sides of political lines. Even more: we are tempted to think that the winners of the election are those who are blessed by God when the blessing of God is on God’s people...

Our hope is in the gospel of God that creates a kind of people that extends God’s gospel to the world...

Our hope is in God’s mission in this world, and that mission transcends what happens November 4th.

- Scot McKnight

Scot McKnight is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University, author, and blogger.

Catch the full article on the October 2008 issue of NEXT-WAVE or read the original article from the September 26, 2008 issue of ChristianityToday.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home