Blinded by Eternity

Faith, Eternity, and Justice

I’ve recently been struck by how much the church has been silent over the last few weeks. In fact the only buzz within conservative churches right now is that a Minnesota church was that “anti-ICE agitators stormed a church in Minneapolis” (Direct quote from fox news).¹ I’d argue that it’s a lot more complicated than that. With the church having multiple ties to Christian nationalists like Douglas Wilson and John Piper. And one of their senior pastor’s servers as a local ICE administrator. But the fundamentalist focus there right now is that the church was trespassed on by what is being perceived as anti Christian demonstrators.

“President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship. The Department of Justice has launched a full investigation into the despicable incident that took place earlier today at a church in Minnesota.” Karoline Leavitt

I’ve been repeatedly reminded of my 2019 discussion with my pastor and his wife.² Jed (my ex pastor) repeatedly argued that compassion towards the immigrant community was misguided. That my compassion should instead be focused on the protection of his family from perceived threat from foreign born immigrants. The conversation spiraled out wildly after this but that was a huge part of the discussion. Jed focused on the incorrect theology that could have led me towards having compassion on those who would come to the US illegally and towards women who would need an abortion in their lifetime. According to Jed and Jamie (pastor’s wife) if I had these beliefs and empathies then my faith at it’s core must be corrupt or have been led astray. And I was frankly told this at one point in the conversation.

Jed even at one point in the conversation said that without the correct beliefs in god your whole life was pointless and worthless. Even stating he believes that about his sister in law. That without the correct belief, her (and my) life was pointless and worthless.

I’m also reminded of conversations I’ve had with my mom. Confrontations about why she continued to support churches and organizations that have abused their members. For my mom often the answer was that everyone is flawed and that god eventually will sort it all out one day. God will bring his eternal justice upon everyone and sort out all wrongs in eternity one day. This was also her response when the justice system failed my spouse. That we could look forward to the having god bringing his justice upon the situation one day.

I’ll posit two separate thoughts. One is that having the right belief is often the key to many fundamentalists. If you have the right belief then that will offer a solution to your worldly problems. And the other thought is the focus on the eternal aspect of the fundimentalist’s faith. Tie these ideas together and you get a large group of people that believe that their beliefs and their interpretation of the gospel is the only thing that matters in this lifetime. Worldly wrongs and injustices will be sorted out in the afterlife. The only thing that matters in this present lifetime is the beliefs of each individual.

Do you have the “right” beliefs? If so, you are welcomed in and considered someone to worry about and someone to protect. If not then you will find yourself outside of the general thoughts or worries of the fundamentalist. Your life is worthless without the correct belief. You are only seen as someone who needs to be witnessed to and converted to the correct belief set.

I do want to dwell on the nature of justice here. As I’m continually frustrated by the injustices of this world. The idea that belief alone will resolve injustice is particularly worrying to me. For instance all of the men that have sexually assaulted someone I care about all profess Christianity. And per the fundamentalist rules of eternal justice this the only thing their divine creator cares about. That profession of belief is the thing that prevents any punishment coming to them in the afterlife. How is that justice? A child who was witnessed to but ignored the Christian teaching presented to them is (in my families eyes) guilty of eternal conscious torment. But the man guilty of SA is free to live an eternity within the presence of their divine creator (because of his expressed Christian beliefs).

I see very real pain and injustice here right now. And I see very few Christians working to be a source of calm in this chaos. And the wing of Christianity I grew up in is currently celebrating this pain. Trump’s idea of justice appealing to their worst instincts, calling for the persecution and deportation of anyone deemed an other or an outsider. The righteous warriors of god have clear ideas of who is in the in group and who needs to be exiled or punished.³

I know this isn’t a novel concept. But I have come to the conclusion that a large majority of the Christians within the US have been blinded by eternity. They are so focused on finding the exact right belief to ensure their eternal soul is saved. And in doing so their own morality and sense of right and wrong in the present has become twisted and perverse. The foreigner, the widow, and the orphan⁴ are before them and instead their eyes look past the present into some infinite eternal world where every problem will be solved.

P.S.
There is a lot missed or glazed over by my post. But I think it’s noteworthy that this exact eternal fixation was what was offered by my faith and family as a solution during 2020. This was a time when the US took a moment to consider systemic injustice towards black communities in the US. If faith was suppose to be the focus of the church, why were black preachers making all sorts of noise about injustice in their churches? If we all could just believe that same things on a religious level then why worry about racism? Why focus on the injustice done to black individuals when instead the church should be worried about the destination of the eternal soul? I know there are alternative evangelical voices out there (such as Phil Vischer), but for the most part the SCB and many other conservative Christian voices decried any focus on justice for black individuals in this life.⁵

1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/for-young-tpusa-faith-event-attendees-minnesota-church-storming-is-a-sacred-line-crossed/ar-AA1UVFQs? ↩︎
2. A Conversation with a Pastor ↩︎
3. https://religionnews.com/2025/08/19/homeland-security-quotes-bible-in-messaging-on-immigration-enforcement/ ↩︎
4. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” Matthew 25:35-40 ↩︎
5. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8fcKvUv/ (The video works well to explain how the eternal focus of many Christians can blind them to the suffering of minorities in the here and now. Video is from a progressive Christian POV.) ↩︎