Peace on Earth is impossible. Let this be known as the beginning of the solution to the world’s problems. Peace understood as “absence of hostility” or even “everlasting happiness” is simply not a reality of our human nature. Christianity has understood this from the beginning, or the Church would like to think so.
Modern Christianity has been split into two camps on this essential understanding and teaching of the Church. Both camps have good intentions; however, only one camp is properly aligned with Christ’s teaching. One would think that simply reading Matthew 13 would be sufficient, but not today.
One camp insists on the realization of one’s faith journey now. Let’s call this camp “The Builders.” The other camp relies on the hope of our eternal destination to heaven. Let’s call this camp “The Pavers.” Both camps focus on the faith journey, yet only The Pavers realize that the journey is not the destination. Because The Builders believe one’s journey is their destination, this camp is wrought with constant frustration.
Imagine that you are one of The Builders: just when you thought you’d finally arrived to your final destination, you realize there are still more stops to make. You had eagerly awaited your final stop, only to be tricked by life’s cruel joke: “Next Stop…” You invested so much energy into this one last stop, since you were certain that this was going to be that final great stop. Of course this camp would cause insanity, for one would likely feel caught in a vicious loop…a never-ending false stop.
The Builders intend to make peace on Earth. This illustrates how peace on Earth is impossible. The Pavers hope to attain peace in Heaven. Peace is only possible in Heaven. Everlasting justice, happiness and love is a reality called eternal life with God. On Earth, we are on our faith journey, but we are paving our way to Heaven. We do not build the Kingdom of heaven. We eagerly anticipate our heavenly destination with God if we stay on the Christian path of righteousness and charity. To be a part of the Kingdom, we must accept God in our lives and Heaven as our promised destination.
So the solution to the world’s problems is not to build peace on Earth. The solution to the worlds problem simply put is God’s reign, which will be in Heaven, not on Earth. So let us not build the City of God. Instead let us pave the way to Heaven.
