"Alright, then, I'll go to hell." - Huck Finn

I ran across a phenomenally written blog post today. I have to share it.

http://brianzahnd.com/2013/06/when-america-went-to-hell/

Provocative title, eh?

Well, it's got me thinking. About slavery then. About injustices now. About re-reading Huck Finn and Uncle Tom's Cabin (bumping them up on the must-read-this-summer-list).

In Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck had helped hide a slave, his friend, Jim. Huck knew from Sunday School, however, that hiding slaves is a sin and will send you straight to hell. So Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson telling her where she can find her slave, finally ready to save his soul. Huck doesn't want to go to hell. But he loves his friend even more. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” — and tore it up.

Huckleberry Finn. Giving us a lesson on loving your neighbor. 

"Neighbor" was a messy word back then- certainly it didn't mean slaves! Who are we quick to exclude now? I can think of more than a couple possibilities.

But back to the Civil War.

Zahnd explains the irony of the revivals that swept through churches before the war:

Millions had “accepted Jesus” and shouted hosanna, but they did not know the things that make for peace. They prayed a sinner’s prayer, “got right with God,” and kept their slaves. They had a faith that would justify the sinner while bringing no justice to the slave. They had faith that gave them a ticket to heaven…and a highway to hell.

Probably without even knowing what they were doing these Christians had quite effectively used Jesus and the Bible to validate their racist assumptions and protect their vested interests. They went to church on Sunday. They got saved. They loved Jesus. They waved their palms and shouted hosanna on Palm Sunday. But like the crowd in Jerusalem eighteen centuries earlier they didn’t know the things that make for peace. And Jesus wept over an America headed to hell. The churches were full and slavery continued…until the Civil War. Then 623,000 people died for the sins of America.

This is a heavy bit of history. Have we learned from it? In Luke, Jesus said, “How I wish that you of all people would understand the things that make for peace.”

The things that make for peace. 

Jesus.

How can we better love people? How can we be peacemakers in a war-hungry world?

Zahnd warns:

If we console ourselves with the promise of heaven in the afterlife while creating hell in this present life, we have embraced the tawdry religion of the crusader and forsaken the true faith of our Savior.

Are we more concerned about churches being full, or that 'slavery' has continued?

Dear God, let us learn from our mistakes.