What the Underground Railroad teaches us today

I went on a bike ride today and along the bike path there was a sign put up to honor the people from Marietta who played a part in the underground railroad. For some reason today it struck me that these people being praised for what they had done were in reality undermining and violating the cultural and political system of their time. According to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, any person aiding a runaway slave by providing food or shelter was subject to six months' imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. Yet it is crazy to me that now, just 150 years later, their actions are not only no longer seen as criminal, but now they are seen as heroic. There were so many "Christians" defending slavery with Scripture that it is sickening when we look back upon it, but time has revealed the hypocricy in that.

I think too about Germany during the time of the Holocaust and World War II. As I read about a Christian pastor named Deitrich Bonhoeffer at that time, I was astounded to find out that the majority of "Christians" in Germany at that time saw it as wrong to resist what the Nazi party was doing or speak out against it. Bonhoeffer was in the minority of Christians in Germany standing up for the Jews and others being oppressed. He saw first hand the danger of nationalism. He had this to say in 1933: "The conflict is really Germanism or Christianity and the sooner the conflict comes out in the open, the better." It got so bad that refusing the draft was "frowned on by most Christians and their churches at that time" (Page 33, A Testament to Freedom).

My main point though is not about war or nationalism (though I will probably write a blog about this sometime soon!), but rather about us getting some perspective on things. So 150 years ago it was seen as right (by many Christians, mind you) to keep blacks as slaves, and wrong to help them receive freedom. Yet in the very same country today it is seen as heroic. And 60 years ago it was seen as right (by many Christians, mind you) to fight for the Nazi party, and wrong to resist what Hitler was doing. Yet history even now has proven how terrible it was.

So here is my question. How much are we also caught up in things of today that are absolutely terrible? Is it consumerism? Nationalism? War? Abortion? Being consumed with pleasure and self? The neglect of the millions suffering around the world? Rampant idolatry with sports and celebrities? Sensual and sexual culture? Humanism? What is it?

As a Christian, I know that one day Jesus is going to come back and everything is going to be exposed for what it really is. Jesus said in Luke 12:2-3, "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs." There is going to be a crystal clear perspective on the entire history of the world, and we will be accountable. Slave traders will be accountable for their actions even though everyone around them was treating it as if it was OK. The Nazi party, as well as the Christians who supported it, will be accountable for their actions even though everyone around them was pumping up the nationalism idea. And so will we.

So I hope that all of us can take a step back and look at our lives with eternal perspective, because if we are able to look back just a few years and see the sins of the past clearly, how much more so will our sins be exposed and seen clearly when the Kingdom of God comes in it's fullness?

We have possibly 80 years on this earth, and then eternity ensues. Shouldn't that drastically change the way we live our lives? Wouldn't it make sense for us to stop living to be satisfied here, living as if our hope was in this life? Don't we realize that what we do now is going to impact our eternity and the eternity of others? We will be looking back with extreme shame and regret, extreme joy and peace, or somewhere in between based on how we live our lives and in what we believe (Jesus, money, self, pride, etc.).

The reality is that we have become so conformed to the world around us. We do politics very similarly to the world: siding with one party, putting Jesus in a political box, minimizing Jesus' relevance to just a few issues.

We think about solutions to the big problems much like the world: thinking war, politicians, and policies will change the world for the better, as opposed to Christ and His gospel.

We live much like the world: living on more than we need, conforming to a dating/marriage culture that uses people, isolating ourselves from community and being individualistic, caring very little for the poor in practical ways.

We think about our context and residence much like the world: we see America as our home instead of Heaven, we live as if we had our hope in this life, we worship the American flag because it gives us all of our heart's desires and then give leftovers to Jesus and His kingdom.

We worship much like the world: putting religion in a box on Sunday mornings and morality, having Jesus be one of the many things that we "like" without giving total devotion, creating a religion of works that doesn't trust in Jesus' great saving work.

How are we different from the racist slave traders, or the fascist Germans? Have we not conformed to the sins of our own culture? Have we not eaten of the fruit of the tree of greed, arrogance, self-involvement, sensuality, etc? Do we really convince ourselves that we are good because we live in a "free nation" and go to church?