The meek shall not inherit the earth

One of the fastest ways to know that Christianity is false is to point out things Jesus said that are undeniably false. Here's an example of something Jesus says that is undeniably false:

 

Matthew 5:5 - "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (NRSVUE)

 

It is obvious that the meek do not, now, inherit this earth. This seems to be acknowledged in the quote (assuming the translation accurately captures this), as Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth, implying that Jesus is aware that the meek do not, now, in Jesus' time, inherit the earth.

 

So I guess no one can say that this is undeniably false. For all I know, in the future AI will take over and turn all power over to the meek. But I highly doubt this. It's way more likely that the non-meek will control AI forever and use it to dominate others, just as how tyrants have always used technologies to dominate others. And even if AI did somehow wrest control from tech tyrants, AI is more likely to deem the meek too unsure and indecisive to be worthy of that power. Not to mention that there may be many contradicting philosophies within the so-called meeks, so AI couldn't hand over power to the meeks without creating conflict.

 

But maybe inheriting the earth doesn't mean having authority over everyone on earth, but just that you get whatever you want on earth, and AI will grant the meek whatever they want knowing that the meek will want good things. But reading AI into Jesus' teachings here feels so silly and anachronistic.

 

If we interpret Revelation to be about future events yet to pass, there's nothing in there about the meek inheriting the earth. You have Christ's reign of 1,000 years, but that's Christ inheriting the earth. The meek are not shown to have any special place of authority.

 

Also, does 'the meek' include non-believers who are meek? Or do only Christian meek people count?

 

How far into the future are we talking? Isn't it a bit cruel to give people a promise that the meek will inherit the earth as if it's right around the corner, when really it's like thousands and thousands of years from now? Effectively it's like a false promise for that duration. It's strange to give an irrelevant teaching to your immediate audience, and stranger still to give an irrelevant teaching to basically all audiences ever.

 

If it's too far into the future to the point of Christ's second return, then again it's Christ, and all followers of Christ, who inherit the earth in some sense. The meek again have no special status. Christ is certainly not depicted as meek when he's judging earth.

 

Maybe Jesus meant to say that the meek shall inherit the second earth. After this earth is destroyed and a new earth is made, maybe "the meek" (however deemed by God) will somehow, collectively, be... in charge? Of second earth?

 

There are problems with this. First, it's misleading of Jesus to say the meek will inherit the earth knowing that the plain interpretation of that is this earth. He should have specified to prevent confusion.

 

Second, what does it even mean for a group of people to "inherit the earth"? Are the meek politicians in charge of writing laws? The meek in contrast to whom? Is it introverts versus extroverts? Does God hate extroverts? And what if the meek don't want to be leaders or authorities? They are meek, after all. Do they have their personalities forcefully changed?

 

Third, if by 'inherit' we really just mean 'receive' like in the sense of 'inheritance', then it's simply false that the meek shall uniquely inherit eternal life. Both the meek and non-meek will be saved.

 

Maybe Jesus is emphasizing the fact that while the meek are oppressed in this life, they will be glorified in the next when they inherit (receive) life on the second earth. Okay, well, in that case, say that instead. As such, the text doesn't say this.

 

Does the Greek give us any clues as to what Jesus really means (according to Matthew)?

 

According to Greek Bible, it says the following (https://www.greekbible.com/matthew/5/5):

 

"μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσιν τὴν γῆν."

 

Alternative translation: "Happy [are] the meek, because they obtain the land."

 

Funnily enough, no translation is given by Greek Bible for our keyword meek, or πραΰς.

 

According to Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search?go=Go&search=%CF%80%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B0%CF%82&ns0=1), πραΰς means: gentle, mild, amiable, soft, kind, tender, pleasant. Meek sounds like a good translation.

 

So... gentle, mild, amiable, soft, kind, tender, pleasant people obtain land? What? Actually, it's warmongers, genociders, expansionists, imperialists, colonizers, lucky inheritors, and the ultra wealthy who obtain land.

 

Psalm 37:11 says: 

 

"But the meek shall inherit the land
    and delight themselves in abundant prosperity."

 

So we can see where Jesus got it from. Considering all the plain falsehoods contained in Psalm 37, I'm not sure you want to evoke it. Consider 37:32-33:

 
"The wicked watch for the righteous
    and seek to kill them.

 The Lord will not abandon them to their power
    or let them be condemned when they are brought to trial."

 

I'm sorry, how many Christians have been abandoned to anti-Christian powers? How many have been condemned when brought to trial? And if we allow 'righteous' to include non-believers who are nonetheless well-doers, then all the more is the passage false. You might try to once again retreat to the afterlife: The Lord will not abandon the righteous to the power of the unrighteous (in the afterlife), or let them be condemned when they are brought to (the ultimate trial before God). But that requires a convoluted interpretation that the author is deliberately shifting from speaking about earthly things to heavenly things despite not saying as much. Sounds like eisegesis again. I'm not even sure there's any good reason for thinking that the author of the Psalms believes in an ultimate judgment and afterlife. (Then again, if it's really the Holy Spirit who teaches through inspiration, then I could see a Christian saying that the Holy Spirit allows for authors to write teachings that would be false under the author's intended meaning, but are true under a reinterpretation that the Holy Spirit guides believers toward. But Christians often come to opposing interpretations anyway.)

 

Maybe Jesus really said blessed are the geek, prophesying the rise of tech billionaires! (There's gotta be a pastor out there that has made that joke already.)