I was having a good conversation with a great friend tonight. As usual, our conversation stumbled to Eschatology for moment. It was in this glancing converation that one of remarked "Eschatology doesn't mean The End...". I will admit to using this title to grab attention.
As Christians attempting to exist in a world that is fascinated with all things apocalyptic oriented, we need to be able to separate our favorite zombie movie (Zombieland...duh) from our call to a Faith that is directed towards an end.
This doesn't mean ignoring it, but thinking about it in a proper perspective. We think about the promised return of Christ, the act of complete reconciliation of a world made new by the creator. It is the loss of this focus that has redirected us instead towards a fearful view and by this we have lost our message of a loving God that draws all things back to himself. By referring consistently to the end of the world, we are actually putting God's time in a dualistic framework. As Christians we live inside divine time.
So it does mean End....but not the way that we often think about it. This is just another step of us stopping our baptism of the secular worlds view of an apocalypse. How do we tell the story of this alternative narrative? We need to.
Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
Comments