Tag Archives: ends

Jesus cared about the means

26 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in Theology

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I’ve been thinking about the means and the ends a lot lately.  The means are how things are done, the process.  The ends are the results, the fulfillment of an action.  There is an age-old belief that the ends justify the means.  If that is so, then it doesn’t matter what you do, or how you act, or how you treat others so long as you get what you want.  If the ends justify the means, then it is perfectly acceptable to manipulate people, to dehumanize and degrade people, to abuse people, and even to use violence.  It’s the ends that matter after all.  This is the theology of this world, of politics and certain politicians (both current and from throughout history).

But what did Jesus think about the means and the ends?  If we are to call ourselves followers of Jesus, then we probably should not only pay attention to what Jesus said, but also follow it.  Or we should just be honest and stop claiming to be a follower of Jesus.

‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

(Matthew 7:15-20)

The tree is the thing that bears fruit.  It is the means to the end.  The end is the fruit.  And Jesus is saying that bad trees produce bad fruit while good trees produce good fruit.  Going back to the main question and applying Jesus’ logic, it might sound like this.  Good means produce good ends.  Bad means produce bad ends.

Here’s another passage that makes the case even clearer:

‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’

(Matthew 7:24-27)

If you were to build a house, would you only care about the end product – a house that is built?  Or would care about what was going into that house and how it was built, what products were used, and who the laborers were?  If the house is built well, it will be a good house.  If it’s done shoddy, the house will be shoddy.  The ends are far less important than the means of how the house came to be.

Yet, why does this idea of the ends justify the means persist when we know that it is wrong?  Why, especially does this idea carry any weight within the church, the institution that supposedly claims to follow Jesus?  I have heard self-proclaimed Christians, and even pastors speak of this belief system.  I have watched them carry it out.  And I have wondered, how is this following Jesus and his way?

It’s not.  There’s no other way around it.

Jesus concerned himself with the means.  Discipleship is about the means – a way of living.  Ministry is about the means.  Mission is about the means.  If the end was all that mattered, then God would make us as robots and get the result God wanted from all of us.  But God is love.  And love isn’t about being controlling, but rather invitation to deep relationship and community.  Love is the means.  The ends will take care of themselves.  Jesus calls us to be good trees, to build the house on a solid foundation, to follow his way of living and discipleship.  The means are important.  The means are what following Jesus is all about.

For Christians, the ends never justify the means

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Church, Theology

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For Christians, the ends do not justify the means.  The means are important.  And so are the ends.  When we look at the example of Jesus, we see that means are important.  The Sermon on the Mount is one verse after another about how the means are as important as the ends.  Blessed are the peacemakers – not blessed is peace.  Peacemakers are in the process of making peace happen.  It’s the means.

Bless are those who thirst for justice – not those who have arrived at justice.  It’s in the process.

The means are important.  Because if the ends justify the means, then it makes sense to bully your way to the ends to get what you want.  But Jesus never condoned this activity.  Christianity can be described as many things – a way of life is one of them.  A way of life means that there is more to life than just the end result – there is the living of your life that matters.

But unfortunately, there is a theology out there that says that only the end matters – where you end up when you die.  There is a theology out there that promotes Rapture – an escape from this world.  If we are going to escape, then what happens here doesn’t matter.  There is a theology out there that promotes a wrathful God who relishes destroying anyone who even questions God.  If there is no room for questions and doubt, then we are just robots and life doesn’t matter.

There is a theology out there that mixes its political and partisan loyalty with theological belief (or rather disbelief).  It confuses political identity for baptismal identity.  It puts faith in leaders who will do anything and destroy anything or anyone in the way in order to get the desired result.

