My Good, My Bad

As human beings, we prefer to think of things broadly assigned to one side of the fence or the other--”us, them” and lots of varieties of “good, bad.” There are many examples, including big ones like “Christianity good, Islam bad,” “small business good, big business bad,” and “Democrats good, Republicans bad” (or “Republicans good, Democrats bad”).

Putting things on one side of the fence or the other is a way for us to deal with fear and to avoid the work and discomfort of understanding. We sometimes do this quite openly in areas related to entertainment and the arts.

Some statements I’ve heard are: “church good, movies bad” (and its variation “church good, movies after 1945 bad”), “books good, TV bad,” and “classical music good, contemporary music bad” (and many variations).

Because I regularly talked about movies in my church work, the first statement is my favorite, and it provides a perfect framework to counter this way of thinking (more correctly, this way of not thinking).

There are about 400 movies released each year.
Most of them are bad.
Some are good.
Some are very good.

There are about 65,000 sermons preached in American churches each week.
Most of them are bad.
Some are good.
Some are very good.

Apocalypse Not

“Apocalypse Not” was the name of a conference of religious leaders held a while back at Trinity Church in New York. "Christian Century" magazine ran a brief item about it.

The conference was organized as a response to concerns about the coming end of the world from two different groups--conservative Christians who believe there will be a “rapture” and those concerned that the environment will soon degrade to the point that life on earth will cease.

About the latter concern, theologian Jurgen Moltmann reminded attendees that “life on earth” includes much more than human life. As such, it is virtually impossible for all life to be wiped out any time over the next two or three billion years. Moltmann used the example of life on earth continuing after dinosaurs became extinct.

Belief in “rapture” is widespread these days. The popularity of the best-selling "Left Behind" series of fiction books is evidence of this.

Underlying most religious beliefs are inherent personality and emotional traits, which come before and give power to the beliefs. Generally, people who believe in a coming literal apocalypse are unhappy in their current circumstances and want to look forward to the day they will be freed from them. This is a broad simplification, of course, but when you look across the groups who teach this belief, you will find it to be mostly true.

Theologians, scientists and religious people can debate the reality and timing of the end of the world. Liberal and conservative biblical scholars can argue about whether Revelation is a literal prediction of the end of the world, or an allegory about hope in the presence of corruption and the abuse of power.

But I’m a practical guy. Instead of spending time panicking or praying about the end of the world, or even debating, why don’t we simply do something now to make life around us a little better?

Reason Comes Slowly

The earth is at the center of the universe, with the sun and stars revolving around it. Diseases are caused by demon possession. Or they are caused by an imbalance of bodily humours. The four known elements are earth, air, wind and fire. The earth was created 6,000 years ago.

All of these ancient beliefs, common at the time of the bible, have been superseded by uncontested scientific discovery and research. But, according to a 2006 Gallup poll, almost half of Americans still believe that the earth was created 6,000 years ago, literally according to the account in Genesis.

There is a creation science museum just outside San Diego, and a “Creation Museum” under construction in Petersberg, Kentucky, near Cincinnati. The San Diego museum is a popular stop for groups of schoolchildren who visit from Christian schools. Among the exhibits is a row of photos of “creation scientists” across from a row of photos of those “believing” in evolution.

The row of photos of those “believing” in evolution includes Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler, but does not include other “believers” such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, Desmond Tutu and Gandhi.

My guess is that the belief in biblical creation will very gradually decline over the next 100 years, but it will hang on beyond all attempts at reason--as it has over the last 150 years. When Copernicus demonstrated that the earth was revolving around the sun, it was considered just a theory. Years later, Galileo, whose thinking now underlies much of modern science, faced persecution and excommunication from the church when he presented data confirming Copernicus.

It took hundreds of years for most people to accept that the earth revolved around the sun. Evidently, it will also take hundreds of years for most Americans to accept that the actual age of the earth is 4.5 billion years.

Greed Causing Grief

Greed causes more trouble and pain than any other human flaw, and it begins with something that many of us do every day.

Call it “just a little more.” We take a 15-minute work break and we stay out for just a little longer, 20 minutes. We get away with that. We take another small step, staying out 25 minutes. We don’t get into trouble for that. We take another small step. Eventually our supervisor will say something, and we may feel a trifle wronged if we’ve managed to get away with longer breaks for a while.

Another way this happens is when we take advantage of a gracious gesture. For example, on a couple of occasions our boss has been nice enough to give us a couple hours off to take care of personal business. We ask a few more times, and two hours off becomes three, then an afternoon. We begin to take it for granted, and if a subsequent request for time off is questioned, we feel persecuted.

Time, money, love, attention. Give me a little, I want a little more. It’s called greed.

Corporate fraud and embezzlement are classic and egregious examples of this. Someone discovers that they can move a bit of company money around and get away with it. Then he moves a bit more money twice as often. He still doesn’t get caught. The stakes gradually get higher and higher. When the crime is finally discovered, we are amazed that someone could steal so much money. But it all began with taking “just a little more.”

Helping to enable this behavior is our operating ethic of “do whatever you can get away with.” If I can get away with it, why don’t I take just a little more?