The Myth of a Christian Religion

by Gregory A. Boyd

  Then I wondered about the jar of expensive perfume Mary poured on Jesus’ feet. Judas, who was in charge of Jesus’ finances, objected that this perfume could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. Given my frame of mind at the time, this struck me as a very reasonable objection. I’d have made it myself. But Jesus rebuked Judas. “Leave her alone,” Jesus said. “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

  Then I began to wonder why Jesus spent so much time at parties. At every turn, it seems, Jesus was eating and drinking with his disciples as well as with tax collectors, prostitutes, and every other sort of person. How many people in Palestine were not having their basic needs met while Jesus was condoning this unnecessary ingestion of food and drink?

  My bewilderment hit a pitch when I came upon Paul’s instruction to the rich in 1 Timothy 6. On one hand, Paul tells us to be content with what we have and not to get sucked into the pursuit of wealth. This made sense to me. But then Paul states that God, whom the wealthy are to put their trust in, is a God “who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” God wants us who are rich to enjoy things, I wondered? God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment? From my standpoint during this time, this didn’t seem right. How can God give us extra things and tell us to enjoy them when millions don’t have enough to survive on?

  STRIKING THE BALANCE

  As I struggled to make sense of these passages, I began to understand why my guilt over every nonessential thing in my life was misguided. If the Kingdom of God is about manifesting God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven,” and if Jesus manifested God’s Kingdom perfectly, then it must be the case that it’s God’s will for people to enjoy nonessential things, celebrate weddings, kick back with friends at parties, share an abundance of wine and food, and worship God extravagantly, even using expensive perfume when appropriate. So I came to see that any social situation in which people can’t afford to do these things is, to this degree, less in line with God’s will than one in which people can.

  Jesus wasn’t taking a break from the Kingdom when he celebrated nonessential things: he was just manifesting another aspect of it. We could call this the abundance aspect of the Kingdom.

  Now of course, we have to balance the abundance aspect of the Kingdom with the call to live sacrificially generous lives, for we still live in a world in which 40,000 people die each day of illnesses related to malnutrition and extreme poverty. If we only manifest the abundance aspect of the Kingdom, we will become guilty of greed and fail to manifest the outrageous generosity of the Kingdom.

  But by the same token—and here’s what I needed to learn—if we only manifest the outrageous generosity of the Kingdom, we will fail to manifest the abundance aspect of the Kingdom and may become legalistic, self-righteous, and cynical—as I had become.

  It may seem that the abundance aspect and the self-sacrificial aspect of the Kingdom are in tension with each other, but in reality they’re not. The New Testament teaches us that while God loves to bless us with an abundance, the ultimate purpose for this blessing is “so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). And the more we give sacrificially, Paul says, the more we are given to sacrifice with. In other words, abundance and the call to sacrifice for the poor aren’t at odds with one another: they’re two sides of the same coin.

  Our job, then, is never to cling to our possessions as if they belonged to us, follow God’s leading in how we imitate Jesus’ self-sacrificial lifestyle and care for the poor, and trust that God will use our costly sacrifices to advance his Kingdom and provide for us so we can “abound in every good work.”

  As we do this, we manifest the beauty of God’s generous Kingdom while revolting against greed, poverty, and the Powers that fuel them.

  Viva la revolution!

  CHAPTER 12

  THE REVOLT AGAINST

  THE ABUSE OF CREATION

  The time has come for judging the dead…

  and for destroying those who destroy the earth.

  REVELATION 11:18

  It is impossible to care for each other more

  or differently than we care for the earth.

  WENDELL BERRY

  WE’RE BURNING UP!

  I am starting this chapter the day after Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against global warming (summarized in his Academy-Award - winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth). It seems a fitting way to begin this chapter on caring for the earth and the animal kingdom.

  Over the last decade, and especially over the last several years, Gore and others have warned us about the terrible things that will happen unless drastic, immediate measures are taken to curb the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. It is ominous, to say the least, and it’s starting to have a profound impact on politics and society. More people are “going green.” Even some evangelical leaders have taken up the environment cause.

  I delight in this increased environmental awareness among Christians, but frankly I’m also a bit concerned. It seems to be largely motivated by the conviction that global warming is caused primarily by humans. But what if this theory turns out to be false? 1 Or what if the earth suddenly starts cooling down, like it unexpectedly did in the 1970s? Will Christians stop being environmentally conscious?

  I’d like to suggest that, from a Kingdom perspective, it shouldn’t make a bit of difference why the earth is warming up. Nor should it make a bit of difference if it suddenly starts cooling down. For we as Kingdom people are called to care for the earth and the animal kingdom simply because this is part of what it means to be faithful to the reign of God. Following the example of Jesus and the general teaching of Scripture, we’re called to manifest God’s loving care for the earth and the animal kingdom while revolting against everything that abuses creation.

