In politics, can Democrats and Republicans find positives in each other?
In religion, can Christians and Muslims find positives in each other?
Let’s look at a specific area of belief within the Christian faith. People have strongly held — radically different — views onwhat is called eschatology, that is, beliefs about the end of the world as we know it.
So, I present “Seven Reasons I, an A-Millennialist, Admire Rapturists.”
In the first place, I admire the Rapturists because they have firm belief.
In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul’s young associate is commended for having sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you.
Rapturists are convinced and committed to Darby-Scofield. Whatever faults we find with Darby-Scofield — and I find many — They know what they believe: “Darby said it. Scofield published it. I believe it. And that settles it.”
Second, I admire Rapturists because they readily, eagerly share their belief with you.
First Peter 3:15 says, Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence. They do the first part well: Always be prepared to make a defense. But they may neglect the latter part, about giving an account with gentleness and reverence.
The larger context of that verse is about being held accountable for one’s belief in the face of persecution. And fundamentalists thrive on the idea that they are being persecuted for their beliefs.
Their eagerness to testify reflects Paul, as he stands in chains before Governor Festus and King Agrippa in Acts 26. The king terminates the audience, laughingly suggesting this preacher expects to convert him in a short time. Then, Paul’s rejoinder:"Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am -- except for these chains."
Rapturists could paraphrase that to say, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am — namely a Darbyite. We moderates, on the other hand, are — how shall we say — too moderate. Consequently, we have largely left eschatology to them.
Third, I admire Rapturists because they base their faith on the Bible.
Much of their system really can be found in the Bible. True, it’s a patchwork: a lot of Daniel, a little from Matthew 24 and Mark 13, First Thessalonians 4 and Second Thessalonians 2, along with Revelation. They justify their system from the version divinely authorized by Good King James.
When a professor at the old Southern Baptist Theological Seminary wrote some controversial material, President Duke McCall opined, some professors are like a middle-aged married man who finds another woman attractive. In the professor’s case, he runs off with more attractive theological ideas.
Some current writers, who attract great attention with their lectures and books have run off with what they consider more attractive theological ideas. In the process, the central eschatological hope, namely the bodily resurrection and the return of Christ, — shall we say — gets “Left Behind.”
Consider three writers in particular: Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, and Robin Meyers.
The recently deceased Borg wrote about a poll that showed “more than 90% of American Christians say that the resurrection of Jesus matters greatly to them. [Borg said] I agree – without the affirmation of Jesus’ resurrection, Christianity makes no important sense.”
But then Borg said he was “disappointed” that those in the poll “believed Jesus’ resurrection was ‘physical’ and ‘bodily.’” He said, “the meanings of the Easter stories in the gospels and the affirmation of Jesus’ resurrection in the rest of the New Testament . . . are not dependent upon whether a spectacular miracle happened to the physical body of Jesus.”
(Marcus Borg, “Reflections on Easter,”http://www.marcusjborg.com)
Borg’s frequent partner, Crossan, is more specific about the crucifixion and resurrection. He says, “. . . the body of Jesus and of any others crucified with him would have been left on the cross as carrion for the crows and the dogs.” Then he says of the disposition of the body: “. . . the soldiers who crucified Jesus probably would have done it, speedily and indifferently, in a necessary shallow and mounded grave rather than a rock-hewn tomb. That would mean lime, at best, and the dogs again, at worst" (Who Killed Jesus?, 187, 188).
In another place, Crossan says flatly: “I do not think that anyone, anywhere, at any time brings people back to life” (Jesus a Revolutionary Biography 95).
When Borg and Crossan were in Anderson a few years back, Marcus said flat-out, “Emmaus never happened.” I’m not clear on his authority to make that declaration with finality. But with Dom saying crows and wild dogs ate Jesus’s body, I guess he would say there was no body to resurrect.
