This got asked on Calvin in Common. I don’t know the answer, but it is a very interesting question. This is what I wrote.
There is a great and vast theme in the Bible about humbling yourself to allow God to lift you up. You’ll find it in the Psalms, in James, in Peter, and Jesus of course admonitions his followers to take the lower seat, invite the destitute and expect to be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous. What happens if you no longer believe in the resurrection of the righteous?
Ryan Bell, the Adventist pastor who is doing his “year without God” recently posted an interesting commentary on the African American experience, following a movie that suggested that the church is a plague upon the African American community.
Your question about when did being a recipient of pity become a bad thing? I don’t know either, but it would surely be an interesting project. I imagine it’s part of the broader movement where our hope is placed in our ability to marshal our resources against our enemies and rescue ourselves. Modern medicine has freed us from more maladies than centuries of prayer. Political activism moves social policy backed by law. We have surely got the message that if we’re in trouble waiting for God is for suckers, unless of course you do yoga (oops, that just got debunked too...
Of course one has to ask whether the slave’s Christian devotion was what really undid John Brown’s failed uprising.
Andrew DelBanco thinks the broad sweep of American history runs from God to State to Self . God used to be our help until we became a world power and promised to give us liberty, freedom and prosperity, but now the millenials don’t even bother with that, they’re on their own.
So don’t judge me or pity me, I’ll rescue myself thank you very much. wink. pvk
