Reader Question- What Hope?

I've heard you say we should hold on to hope.  What exactly is the hope that Christianity offers?

-Rebecca

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Thanks for writing in, Rebecca!

I'm gonna go all pastor on you here, which means I may not nail down your question in quite the way you want. I do often remind people to never give up hope, and so it is perfectly reasonable to ask what hope I am talking about. But here's the thing... it changes per person.

For instance, a typical, standard "Christian" answer to this question would be the hope of eternal life, or at least, salvation from hellfire. But said hellfire is also a facet of a specific form of Christianity, and so salvation from it isn't exactly a hope for anyone who doesn't subscribe to that particular worldview. 

So what IS the hope offered by Christianity? (It's probably important to point out that I am not claiming that these hopes are not EXCLUSIVE to Christianity, I am merely saying that it offers them.)

Well, to the American Slaves, the hope of Christianity was freedom. Even though the faith was usually taught to slaves as a pacifier or a weak justification for their treatment, slaves read the scriptures and saw the hope of freedom, and even used their religious songs as code toward that end. So that was A hope.

To many of the Suffragettes, the hope of Christianity was equality. They read texts that told them that was no "male nor female" and so refused to accept the second class citizenship pushed upon them, even when it was done by the preachers of that same faith. So that was A hope.

For the high powered businessman it might be that there is more to their life than what they are able to produce. To the criminal in prison it might be that there is a great judge who forgives, and the knowledge that all people are sinners. To the average person on the street it may be the concept that they are not just average, but are in fact made in the image of God.

That's the thing about hope... it can be really non-specific. Hope is what keeps us going, what convinces us to take that next step even though all the evidence available signifies that it is probably pointless.

The hope offered by Christianity is the hope that there is hope.