When you can willingly be cruel, oppressive, dehumanize, mock, ridicule, divide, foster fear and anger – or support someone who does this on your behalf – then you have a faulty belief system.  That’s not a belief system of Good News.  It’s a belief system on an earthly empire concerned with obtaining and wielding power and crushing enemies.  That’s not God’s kingdom and it’s not Good News.  It’s not a belief system that saves anyone.  It’s not a system of belief that builds off of trust.  It’s a belief system based on slavery, demands compliance, unquestioning allegiance, and lacks any freedom.

It’s a belief system that sells one’s soul to the empire to receive a short-term gain, at the expense of the Kingdom of God.  Rather, we are to deny ourselves and our quest for power and pick up our cross and follow Jesus.

Why people leave church and are cynical about government

05 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Organizational theory, Politics, Society

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I would guess the number one answer is summed up in one word – hypocrisy.

I have heard people criticize Christianity with the argument that Christians are hypocrites.  They preach love, yet turn around and judge people.  They preach peace and then talk about how they want to destroy enemies.  They claim to care for the poor and then support policies that hurt the poor.  Etc., Etc.

Of course, this is not all Christians, but it is a sizable amount – at least here in the US.  There are many Christians whose definitions of love, peace, and forgiveness make me wonder what it is that they actually believe in – and I’m a Christian pastor.

Hypocrisy isn’t just confined to church though.  It’s rampant in politics and has been for some time.

A couple of examples will suffice.  Take the recent tax bill that passed the US Senate.  Put aside the policy and the debate of what it will or won’t do.  The criticism of the bill was that it was a large document (over 500 pages), Senators didn’t have enough time to read it, it was voted on in the middle of the night, and on straight party line vote, etc.  Democrats were livid in citing these criticisms.  They even created some homemade videos that went viral with their outrage over the process.

That’s all well and good, but I have a hard time buying that these Senators were truly upset over this process.  These same folks had no trouble voting for the Affordable Care Act in 2010 (Sen. Jon Tester, D-MT did vote for it, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA wasn’t in the Senate at that time, but given her voting record and defense of the law, I have no doubt she would have voted for it) when it was a large document in which Senators didn’t have enough time to read it, and it was voted in the middle of the night on a straight party line vote.  Nancy Pelosi – then Speaker of the House was famously quoted as saying that they had to “pass it in order to see what was in it.”  Hmm, sound familiar?  The only difference is which party is upset.  It’s the same arguments though.  Once in power, the party in power thinks nothing of ram-rodding through their policy positions and trampling over process.

Just to be fair, it’s not just Democrats who are hypocrites.  Remember Republican criticism over President Obama using executive orders to stop the Keystone pipeline?  Democrats cheered at the action.  Then President Trump came to office and guess what – the parties had a change of heart over the process of using executive orders.  Republicans didn’t have a problem with Trump signing an executive order reviving the pipeline project, while it was now the Democrats who were upset.

Here’s the thing, neither party really cares about the process.  It’s the end that matters for them.  In this sense we have all become Machiavellian – apparently the ends justify the means.  The process be damned!  Never mind that the process exists to protect the minority out of power.  Never mind that our political leaders are shortsighted enough to forget that they will be in the minority again at some point, and then in the majority again – how will they want to be treated in the minority?  Apparently, we see governing as a winner-take-all approach.  Not a way to run a government or a society.

Nor a church.  When hypocrisy runs the show, it ends in broken relationships and trust.  Does this mean that we should be perfect?  Hardly.  That’s impossible anyway.  What it does mean is that leaders in church have a responsibility to create an environment where the end in mind isn’t being right, but rather being a child of God.  We are sinners.  We are going to sin.  But this isn’t an excuse to just let the sin go on unchecked.  Church leaders, and political leaders for that matter, have a responsibility to build trust, to show the humanity of our opponents, to move people into actual communication, to create an environment where shame and guilt and blame are not welcome.

In short, church leaders can address the claims about hypocrisy – by being honest and open, transparent and forgiving, full of integrity and addressing issues rather than avoiding them.  Political leaders can and should do the same.  Other wise what we lose is not a policy debate, but rather trust, stability, and maturity.

