Too Late

C.S. Lewis defined hell as a truth learned too late. On a day-to-day basis, I have come to see his point. He is not the first to make that type of obser­va­tion. Friedrich Hegel observed, that as coun­tries and cul­tures fall, they dis­cover the dynam­ics of their demise in the process — but always too late. The Camelot era of Coun­try and Church in the United States has long been over. Orwell’s world is upon us (and has been for many years). Over the decades, the denom­i­na­tions have col­lected like minds along polit­i­cal party lines. Now they are embar­rassed that all sides have sold out. It is impor­tant not to tack one’s faith to two oppos­ing forces. Rid­ing two horses at the same time is a cir­cus trick, not a way of actu­ally going on a mean­ing­ful jour­ney.

Chris­tian­ity is an indi­vid­ual ethic. As “salt and light” — a con­cen­tra­tion of Chris­tians can make a big dif­fer­ence in a world. Even as a minor­ity, Chris­tian­ity accom­plishes a great deal. It is not iden­ti­fied with race, gen­der, or polit­i­cal party. It tran­scends all philoso­phies. Most of all, it does not have to depend on the state. It has out­lived a long list of coun­tries and polit­i­cal philoso­phies — and will out­live many more. The state can take your pos­ses­sions, but it can­not take your heart. It can seek to limit your free­dom, but it can­not con­trol your mind (unless you are some sort of mind­less “sheep” of course).

Right now the world is strug­gling between two major par­a­digms. Both have flaws. Both have great pos­si­bil­i­ties. Nei­ther par­a­digm forms what Jesus called, “The King­dom of God.” That “King­dom” (a.k.a. com­mu­nity, per­spec­tive, men­tal­ity) is an indi­vid­ual endeavor. Do not con­fuse shift­ing polit­i­cal par­a­digms with the eter­nal one. Focus on the one that will last for­ever. The oth­ers will be manip­u­lated in and out of exis­tence by human whim.

I am not a defeatist. Quite the con­trary! I am an incur­able roman­tic about life. How­ever, that ide­al­ism is cou­pled with a real­ism and an hon­esty that goes right down to my philo­sophic toes. In the name of a greater world, Chris­tian­ity is being pushed toward the mar­gins. There is noth­ing new about that (and noth­ing to fear). After all, valid spir­i­tu­al­ity is refined by rejec­tion. If your Chris­t­ian life does not occa­sion­ally look like a lonely per­son dying on a cross, you might want to recon­sider your view­point and approach. The secu­rity offered by the crowd is in the cheers and the mock­ery of the Real Deal. Being in the major­ity may be noth­ing more than the coward’s way out. That is not some­thing one would want to learn too late.