Eschatology, a branch of theology concerned with the end times and the ultimate destiny of humankind, plays a prominent part in the thinking of most Evangelicals. Jesus could come today, Evangelical pastors tell their congregations. Evangelicals are encouraged to be looking and waiting for Jesus to return again. They are encouraged to be busy working in God’s vineyard lest Jesus come and find them caught up in the pursuits of this world.
Many Evangelicals think that the next eschatological event to take place is the rapture. The rapture is when Jesus comes in the clouds and secretly spirits away every saved person. After the rapture, the world faces the judgment and wrath of God for seven years.
For seven years, God tortures and kills those who remain on the earth. They had been warned, the Evangelical says, and now they must face the consequences of their rejection of Jesus Christ. During the Tribulation, there will be a chance for people to be saved. Jews and those willing to be martyred in exchange for salvation, will have the opportunity to be saved. However, the Tribulation will not be a period known for mercy and redemption. As the book of Revelation makes clear, the Tribulation will be known for God’s judgment and wrath against unbelieving humanity. (most of the human race)
At the close of the Tribulation, Jesus, riding on a white horse, will physically return to the Mount of Olives and rule and reign over the Earth for one thousand years. During this time, the Law of God will be strictly enforced.Since Satan has been bound, humans will have no reason to not keep God’s law. And so it will go for one thousand years.
At the end of this period, popularly known as the Millennium, God will let Satan loose for a season. Satan will deceive countless humans, causing them to rise up against God. God will wage war against Satan and the humans following him. God ultimately wins this war.
After this war, Satan and Hell will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Every human being that ever lived will be resurrected from the dead and brought before God to be judged. Christians will be given an eternity with God in his Kingdom and all non-Christians will be given an eternity in the Lake of Fire with the devil and his angels.
After the final Judgment, God will destroy the heavens and earth with fire and will then make a new heaven and a new earth. On the new earth will sit the New Jerusalem, the city of God. Every Christian will have a place (room or mansion depending on the Bible translation) in the New Jerusalem and will live in the presence of God for all eternity.
The Bible, in Revelation 21, describes the New Jerusalem like this:
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven…And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones…And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass….
The New Jerusalem is built like a cube, 1,500 miles long, 1,500 hundred miles wide, and 1,500 miles tall. (furlong=660 feet) Around the New Jerusalem will be a 288 foot wall made of jasper. (a cubit=2 feet, depending on the male forearm used for measuring.) This wall will have 3 gates made of pearl on each wall. The street (not streets) of the city will be made of pure, transparent gold,
Sounds like a wonderful movie script, yes? Yet, millions of Evangelical Christians believe that everything I have mentioned above is literally true. They believe that, before we draw our next breath, or before I write the next word of this post, Jesus could come to rapture up every Christian, setting into motion everything I mentioned above.
This fall will be the twenty-fifth anniversary of Edgar Whisenant’s booklet, 88 Reasons the Rapture will Occur in 1988. Whisenant predicted that the Rapture would take place between September 11th and September 13th, 1988.
Whisenant mailed 88 Reasons to 300,000 ministers in the U.S. and an additional 4.5 million booklets were sold and distributed throughout the English speaking world.
The church I pastored in 1988 had a large uptick in attendance on the Sunday before Whisenant’s Rapture prediction. Even though I hade taken a stand against 88 Reasons, the booklet was read by most everyone in the church and many of them were convinced that Whisenant was right.
And yet, here we are, twenty-five years later.
While Evangelicals still think that Jesus could come back at any moment, their lives betray that they really DON’T believe Jesus could come back any time soon. Rapture prognosticators like Jack Van Impe, John Hagee, Tim LaHaye, and Hal Lindsay, have sold millions of books and live the comfortable life of a millionaire. The Left Behind series, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins from 1995-2007, sold sixty-five million copies. (seven of the book made it to number one on the New York Times Bestseller list) The book series gives a fictional account of what might happen in the future. Many Evangelicals think the Left Behind books are more fact than fiction. Speaking of the Left Behind series, Jerry Falwell said, “In terms of its impact on Christianity, it’s probably greater than that of any other book in modern times, outside the Bible.”
