According to Beck today:
1. God lives
2. We will see him when we die.
3. He will judge us.
4. Serve Him
5. Serve Others.
Anyone notice anything missing? Anyone?
But he is no doubt right that these things are the basics of American Civil Religion. But there is also no doubt that this religion is not Christianty.
What’s missing? Where do I start? The most obvious missing piece is Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Holy Trinity Beck denies, and the free gift of forgiveness He showers on us today with His precious blood, and the defense He will give us at the Judgment, and the true nature of service.
1. God lives as a physical man in the Person of Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of the whole world, reconciling the world to God.
2. We will see Him when we die, yet we behold Him today in His Word and Sacraments, in which he delivers us from our sins through His very body and blood shed upon the cross.
3. When He comes to judge, God will find us completely innocent on account of His precious blood shed for us, not on account of anything we have done or left undone, but only on account of what Christ has done.
4. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
5. We serve our neighbors not out of obligation but out of love, because He first loved us.