The primary document that defines Christians as Christians is the New Testament. We share all or part of the Old Testament with many religions, primarily Judaism and Islam. And other cults or faiths which stray from the demand that nothing be added to the Bible may share the OT and the NT, but rather work with their own additions - Catholicism with its own doctrine, Latter-Day Saints with their own, and many (more cultish) variations of "Christianity".
The New Testament is the story and principles of Jesus Christ. And the Beatitudes are the first and largest piece of "policy" set forth by Him in the New Testament (after a four chapter introduction to His birth and beginning of His Ministry), starting in Matthew, chapters five through seven.
The only true rival in the New Testament to the Beatitudes in importance would be the Great Commission - the final words of the book of Matthew, repeated (as the Beatitudes are) in other gospels. And yet - and yet! - we hardly give them attention they deserve! There are no monuments akin to those of the Ten Commandments posted anywhere. There is no great missionary push to fulfill them, the way there is for the Great Commission.
We simply assume them.
Kurt Vonnegut is hardly the ideal orator for Christianity. Delete that argument if you're working that one up for the comments. But on this one point, I think he's absolutely on fleek. We harp on the "don'ts" of the Commandments without ever talking about the "dos" of the Beatitudes.
What ARE the Beatitudes?
Starting at Matthew 5, verses 2 through 12...
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account.
12“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
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Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Mediator for Mankind to approach the Great White Throne, blesses His People with the qualifications above, qualifications which have been debated incessantly for almost two thousand years...
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." NOT the "POOR" - being poor is not necessarily an asset or a drawback in and of itself. Being rich doesn't get you into Heaven (or keep you out) in and of itself, either. Nothing in the Beatitudes describes the physical assets of human beings in any way.
Everything in here - mournful, meek, hungry for righteousness, pure of heart - describes your heart, if you will. Not your position in life, not your standing, not your nationality, not your gender or sexuality or race or height or anything else about you.
What is "the poor in spirit"? I think one of the "modern" translations actually has a better version of this phrase (I know, right? Never thought I'd say that!). This is the God's Word version of verse 3a: "Blessed are those who recognize they are spiritually helpless..." THAT is what a Christian is: someone who understands that without the Holy Spirit, they are helpless to cope in this sin-filled world. That's what many folks miss about what Christians are. They're NOT perfect; in fact, it's the realization of how IM-perfect they are that makes them truly Christian!
A Christian church is not a museum for the saintly. It is a hospital for the flawed and damaged.
We also hear the expression "using Jesus as my crutch". In no way is Christ my crutch. He is my life support system. He is my defibrillator. He is the only reason I'm alive!
"Blessed are the meek." NOT the "shy". Big difference! The shy don't accomplish anything in life, or at least not the kind of things Jesus is talking of here. The shy never have reason to be persecuted, unless the culture forces them into such circumstances.
No, "the meek" is the opposite of "the proud". The ISV (or International Standard Version of the Bible) words 5:5 this way: "How blessed are those who are humble, because it is they who will inherit the earth!" It's almost a catch-22, if you think too hard about it: if you think you're going to Heaven, you're probably too proud of yourself to be going to Heaven! Not quite true, but you get the idea! Certainly, Jesus was clear about this with the two men praying in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18:
10“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
"Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." What's black is white and what's white is black? Only to the unsaved who cannot understand the "foolishness" of the Gospels.
What's the opposite of humble people who will be exalted to the Kingdom of Heaven? The proud. The haughty. The people who think they're so good on their own that their own deeds are part of the contributing factors towards their acceptance into Heaven. The moment you believe that, even in the smallest part, is the moment you're more Pharisee than humble.
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"Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God." If you've managed to allow the Holy Spirit to push the sinful fleshly urges off the table of your soul as a cat would push the glasses from your dinner table as she stands upon it, then you have found pureness of heart. Will you succeed completely on this side of Heaven? No, of course not. But we won't see God with these eyes anyway - Christ speaks of a time when we've ascended from this place to Heaven, when with our new bodies of immaculate flesh we can survive in Heaven and then see the perfection of God. Those who cannot repent of their sin wouldn't survive in Heaven, even if they were to somehow get there.
There's a great book by C.S. Lewis that I've long wanted to read, and I just bought it and a host of other Lewis Christian classics in an anthology. The book is short, eighty pages in the edition I now own, and it's entitled The Great Divorce, as in between Heaven and Hell. The premise (as I understand it, not yet having read it!) is essentially that there is an unbridgeable divide between the two places. The story imagines a transport going from Hell to Heaven, and people CAN travel to Heaven and stay there under one condition: They canNOT bring ANYTHING from outside Heaven in. You may not retain any keepsake from your sinful life. And that will prevent almost everyone from going to Heaven, in the opinion of Lewis through this story. (At least, that's my understanding. If I'm wrong, I'll write a retraction.)
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So, when you look at His list of the qualities of those who will make the roll call when Heaven's gates are opened, what do you see? Do you see proud people? Do you see accomplished people? Do you see great achievers? For that matter, do you even see people who were successful in life on earth?
No.
The people He describes will not have any monuments named after them. (Maybe that's why there are no "Beatitudes" monuments, the way there are "Ten Commandments" monuments.) They have no place in history books, at least of their own volition. They are simple people, people who serve the Lord by prayer, who serve Him through their sacrifice, rather than their self-aggrandizement. They are people who have suffered for the same reasons He suffered: to help bring about the betterment of life for others. Undoubtedly there are famous people who will spend eternity with God, but neither their fame nor the cause of their fame will be the issuance of their pass into Heaven. The saints accepted into God's company will perhaps be as surprised as the ones who are rejected!
I don't think I belong in that list of those with "Beatific" qualifications. Odds are, you don't either.
I'm too prideful. I foolishly think I ought to get a little recognition for my work on occasion, and that's not what the meek believe. I think about the need for righteousness, but I've never truly sacrificed for it. I'm not much of a peacemaker, and I'm certainly not very pure of heart.
I'm afraid that when Jesus of Nazareth spoke of the narrow gates which lead to Heaven, He wasn't talking about my path. I'm afraid that my path matches too many of you out there who take the wide roads, the easy path in life, where we read our Scripture, we tithe most months unless the bills are too tight, and we say grace at meals, but we don't "take up our crosses and follow" our Lord as we should.
As I should.
And, odds are, as you should. Jesus Himself told us the odds are against every single one of us being on the correct path to Heaven. So, like I am trying to do, you owe it to yourself to do everything you can to focus on being on the true path to Heaven, the Beatitudes path.
And we owe it to our loved ones and to all of those around us to help them determine if they are on the right path or not.
That was His other big message: The Great Commission.
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