Recently, I was reading an interesting post comparing two canons of ideas. The concept intrigued me. This is their concluding paragraph:
The whole argument between the two canons comes down to this. Should we be striving for a better world, one where people work to better themselves, rather than earn a paycheck? Or should we be improving ourselves in preparation for a wholly different, probably perfect, world beyond our senses? These are, I think, the defining questions of our time. This is also why everyone should be reading their Bibles and watching their Star Trek.
The concept was odd, but a different way of looking at things. For those of you who don’t know, in the Star Trek Universe, money is not usually the driving force, and, instead, people act for the betterment of themselves and man-kind. The intriguing part though, was what the author posed against the Star Trek ideology claiming it to be the Christian ideology. As Christians are we “improving ourselves in preparation for a wholly different, probably perfect, world beyond our senses?” Is that the goal of the Christian life? Is that our driving force? I hope not. I hope that our driving force, as Christians, is a desire to please God, and do his will, regardless if that means pastoring a church, running a business, working at a charity, or living abroad. We will better ourselves by working for God, but working for God is not merely a tool to better ourselves.
In Star Trek they also got rid of war famine poverty disease and pollution … as a Christian, I have to ask, is it “like Christ” to let people go hungry, is it “like Christ” to refuse to fund research that cures diseases? Is it “like Christ” to live in splendor and ignore the plight of our poorer brothers and sisters in the faith? I need Star Treks optimism about the future, even if it is just a dream, it is a good one.