  THE CREATOR AND HIS PRECIOUS CREATION

  Until recently, few Christians thought their faith had any implications for how they viewed the earth and the animal Kingdom. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  To understand why, let’s go back to the beginning.

  “In the beginning,” the Bible says, “God created the heavens and the earth” and he declared it all “good.” Unlike many religions and philosophical schools of thought that deprecate matter as something that is inferior to spirit or even downright evil, the Bible celebrates matter as a marvelous creation of God. It is good.

  Everything that exists is sustained, owned, and cared for by God as something inherently precious. Many passages depict God as a gardener tenderly caring for his creation. Despite the fact that everything has been tainted by the curse humans brought upon creation by our rebellion, everything still reflects God’s power and loving care. Sometimes creation is depicted as a sort of worshiping congregation with every distinct thing glorifying God in its own unique way.

  The Bible also depicts God as having a special love, respect, and concern for animals. Every animal was created by him, belongs to him, and is sustained and cared for by him. Just as the Lord is depicted as a gardener caring for his garden, he is also shown as a compassionate caregiver affectionately tending to the needs of his animals. “All creatures look to you,” the psalmist says, “to give them their food at the proper time.”

  The Lord’s heart is to preserve “both people and animals,” and he shows compassion to every living thing he has made. For example, one of the reasons he gave to Jonah for wanting to have mercy on Nineveh was that it was home to so many animals. God clearly has a tender heart toward animals.

  One of the clearest signs of the high value animals have in God’s eyes is that he sometimes makes covenants with them. When God forged a new covenant with Noah after the flood, for example, he included animals. The Lord said that the placing of his bow in the sky was “the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you [Noah] and every living creature with you…”

>   So too, according to Hosea, animals will be included when the Lord fulfills his promise to bring peace to the earth.

  In that day I will make a covenant for them

  with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky

  and the creatures that move along the ground.

  Bow and sword and battle

  I will abolish from the land,

  so that all may lie down in safety.

  Hosea 2:18

  The earth and the animal kingdom are God’s handwork and are intrinsically valuable in his sight. A central job of all who submit to him is to reflect their agreement with God by how they treat the earth and care for animals.

  LANDLORDS AND CAREGIVERS

  The final act of creation, according to the Genesis narrative, was the creation of humans, who were created to be God’s “coworkers” and corulers, carrying out his will “on earth as it is in heaven.” Our original mandate was to enter into “one flesh” relationships (marry), have children, and extend God’s loving dominion over the earth and the animal kingdom.

  This original mandate is never retracted in Scripture. When God raised up Israel to be his vehicle for restoring the world, he commissioned them to exercise loving dominion over the land he was giving them and over the animals that inhabited it. As in many other matters, Israel was commissioned to be a microcosm of what God desired for all of humanity.

  So, for example, the Israelites were told to reflect God’s care for the land by giving the land a Sabbath rest every seven years. They were to allow trees to mature before they ate their fruit and were to spare fruit-bearing trees when they went to war.

  Moreover, as caretakers of the land God had entrusted to them, they were continually reminded that the welfare of the land and its animals depended directly on them. If the Israelites obeyed God’s decrees the land would be fruitful. If not, the land would become destitute.

  As a microcosm of God’s will for humanity, Israel was to extend God’s compassion toward the animal Kingdom as well. For example, the Israelites were to let their farm animals enjoy the same Sabbath rest they themselves enjoyed. They were given specific instructions on how to avoid mistreating animals when they were being worked. They were to care for lost or overburdened animals, even those who belonged to their enemies. Newborn farm animals were not to be taken from their mothers too quickly. And they were to consider the produce of the land as belonging to their livestock and wild animals as well as to them.

  Ultimately, when Israel and the entire world is completely brought under the reign of God, Isaiah tells us that peace will reign throughout the earth as well as the animal Kingdom. In that day,

  The wolf will live with the lamb,

  the leopard will lie down with the goat,

  the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

  and a little child will lead them.

  The cow will feed with the bear,

  their young will lie down together,

  and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

  Infants will play near the hole of the cobra;

  young children will put their hands into the viper’s nest.

  They will neither harm nor destroy

  on all my holy mountain,

  for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD

  as the waters cover the sea.

  Isaiah 11:6 – 9

  THE VIOLENT, CORRUPTED CREATION

  This brings us to an important but neglected aspect of the Bible’s teaching about the creation and the fall. Our rebellion against God didn’t only affect us. Because we were the earth’s divinely appointed landlords, when we fell, everything under our authority fell as well. We brought a curse on the world and nature itself was subjected to futility. The whole creation was fundamentally altered.