I live in an area where Evangelicalism dominates most everything. Yet, I see no real urgency in the lives of Evangelicals. They go about their lives rarely thinking about the second coming of Jesus. I see them bowing their heads to pray in the restaurant and then they conversation turns to family, jobs, or sports. If Jesus really could come back in the next second, wouldn’t Evangelicals have an urgency about them? Shouldn’t they be busy getting their spiritual house in order and trying to get as many people saved as possible? (most Evangelicals never share their faith one time)
Consider, for a moment, the Evangelicals that frequent this blog, defending their version of the Christian faith. If Jesus could come at any moment, is it really a best use of time commenting on an apostates blog?
Most Evangelical pastors believe that Jesus could come at any moment and that we are living in the last days. Yet, look at how they live. Their lives betray they really don’t believe Jesus is coming back any time soon. In every way their life is no different from that of the atheist. if this is not so, where are the Evangelical pastors who have sold all their worldly goods and are busy, day and night, trying to get people to become Christians? Surely, they should be like Noah, preaching repent and believe on Jesus lest you are left behind when he comes again.
What I see, in church after church, all across America, is professional pastors who are more concerned about making a living and having status in the community than they are the imminent return of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
I am sure more than a few Evangelical Christians and pastors will howl over my portrayal of them but, before they protest too loudly, I would ask them to give an accounting of how they have lived their lives over the past month. Remember, people live out in their day to day lives what they REALLY believe. It is all well and good to preach the second coming of Jesus on Sunday, but how has this belief affected how Evangelicals live?
The evidence is clear. Evangelicals may intellectually believe that Jesus is coming again at any moment, but their lives show they are not much different from the non-Christian. If an Evangelical REALLY believed Jesus could come back at any moment, (since we in the last days) shouldn’t they do without sleep, recreation, and even church, in order to warn the world to flee from the wrath to come?
2,000 years ago, the followers of Jesus believed their Lord and Savior would come back before they died. They died, as have the hundred generations after them, and Jesus still hasn’t returned. Maybe it is time to admit that Jesus exited stage right and he isn’t coming back.
Note: I am aware of ALL the eschatological variations within Evangelicalism and Christianity. I deliberately wrote broadly lest this post become ten thousand words long.
All in all, the Tribulation after the Rapture makes God seem rather like a Dick head.
Evangelical/fundamentalist Christians continue to deny reality. They come with all kinds of ways to avoid the reality that the New Testament, including sayings allegedly by Jesus, makes false predications of the end of the world in the first century. Jesus predicted the end of the world would happen in the generation of his first followers. He was wrong. I just recently commented about this on John Loftus’s blog. I’ll just copy and paste what I said on John’s blog.
I’ll just say this. From the Bible, the the biggest thing that disproved evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity for me is the failed apocalyptic prophecies of the new testament, which include sayings allegedly by Jesus. And contrary to the claims of many evangelicals, preterism, both full and partial, has fatal flaws and does not come close to resolving this issue.
Every time I engage in debate with Christians, I bring this issue up, and Christians can’t refute me. They basically end up giving up and trying to change the subject because they realize just how huge a predicament they are in. The failed apocalyptic prophecies in the New Testament reveal that evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity is a total fraud and a huge waste of time, no matter how much Christians try to deny it.
Most thinking Christians believe that the apocalyptic sayings of Jesus referred to the destruction of Jeruselumn and the temple which did occur in 70 AD.
So, those who disagree with this view are non-thinking Christians?
Some Christians believe this, but there is a lot of diversity when it comes eschatology. Personally, I never thought the preterist view a satisfying explanation of the book of Revelation. It does answer the, “after 2,000 years, where the hell is Jesus” question but there are too many other things found in Revelation that do not fit in the AD 70, preterist framework.
Your view requires an early dating of Revelation, pre-70 CE, and there are plenty of thinking people who believe such a dating is incorrect. If Revelation is dated 90-120 CE then there is no way that Revelation is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem.
Well, I was speaking of Jesus’ words and other NT speakers but not necessarily the book of Revelation. I actually am of the opinion that the story of the book of revelation is an ongoing drama. I believe that the woman with the crown was Mary and that Jesus throwing down the dragon was his death and resurrection. I think that the book is told from a heavenly perspective rather than an earthly one which is a good part of why it’s so hard for us to understand. As to the thinking vs the non-thinking Christians, I don’t think anyone can argue that there aren’t a lot of pretty mindless Christians out there. And I do know more than a few who completely miss the destruction of the temple as the fulfillment of many of Jesus prophecies. They assume that everything is yet to come.
Sure, I agree…thinking vs. non-thinking…but you seemed to imply that those who think will come to your conclusion.
