1 Thessalonians 3:13 may feature an encouragement from Paul to the church at Thessalonica for its members to be found righteous in the event of Christ's return, but moral soundness is something Christians should strive for even completely apart from eschatological concerns. Unfortunately, some who have a disproportionate gravitation towards matters of eschatology might encourage interest in prophecies in the name of provoking moral betterment. The goal is not problematic; nonetheless, the goal should not be pursued primarily out of a desire to avoid whatever Biblical disasters will supposedly strike.
Eschatology might very well help motivate some Christians to live in accordance with their obligations (Christians do not have special obligations that the unsaved do not, so I am simply referring to human obligations), but every individual should be fulfilling their obligations even without the possibility of upcoming apocalyptic events serving as a motivator. The very nature of morality is that it is what one should act in accordance with regardless of personal trials, preferences, or convenience.
Moral obligations--with the exception of Biblical commands that can only be context-sensitive, like sacrificing animals at a temple [1]--are not determined by how near or distant eschatological events like the return of Jesus are relative to one's point in history. If someone should live in a certain way because it is obligatory to do so, life circumstances have no relevance. A person who has no motivation to align themselves with morality apart from fears of what might suddenly happen to them if they do not are not concerned with morality for any reason other than self-interest. It is not negative to let eschatology motivate one to pursue righteousness as a happenstance byproduct, but this motive is woefully incomplete on its own.
If eschatology was of no importance to Christian theology, there would be no need for the Bible to provide any details about it whatsoever. It follows that, on the Christian worldview, what the Bible clarifies about eschatology (not what random scholars who are assumed by the average Christian to be sound have to say) is worth examining to some extent by default, even if one has no personal anxieties about future events in general. Eschatology is far from the most important aspect of Christianity, but it has importance nonetheless.
It is obvious to any rational Christian who has considered the matter that, on both a philosophical and practical level, it is far more significant to understand Biblical ethics and the relationship between epistemology and Christianity than it is to reason out what the Bible says about the eschatological calamities predicted to befall the planet. Eschatology does deserve some level of consideration, but never as much as many other components of Christianity or philosophy at large.
[1]. One cannot be obligated to sacrifice animals to Yahweh at a specific temple if that temple is no longer standing, as the temple's existence is a logically necessary prerequisite.
No comments:
Post a Comment