Christianity has many dangerous habits, but one of Christianity’s most dangerous habits is this: teaching people to wait for divine rescue while real harm continues to unfold. To help us break that habit, let’s unpack how ancient stories about light and darkness were transformed into a theology of passivity, and why that belief pairs so easily with authoritarian power. In a fragile political moment, waiting is no longer neutral. It’s a choice!
We’re living in a moment when democracy feels fragile, authoritarianism is no longer hypothetical, and fear is being deliberately cultivated as a political tool. And in moments like this, a lot of people—especially Christians—have been taught that the faithful response is to wait. To trust that God is in control. To believe that things will somehow work themselves out without demanding too much of us.
Now, that belief might feel comforting to lotsa people, but it’s also incredibly dangerous. Because while people are waiting for divine rescue, real harm is continuing to happen in the real world—and it’s being justified, excused, and normalized. In this episode, I want to talk about how ancient stories about light and darkness were transformed into a theology of waiting, why that theology pairs so well with authoritarian power, and why—if we’re serious about resisting what’s happening right now—we need to stop waiting and start taking responsibility for one another.