I don’t think anyone would consider me non-thinking, as a Christian or non-Christian, and I definitely don’t think the eschatological focus of the new Testament was focused on then-current events or the destruction of Jerusalem. While there are some verses that do focus on the destruction of the temple, I am of the opinion these passages are not the focus of God’s eschatological plan in the NT.
It seems to be to be focused on the present kingdom of God, with an eye on a future, final accounting for all of creation. Now, as an atheist, I think none of this is actually true, but that’s my heathen take on the text itself.
The greater issue for the preterist view is the dating of the texts. This view only works if the text predate the destruction of the temple. I don’t think they do. (and what extant copies we have most certainly do not)
@bruce re: your thinking vs non-thinking. I think you might like this analogy:
http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2011/07/pawn-to-king-4.html
The point I was making about the presenter was that, once he deployed his opening assumptions about the bible and sexuality the rest of the talk, while very good, was fairly predictable. Once I saw his King Pawn opening I knew where we were going. [....] But a different theologian might open with a different set of assumptions. Consequently, her game goes in a different direction.
[....]
What I’m trying to say that theological dialogue becomes possible if we can sit back and enjoy watching the game unfold. To appreciate the internal logic of a system that is different from our own. True, you’d never open your chess game in this manner. But you can study and appreciate the way this alternative opening moves the game into configurations you’ve never seen, wrestled with, or considered before. More, it allows you to get out of a “right vs. wrong” frame where you can start having interesting conversations like “Now why did you make this move? Oh, I see. That’s interesting, I never would have thought about that. Still, what about his line of attack, shouldn’t you be looking at that as well?”
Fundy Christians are so desperate for their lives of self-righteousness and asceticism to be rewarded. That’s why they want to believe in some kind of final judgement that will reward them for their efforts. They know the failed apocalyptic prophecies of the Bible reveal their belief system to be a the fraud and waste of time that it truly is.
Sorry, Fundy Christians! Your lives of asceticism and self-righteousness will get you nothing better in this life or the next life than the dude getting a blowjob in the back of a stripclub.
I also believe the stories of the ascension of Jesus and the idea that he will return actually disprove the resurrection of Jesus. The idea that Jesus physically rose to heaven/the sky reveals ignorance of the physical universe by the Biblical writers. It seems plausible that The writer (writers?) of Luke and Acts may have had the false cosmology of the book of Genesis. If Jesus PHYSICALLY rose to the sky, where is Jesus now? Is he on a star? Is he on a planet? Where in the universe is he now? Is Jesus still going up? Has he hit the edge of the universe? Lee Harmon, a liberal Christian who was a facebook friend of mine (before I deactivated my account) sums it up well when he says, “Yes, it’s true, the story is a bit silly if you imagine a physical body floating around up there, and it’s true the universe is far bigger than what Bible writers pictured. You can’t escape the universe by rising through a window in the dome just beyond the clouds.” So, fundy Christian, do you believe Jesus PHYSICALLY rose to the sky? If so, where is he now? If he physically rose to the sky, how can his physical body not be in a physical place? Did he become an invisible spirt once he flew high enough into the clouds? Just where is the physical Jesus now? Do you believe the historical Jesus of almost, 2,00 years ago is as physically alive as you and me? If so, where is he? Do you have any evidence that Jesus is more alive than Elvis? Can you please explain how he left this physical universe by ascending to the sky, especially in light of today’s scientific knowledge about the universe?
Mila’il, I had asked a few people about the whole Jesus’ body in heaven thing. I was told the new body could be in a spiritual an physical place, since it was the Holy Spirit, not the blood, that made it live. Sounded good then, now I realize it is just a dodge.
This was one of those things that I never got my head around. I mean, why all the violence? Why not just produce miracles that cannot be disputed so everyone can see, then all will believe and the rest can just be dispensed with. God’s a prick, if you ask me. Well, if there WAS a god, I mean.
Rapture Prank (4 min video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0VYLFdhzZ8
a practical joke played on a girl who believed in the rapture, and they set it up so it looked like everyone else had been raptured (ie, when she stepped out to take a phone call, they left clothes and shoes on the chairs of the coffee shop, then hid in a back room.)
part of my laughs at it; part of me has a lot of sympathy for her and feels it was too cruel.
