World Without End

Save The Date.....rapture content

I think the foundation of my fascination with the End started when I was a young boy.  I remember vaguely hearing about 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be in 1988 / On Borrowed Time.  This latent fear of the End times was pretty formational-especially when people start predicting stuff.

That to say-I am always interested when I start seeing new dates pop up.  The latest is May 21st 2011.  Through twitter and a few other places I started to gather some basic information.  The best place to begin to sort through the information is Rapture5212011.blogspot.com

It appears that the majority of the traction is coming from Harold Camping, a self-proclaimed evangelist with no real church connection (and a history of predictions).  A search also brought up this site, against Camping's teachings.  Trust me-you will be opening up a crackpot portal if you start link chasing this (but it certainly was fun).

I get frustrated with these events because the sense of escapism that Rapture theology provides.  I haven't really written here about the Rapture that much, but I have a feeling I will be having to open that can of worms up soon. 

Yes-in the End the promised restoration of humanity and all of creation will be fulfilled. Grace will be exercised in it's fullest measure for those who belong to God.  Judgment will happen, because sin and evil must be dealt with. But ideas like Camping, among others, aren't part of church tradition and are a horrible exegesis and interpretation of Matthew 24.  As Christians, we are in the world to be the body of Christ poured out for the world.  Our sacramental identity is the same as Israel-to be pointing the nations towards the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is so much more that can be said-but that will have to be for later.  What is important is that we recognize these false teachings as that...false teachings.  As a Church we stand against those who have lost the Christian identity of love, hope, charity and most importantly mission.

As we live as sojourners, with full knowledge of the story of God, we should be offering that story up to those who have lost themselves.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

Eschatology Round-Up #1

I want to write a bi-monthly post bringing together noteworthy blog posts and such regarding eschatology. Some folks on twitter asked if I was going to focus on pri-mill dispensational stuff, and I said that wasn't really the focus.  What I am trying to find is interesting and creative expressions of GOOD eschatology out there on the internet, especially those that focus on mission, postmodern culture and contemporary relevance.  There are some good categorized preterist and future oriented resources, but they don't fit the qualifications above. I might list some every now and then when I find one with good resources for those who are more interested in how orthodoxy doesn't mean "Left Behind".

So here is the first week.  There was more out there than I thought, I actually had to thin it down.

!. Brian McClaren from the Huffington Post. Needed: Christians Thinking Differently about the Future
I featured this article a few days ago, so I will just echo that this is a good view towards Christian thought.

2.  Scott L from Theologica. Heaven and Eschatology.
A great post that has N.T. Wrights "Surprised by Hope" as its starting point.  Scott goes to ask some good questions about the average Christian doesn't really think about eschatology, and how it grows to a very unbiblical theology.  Great read here.

3. Michael Heiser from his blog The Naked Bible. Why an obsession with Eschatology is a Waste of Time
A 5 part series that talks about the presuppositions that are brought to conversations about "The End".  Michael does a great job really unpacking many of the current conservative systems.

4. Tim Chester from his blog. Defining eschatology and an eschatological people and Understanding Eschatological Statements.
Two video's in a conversational format from a reformed perspective.  Tim does a great job here outlining some classic thoughts.

5.  Frank Emanuel from his blog Freedom Log. Apocalyptic constructs in Eschatology.
Frank shares some thoughts about some current reading as well as how ideas are applied to the book of Revelation.  Great beginning point that I hope he continues.

6. Jason Boyett from One of Little Faith. Is the Oil Spill a Sign of the Apocalypse?
Ever since the tragedy in the gulf, I have been curious as to when the nutjobs would start making predictions. Jason does a wonderful job both reporting while also explaining why apocalyptic fervor is dangerous and possibly un-Christian.

That wraps up the first Round Up. I hope that you find these articles and posts as interesting as I have.

Respecting Israel's timeline

Sticking around in chapter 2 of "The Late Great Planet Earth", I want for us to think a little more about Prophecy.  When we take the scriptures and let them situate themselves mainly in the 21st century, it is easy to forget that at one time these writings were new.  There was a first person to hear (mainly) and then read the text.

