Whether we believe the world is getting better or worse has many practical effects.
Most people don’t realize that a portion of Christians think the world is getting worse and will continue to get worse until God intervenes to establish God’s kingdom based in Jerusalem. This may happen very soon. If that is the belief, the practical effect is to see no use in trying to improve the world, which is going to be destroyed anyway.
People supporting this pessimistic view point to events in the world, such as the devastation of wars, the rise of dictators, economic depressions, famines, destruction of habitats, and a perceived decline of power in the West. Perhaps most important, they see established churches as becoming unfaithful to the Bible. Many Christians believe that the anti-Christ will take over a world government (like the UN) and persecute Christians. (Sounds like Palpatine in “Star Wars”). Thus, they say, “Don’t support the UN or other cooperative efforts with other nations because the anti-Christ wants to rule the world through them.” They also think, “Don’t do anything about climate change because the world will be destroyed anyway.” People with these views also lack empathy for those less fortunate than themselves and oppose programs to improve their lives. Nevertheless, such people often make good and praise worthy efforts to aid individuals, but don’t advocate for improving conditions generally. The effort to help people only on an individual basis fits very well with American individualism. The pessimistic viewpoint is also used to encourage people to evangelize the world as soon as possible before it soon comes to an end. I believe the view that the world will get worse until God intervenes has been more influential than many people realize and is behind much of the apathetic attitudes toward trying to improve conditions in the world.
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Not all Christians hold these pessimistic views of the future. To turn from these views, it helps to focus on the humanity as a whole. Modern medicine alone has made life better for millions. Many people, like me, see the decline in the relative power of Western nations as a positive development. I believe the most important event for the world since World War II is the leveling of the nations in relative power so that they will learn to work together. With experience in missions, I know that Western colonialism was a great hindrance to Christian missions. The collapse of colonialism after World War II has been a great aid to disassociating Christianity from domination. In spite of great mistakes, America is still built on belief in the equality of all people, and this belief was affirmed by the rise in power of many new nations and the desire of many nations for democracy. The old days of colonialism, in which many Western nations looked down on peoples in the rest of the world, have largely passed. Apocalyptic, which means “revelation” or “unveiling,” can be used to describe our age. This is because the whole world is seeing more clearly the difference between democracy and autocracy and the true evil of autocracy is being revealed in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
As far as America itself is concerned, a major improvement has been the rise of African-Americans, Asian Americans, indigenous Americans, and other population groups in need of acceptance and inclusion. People have gained more moral, scientific, and psychological understanding of sexual identity. Minority groups have overcome many obstacles and become major contributors to American life. This is a tremendous advance, but we have much further to go. America has taken significant steps toward becoming a multi-racial and multi-ethnic society, in spite of continuing opposition. This alone is a sign of the progress of America in living up to its ideals of human equality and “liberty and justice for all.” Finally, dialogue among all faiths has increased. The emphasis on respecting, listening to and learning from each other is increasing. This does not mean the combining of religions, but it expresses increased recognition of the humanity of others and a desire to increase mutual understanding and strengthen bonds of peace. These developments are signs of improvement and not signs of the world getting worse.
Highlighting improvements in the world can serve as a call to Americans and people of other lands to lift one another to new levels of understanding and cooperation that is particularly needed in our day of rapid change.
Rev. Robert L. Montgomery, who holds a Ph.D. in social scientific studies of religion, lives in Black Mountain.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Is the world getting better or worse? 2 sides to the coin