Ah, yes, the old Jesus is coming back soon thought. This is the thing that screwed me the most during my time in Christianity. All of the years I worked and didn’t put up a cent for retirement, because Jesus was coming back soon. All of the years I didn’t carry health insurance, because Jesus wasn’t coming back soon. All of the years I didn’t try to better myself, because Jesus was coming back soon. All of the years in poor paying jobs, because Jesus was coming back soon. I get so pissed off just thinking about it.
I was never a totally sold out person, but is believed in my dad and did what HE believed. From an early age, he taught/told me to lay up my treasure in heaven, not in earth. He did the same thing. He gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to churches over the years. He donated property that is now worth a fortune to the church. He gave to every one that asked.yet, he never put up anything for himself, because Jesus was coming back. Now he is 67, and has to make up for almost 40 years of lost time. He deconverted about 7 years ago and realized how he had wasted all of his money.
I can’t hold a candle to what my dad did, but I never prepared for the future because I had a home not made with hands that I was going to. Finally, after having 4 kids, I realized I needed to do something. This coincided with my deconversion. I was always a hard worker and could have had a good sized bit of money put up by now; but, right now, I only have 6 years of retirement to show for 22 years of working.
If I seem angry about this, yes I am. I am angry about being cheated out of my money, it is money I could have used to make a better life for my family and make sure my wife and I can afford our old age. That money given has gone down a black hole, never to be seen again. The money I never put up can never be gotten again.
Bruce, since we no longer believe in Jesus, maybe we can cash in our Heavenly retirement program and use it here. Heck, I’d be happy to pay an early withdrawal fee.
I am with you on this issue. I look at all the years I spent making poverty wages, no benefits, no retirement, and to what end? I am totally disabled but I can’t draw Social Security disability? Why? Not enough work quarters since I didn’t pay social security tax as a pastor.
Am I angry? No, but I would ever do this again and I advise young pastors to not do it ether. Get a real job and pastor on the side. Some day you’ll be old and the church will not be there for you.
Hi Rebecca, if you notice in my first post in this thread, I mention the point of view to which you are referring, which is preterism. I’ve studied this view in depth and there’s no way it makes the false apocalyptic prophecises of the New Testament true. Please re-read ALL the things Jesus said would happen in THIS generation. Also, Jesus exands on what was supposed to happen at the final judgement that was supposed to happen in the generation of his first followers when he talked about the judgment of the sheep and the goats. This did not happen in 70AD. There are all kinds of implicit and explicit predictions in the New Testament that the final judgment would happen in the first century. It didn’t happen and there’s no way these propecies were all fulfilled in 70AD. Read 1 thessalonians 4. Do you think that happened in 70AD?
I don’t think the OT says that the messiah would come, die, then come again. It just said that the messiah would come, period. This is a big reason the Jews never believed Christianity. The Hebrews were waiting for the messiah for a centuries, then he supposedly comes and ministers for 3 years then -poof- gone again?
Yes, they looked for a King and Jesus turned out to be a martyr.
“The Tribulation will not be a
period known for mercy and
redemption.”o really? How much mercy or redemption do sufferers receive now..?or are we living in it..?absolutely nothing, those who beg God for help in their plague receive nothing but silence from this non-existent imaginary friend..WE ALL KNOW!God is NO WHERE to be found when you need him!NO WHERE!
Well, this is very true and that’s why we can not rely on a God to help us or rescue us. We are the captain’s of our own ship.
I could not make it a day without Jesus! He is with me every moment of the day!
Sure you could. Try it.
How do you KNOW Jesus us with you every moment of the day? Can you give any proof of this other than you “feel” he is and the Bible says he is?
Rebecca, did you read my posts on this thread addressing Jesus’s predictions in the Olivet Discourse? There is little to no evidence that all these predictions were fulfilled in the destruction of the temple in 70AD. Even if the historical Jesus did make the prediction of the temple being destroyed, that doesn’t make him uniqe. Jesus ben Ananias made the same prediction about the temple.
It is very sad that you do not believe in God. I agree with you about a lot of the churches these days.
I just know in my own personal life that I love Jesus and he is changing me for the better everyday. God’s word is real and every word in it is truth. I pray that the holy spirit will open your eyes and bring you to the end of yourself,so that he can save you.
God loves you enough to send his only son to die on the cross for you.
I disagree with you on every point.
My eyes are open and that is why I am no longer a Christian.
Why did you feel the need to say these things? Do you think I have never heard them before or said them before countless times?
I am glad Jesus works for you. I have no interest in Jesus.
Thank you for commenting.
Bruce