  For example, according to the Genesis narrative, God originally created the land to bring forth food without effort. Because of the fall, however, humans now have to toil over it “by the sweat of [our] brow” and put up with “thorns and thistles.” So too, all animals were originally designed to eat “every green plant for food.” Because of the curse, however, the animal kingdom is now violent and carnivorous. 2

  Not only was death not part of God’s original, beautiful design for creation; according to the New Testament, it actually reflects the anti-creational activity of Satan. Christ came to “break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.” The one who has been a “murderer from the beginning” is apparently behind the death and destruction that permeates our present, fallen world. While death is a perfectly natural byproduct of the laws of nature as we find them today, the Bible suggests that it wasn’t part of God’s original design. Nature has to some extent been corrupted by the Powers. 3

  Jesus’ healing ministry confirms this point as well since the Gospels depict all infirmities as being directly or indirectly the result of Satan’s oppressive activity. 4 All these infirmities are simply “natural” byproducts of physical processes operating according to the laws of nature as we now find them. Which means, nature as we find it now has been corrupted.

  THE PROBLEM OF “NATURAL” EVIL

  Nature as we find it now is “red in tooth and claw,” as Alfred Tennyson famously put it in his poem “In Memoriam.” And as Tennyson also says, this fact poses enormous problems for those who believe the Creator is a good, peace-loving, benevolent God:

  Man . . . trusted God was love indeed

  And love Creation’s final law—

  Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw

  With ravine, shriek’d against his creed. 5

  We trust that the Creator is love, but as vocal atheists such has Richard Dawkins have recently been pointing out, nature screams otherwise. 6 This is what’s often called “the problem of natural evil.”

  While evils done by humans can be explained by appealing to free will, this explanation doesn’t seem to account for evils brought about by nature. Animals rip each other apart, sometimes in prolonged, painful ways. Parasites, viruses, bacteria, diseases, and cancer kill millions and torment millions more, humans and animals alike. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, mudslides, and volcanoes do the same. “Nature does not abhor evil,” Howard Bloom notes; “she embraces it.” 7

  Why would a God of love create nature to be filled with violence and suffering? According to the Bible, he didn’t. Nature is filled with violence and suffering because it has been corrupted by Satan and the Powers. We can of course still witness something of the power and glory of God in the beauty of nature. But we also witness the corrupting influence of Satan and the Powers.

  I know this perspective is completely foreign to the contemporary Western way of understanding nature. It’s even foreign to the way most Christians think about creation. Few seem to take the reality of Satan and the Powers seriously. But it’s perhaps worth mentioning that it wasn’t at all foreign to the early Church. The early Church fathers routinely attributed violence in nature to the work of the devil and his demons. 8 I, for one, think this remains far and away the best explanation for how nature, created by an all-good Creator, could be saturated with so much violence and pain.

  Not only this, but I don’t believe we can make sense of Jesus’ revolt against the corruption of nature without it.

  CURSING THE CURSE

  There is a curious episode in which Jesus cursed a fig tree because he was hungry and it didn’t have any figs. It’s the only destructive miracle found in the New Testament. What’s particularly puzzling is that Mark tells us the reason the tree had no figs was because it wasn’t the season for figs.

  On the surface, it might look as if Jesus simply lost his temper and used his supernatural power to punish a poor tree whose only crime was being in the wrong place during the wrong season. If we understand this episode against the background of the apocalyptic thought of Jesus’ day, however, we see something very different going on.

  Famine was widely believed to be the work of the devil
in apocalyptic thought, and barren or infected fig trees became symbols of this fact. What is more, many Jews of this time believed the Messiah would free nature from Satan’s grip, thus putting an end to things like famines. When we interpret Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree in this light, it seems evident he was proclaiming that he was the Messiah by “cursing the curse.” And in doing so, he symbolized that he was the long awaited one who would “destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8) and restore creation. 9

  More generally, Jesus was demonstrating that where God reigns, the demonic corruption of nature will be eventually overcome. And he was showing that, when the Kingdom is fully manifested, the cosmos will be delivered from this demonic oppression. There will then be no more famine, droughts, or hunger. Nature shall produce abundant vegetation and fruit, as it was originally designed to do.

  Something similar could be said of other “natural miracles” performed by Jesus. When Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes and brought about a miraculous catch of fish, he was signifying that humans will reclaim their authority over nature when the Kingdom is fully come. When Jesus rebuked a life-threatening storm as though it were a demon, he was revealing that there are Powers wreaking havoc in creation and demonstrating that humans will have authority over these Powers when the Kingdom is fully come. 10