Pie-in-the-sky Religion
Psalm 27:13
Karl Marx famously accused that religion is simply an opiate (drug) that the powerful use to keep the masses satisfied with lives that are miserable.
The message: "You can accept the hardships of this life because in the next life things will be better. Therefore you should accept the hardships of this life. Don't try to change them."
If we look at history, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.
This Psalm is striking (as is much prayer in the Bible) because it doesn't fall into that trap. It is a prayer for deliverance NOW. Not a prayer to hold on until I die.
Christianity is no pie-in-the-sky religion. It never has been when properly understood.
Christianity always has an eye on both the present (the land of the living) and on the future (heaven). And for that I'm grateful.