In regard to the Old Testament, we have complex forms of writing, redaction and the scribal tradition.  With the "prophetic" tradition, we also have a gigantic timeline to navigate.  We have prophets from the Mosaic period, the Samuel period, and the divided kingdom.  PLUS-we have the prophets during the time of the exile and after the exile.  What this gives us is a really wide context, that is extremely complicated to situate the prophetic word of God through His people.

We can't also forget the specific message.  These words weren't uttered in advance of three thousand years, but meant something to the people of the day who were in a covenant relationship with YHWH.  What Mr. Lindsay does in this chapter is attempt to prove the validity of the prophetic message through prediction.  Yes-this is/was part of the prophetic role, but not the main one and probably not even a secondary one  Some would even argue that many of these writings were commentary on what Israel should have seen coming (this takes things a bit to far sometimes).  Prophecy was also used a codified message of terrible things to interpret the actions in the eyes of God, the last half of Daniel is a good example of this.  In this chapter, I imagine Lindsey is setting us up to logically follow various Old Testament prophecies regarding the future and possibly to interpret Revelation as prophetic in genre as well.

Our solution to so many of these (and other) problems is to learn to read the Text, or to Eat the Book, as Eugene Peterson writes.  When we as the Church start to take them time to rip off our attempts to wrestle the scripture under our control, and instead absorb them and let them come alive, we won't need the bible to prove things for us.  The Gospel message that is woven throughout the Holy book is one that requires us to place ourselves out of our world at times, and instead realize that we live in God's world.  This is a world with an agenda that we can't grasp because it is a divine one, and placing our own needs to define God and our agenda simply won't do.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

What about crazy guys living in the desert?

Chapter 2 of "The Late Great Planet Earth" is about the prophetic witness, focused on how the prophets staked their life on prophetic claim.

If you grew up in church, we didn't hear about the prophets that often.  I sure don't remember hearing about Ezekiel laying naked on the ground cooking his food over a fire stoked with poop (trust me, an 8 year old would remember that).  We might hear about Daniel, or possibly Elijah (Elisha and the She bear is another story to tell 8 year old boys), but for most of a child's formation of Christianity, we can cruise over around half of the Old Testament.

So when we get older, we don't know what to do with the prophets.  Lindsey uses Deuteronomy 18:22 as the basis for this chapter.

If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it. NRSV

There are a few interesting pieces here, but what is most troubling is Lindsey's presupposition that a prophet has the foremost act of speaking of the future.  One of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned is the power of presuppositions, and this is a huge one.

Two things:

1.  The word ‏הַנָּבִ֜יא that we get "prophet" from is tied to a very early idea of the prophetic role that comes from the verbal concept of "bubbling up".  The primary role of prophecy in this early state is an ecstatic fervor or proclamation that is "uttering words from the Spirit of God".(theological wordbook of the Old Testament)

2.  The idea of "name" in Hebrew doesn't mean that the prophet's authority is coming from God, but instead describing the qualities of God.  In reference to our Deut passage, the prophet is concerned with speaking about the character of God.  If what they say doesn't come true, what they are doing is giving a false impression about the character of God.  That is quite an offense.

Mr. Lindsey goes on the rest of the chapter about the quality of the prophetic witness in terms of foretelling the future, but this act is just a small segment of the Jewish idea of the prophetic voice.  Later this week, I want to actually look at the history of the prophetic role, voice and place inside the Old Testament, with a special emphasis on what it meant to the Jews and the current OT situation.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

What's Prophecy Got to do With It?

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been trying to research the prophetic role in the Old Testament.  Let's just say it is complicated.   Often, those who take a more preterist stance in regard to Revelation (meaning they believe everything outlined in the book has already happened,ie. it was about the fall of Rome and destruction of the Jewish Temple) don't pay attention to the prophetic role.  The other side is full of folks who want to read  WAYYYY to much into anything.  The comfortable middle is a vast and empty place...most likely because more people simply don't want to talk about it

If we are going to take the Biblical witness seriously as Holy Writ, we can't look past prophecy.  As I have been reading and taking notes through "The Late Great Planet Earth", I think more and more that our current Christian society needs to not sweep prophecy under the rug, but to examine it as part of our scriptures-but apply the same rules to it that we do the rest of the biblical genre. 

Tomorrow I start back with "The Late Great Planet Earth", but I do so thinking about prophecy.  Expect some scattered posts on the topic.  But let me know what you are thinking in the comments field.  What does prophecy "got to do with it"?

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be