To Hell in a Handbasket? - Part 1

I began this post 15 months ago but decided to take more time researching it. But before we jump into it, if you need a refresher on my disclaimer (one that definitely applies here), please read it. With that in mind, here's what I've found so far...

I was in 4th grade when I found out how the world was going to end. We were studying Revelation in Sunday school and watched a movie with beasts and fire and car crashes. It was hell on earth, and it gave me nightmares.

The movie also gave me a popular piece of the fundamentalist Christian worldview: the world is getting worse and worse until the book of Revelation literally comes true and Christ returns. In its more popular form, the assumption is simply that the world is getting worse. The latter shows up in some surprising places -- including O Magazine this month, parenting conversations, countless sermons, FB, and on both sides of the political aisle -- though it is not universal.

How does this belief affect us?

- It creates a dark inevitability around current societal problems, leading to helplessness, defeatism, cynicism, and apathy.
- If culture is always regressing, then it will always be better to hold on to the past, to try to slow this regression (hence the term "conservative" in the "disposed to maintain existing views" sense). Said another way, it encourages fear of change and fear of the future.
- The easiest alternative to an irreversibly degenerative culture is isolation from it.

Why is this belief so pervasive?

1. It appeals to our instinct for survival. Any newspaper knows "The World is Ending" will outsell "Peace on Earth" 10 to 1. We want to be prepared, to know what we're up against. Thus, we feast on a diet of bad news.
2. We have particular ideas about what constitutes "worse." ex. Promiscuity and divorce are considered "worse" than bigotry and legalism; Stewardship and service are valued less than obedience; We assume the prodigal son was "worse" than his older brother.
3. We don't know enough history, so we dismiss or idealize it.
4. The evil in the world is desperate to convince us that resistance is pointless.

As with so many issues, as I've become aware of my own presuppositions, I've had to re-examine them in light of special revelation (the Bible) and general revelation (the world). This is still a work in progress, but thus far, most of the evidence seems to point toward an encouraging result.

What does the Bible say?

Even a cursory reading of the Bible does not seem to show a description of a world getting worse. Certainly sin corrupts and can lead to a downward spiral (individuals in Rom 1, a whole community in Gen 3-6). However, Scripture does not seem to imply this is steady or inevitable across time for the human race. Sodom and Gomorrah existed after Noah's flood but long before David ruled Israel or Christ announced the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:15).

As for Revelations, scholars with a high view of Scripture disagree about how to interpret it, but most would not claim that it describes a grand descent over the history of mankind. Furthermore, since we use clearer texts to interpret the less-clear, one would expect that Revelations would not be the only source for a degenerative worldview.

Rather than describing linear degeneration, the patterns of sin and repentance in the Bible appear cyclical or concurrent. As Solomon says, "there is nothing new under the sun" (Eccl 1). At the same time, the Bible demonstrates a gradual building of covenant upon covenant (from Adam to Christ) in which additional information is revealed with time, offering more evidence for faith to successive generations (a growing "cloud of witnesses," Heb 11-12).

My biggest challenge in trying to understand this biblically has been the lack of material on the subject. So, if you have any suggestions for books or verses that might be helpful/relevant, please let me know!

What do we observe in the world?

Part 2!