“Philosopher and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau long maintained that “The Prince” was a work of satire that sought to expose the cynicism of one-man rule.”

Too bad we see seem to be more interested in using Machiavelli’s thoughts as a map, rather than a warning.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  There is another way.  But here’s the hard part – we can’t wait for someone else to start.  If we do, we’ll be waiting until the grave.

Instead we are called to start.  So let’s get started.

Do the ends justify the means?

31 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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Do they?  Here’s another way of asking the same question – are you more concerned with the end result of something, or does the way you get there matter?

If the end result is all that matters, then the way you get there doesn’t.  Think about the consequences of this though before you jump in with both feet.  If the process doesn’t matter, I wonder, do the people in the process matter?

Here’s an example – the executive orders that have been issued.  Trump issued an executive order re-starting the Keystone Pipeline.  Obama had issued an executive order halting construction of the pipeline.  Both were done by executive order.  Supporters of Obama cheered when he did this and critics were upset and claimed that this was an abuse of power.  Now that Trump has used an executive order to restart the pipeline, those that support him are cheering and critics who are upset are claiming that this is an abuse of power.  I’m guessing that the people who have been openly vocal about this, on either side are more concerned with the end result rather than with the process used – executive orders.

Yet, both of these sides should be concerned with the process.  If one president can make a policy with his signature on an executive order, then another can reverse it.  It’s very efficient.  It’s also one person’s decision.  In essence, that one person becomes the law.  There’s no need to involve anyone else, make arguments in public, go through the mess of the legislative process, deal with potential compromise or legitimate criticism about a potential policy.  Nope, just sign it and poof – it’s now essentially law.

So much for checks and balances.  But hey, you got what you wanted right?  Never mind what kind of precedent it creates.

In our Gospel reading this past Sunday, we heard Jesus preach the Beatitudes.  I’m going to argue that Jesus isn’t making an argument that the ends justify the means here.  Based on what I read, I hear Jesus saying that the process matters, because the people in the process matter.

In each of Jesus’ sayings in the Beatitudes, he is speaking in the present tense – “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” “Blessed are those who mourn,” “Blessed are the peacemakers,” etc.  He is referring to people who are these things right now.  The second half of each Beatitude deals with the future, but I argue that is not the thrust of each of these statements – it’s the present tense statement that comes first and therefore are emphasized.

Not all of the beatitudes are what you could call “processes.” What they are is something different – they are people who are going through life, experiencing something.  This is Jesus blessing people in the midst of life – not just at the end of life or sometime in the future.  They are in the process of life right now.

So why does this matter?  Go back to the original question – do the ends justify the means?

Here’s a variation of this – Are we as a church going to respond to political actions with political approaches, political rhetoric, and political language that focuses on legalities?  Is our primary focus just to get the result that we want?  If the ends justify the means, then the answer is it doesn’t matter how we interact with politics because it is the end that matters.  If the end is the only thing that matters, then demonizing political opponents and winning are all that is important. Except I don’t think that’s what Jesus taught.

If the process matters, then I think our options are far different.  Christianity isn’t only about what happens to us when we die.  It’s not just about the end result. It’s also about now – life.  It’s about the process of living.  Jesus made statements of how we are to live right now.  Peacemakers aren’t looking at peace as a destination – it’s a way of life.  Being poor in spirit isn’t about the end result, but rather an outlook of how we live and relate with God and others.  Being merciful isn’t about arriving at the destination of mercy or waiting for someone else to show mercy first, it’s showing mercy all along the journey of life.  The process matters.

If the church is only interested in the end result, then we are no different from any other political movement through human history where victory is a destination and the ends justify the means – which means the enemy and opponent can be destroyed in the process because the process and all people in the process, don’t matter.

When I read the Beatitudes, I see a different story and hear a different message.  One where it’s not just the end that matters, but how we get there as well.  Because there are going to be God’s blessed along the way.