But as it was, I had neither fear, nor joy, nor thought that the world was actually going to come to an end on Saturday. Now, don't get me wrong- as a practicing Christian, I confess weekly the belief that Christ will come again. But as a practicing Christian, I also have no pretense of understanding what that's going to look like or when it's going to happen. Jesus wasn't really the Messiah anybody expected back in his own day, so I have no reason to believe he's going to return in any form or manner that I might anticipate today. Better to forgo my own expectations and just pray for the wisdom to recognize him when he comes (including but not limited to his presence in the Other right this very minute).
The one thing I have a pretty strong hunch about is that when he comes again, he'll be coming down to us, to be with us. I mean, that was his M.O. the first time, and the Bible from start to finish is pretty consistent about God's passion for the whole of creation (not just humanity). What I'm trying to say is, despite what many have turned it into, Christianity is not a religion of escapism. It's not all about me and Jesus and my personal salvation, and it's not all about Jesus whisking all the Christians away to safety before the biggest proverbial pile hits the fan. Those are corruptions of a faith that from its beginning was thoroughly incarnational and communal, a faith that is about deep abiding in and with the neighbor and the world.
Which leads me to the second thing I'd want to say about the supposed rapture: that there isn't any. It's not biblical. It's certainly not in the book of Revelation. It is at best a twisted interpretation of a verse from 1 Thessalonians.
This bears repeating, so let me say it once again: there is no rapture in the book of Revelation. You don't have to take my word for it - read the book for yourself. Revelation is a letter, to seven churches in Asia Minor. Seven churches existing in radically different circumstances - running the gamut from being persecuted for their faith to being on easy street and completely lax in their faith practices. This one letter is attempting to address seven churches in all these varying contexts at the same time. It's looking to simultaneously afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. At the very end of the letter (towards the goal of comforting the afflicted) it speaks of a new heaven and a new earth coming down. But nowhere within Revelation is there any talk of a rapture, period, let alone one that is taking people up up and away.
So where do the Millenialists (folks enraptured with the rapture - not to be confused with the generation known as the millenials!) get this idea from? 1 Thessalonians 4:17, "Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever." The wider context of this verse is:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Translation: New Revised Standard Version).
A couple things to note:
1. Paul says to encourage one another with these words, not scare the crap out of each other with these words, and not hold yourself holier than all others with these words. This is pastoral theology addressed to those who are wondering "What's going to happen to all who have died before Jesus comes again? And what's going to happen to me if I happen to be alive when Jesus comes again?" - it's meant to be a comforting and hopeful vision of what that might look like.
2. Paul is pretty clear that the dead will be raised first, and then God will deal with the living. This means that there is no rapture, no living people spontaneously getting whisked off to some heavenly safehouse to get front row seats to the immanent demise of the world. Even if you want to be incredibly generous in entertaining this as a possible interpretation of verse 17, the surrounding context makes it pretty clear that the zombie apocalypse will precede any rapturing of living people, and the verses immediately following (in the beginning chapter 5, which I did not quote above) are equally clear that no one will know, expect, or anticipate any of this ahead of time.
But, because prooftexting is one of America's favorite pastimes, Millenialists grab vs. 17 out its own context, put their own twisted spin on it (much easier to do out of context) and then tack it on to all the weird scary junk in Revelation [and only the weird scary junk, they conveniently ignore all the beautiful visions in Revelation of what it's like to be in the presence of God - I'm particularly fond of those parts because there's a lot of singing involved ;) ] To this abomination they also add some equally twisted selectively chosen verses from the book of Daniel and then huff and puff about knowing both the what and the when of the end of the world.
And because, as Mark Twain once said, "a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes," way too many people are buying the selectively literalist highly proof-texted junk the Millenialists are selling.
As I've tried to point out here, just reading the Bible itself should be enough to debunk them. But if anyone would like to further equip themselves to take on the rapture, I recommend the following two books:
Revelation and the End of All Things by Craig Koester
The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation by Barbara Rossing
Now I'm off to plant more trees. . .
No comments:
Post a Comment