Oklahoma Pastor Robin Meyers said thinking people who come to church on Easter have to check their brains at the door before they can sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” (Meyers 77). In his Saving Jesus from the Church, he dismisses many Christian beliefs, including the Resurrection. He says:
“Just imagine that we could take an industrial-size garbage bag and fill it with every discredited myth in the church—the inerrancy of scripture, the virgin birth, the miracles as suspension of natural law, the blood atonement, the bodily resurrection, and the second coming. Twist it, tie it up, and carry it out to the curb. It will be gone in the morning. . . . People are glad to see that the garbage is gone, of course . . .” (Robin R. Meyers, Saving Jesus from the Church 33).
Have we become thorough-going sons and daughters of the Enlightenment, accepting only what can be proven scientifically and objectively? I don’t write off science and reason, but I have to pass up Borg, Crossan, and Meyers in favor of a pre-scientific, nearly blind tentmaker who built his whole system on belief that Jesus indeed has been raised from the dead. The resurrection is the foundation for the entire New Testament. Was Paul thinking of a shadowy apparition when he wrote the following?
Why am I in peril every hour? I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals." Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame (1 Corinthians 15:30-34).
As I read contemporary writers, I turn more to Jim Wallis than to the Enlightenment trio of Borg, Crossan, and Meyer. In his latest book, The (Un) Common Good, Wallis says this regarding the disciples after the crucifixion:
“What they did not do was decide to simply compile his teachings and try to live by them. There was nothing about his teachings that they remembered now that had the power to bring them back to life from death or give them strength, power, and hope. . . . Their teacher was alive again and able to teach and lead them. And even after he left the earth, Jesus gave his disciples the Holy Spirit to live with them always, after which they hit the streets of Jerusalem and then the rest of the world. And so a new movement was born. Their proclamation was of a living Lord with a new kingdom to bring to the world, a kingdom that could change everything” (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2013, 2014, p. 34).
Fourth, I admire the Rapturists because their faith has a focus: namely, eschatology.
Rapturists resemble the actor Karl Mauldin who was the ad man for the American Express card. Karl used to warn, “Don’t leave home without it.” The Rapturists are never far their central belief.
They focus on Jesus coming to rapture them away from the Great Tribulation. Again, to paraphrase Paul before the authorities, "I would to God that not only the Rapturists but you and I might be convinced of ultimate eschatological victory through the bodily resurrected Jesus Christ."
In the fifth place, I admire Rapturists because they find their faith relevant in daily life.
They constantly look for signs that the Rapture is near. And they find those signs.
When the barcodes came out a while back, this was the Mark of the Beast. Earlier, it was your Social Security number. I read recently that Radio Frequency Identification is the Mark. Every religious or political leader who rattles their cage is the new nominee for the role of Antichrist.
With all this, they feel an urgency, a sense of immediacy. This is nothing routine or casual. It is the very stuff of life. All these signs point to the soon-coming Savior. I have a video tape of a premillennial conference in which one brother acknowledged that Jesus said no man knows the day or the hour. But the man said, “I cannot tell you the day or the hour. But I can tell you the month!”
Some preachers do all they can to hurry up the Battle of Armageddon as they understand it. They makes frequent trips to Israel, and some get on friendly terms with some of the Israeli generals. Sometimes these Christians get to fire Israeli weapons and take part in simulation battles. These Rapturist preachers overlook Revelation 19:15 and 19:21 that list only one lone weapon in this great battle: the sword in the mouth of the Rider on the White Horse (namely, Jesus). In other words, the all-powerful word from Christ will conquer all evil.
As we reject the Rapture and all that goes with it — we dare not lose our sense of life and death immediacy in the needs of people all around us.
Sixth, I admire Rapturists because they have a basic distrust for government leaders.
Their suspicion is based on anticipation of a one-world government ruled over by the Antichrist. Again, every controversial leader — these days Pope Francis or President Obama — is that archfiend.
I am more distrustful of government leaders than I used to be. We Liberals — theological and political — tend to put too much trust in the Democratic party. But I praise two Democratic presidents in particular: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and my fellow Texan, Lyndon Baines Johnson, got legislation through Congress on behalf of the old, the poor, the sick, and the minorities. Those groups sound a lot like people Jesus describes in Matthew 25. Those good policies from FDR and LBJ are currently in danger: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (or "Obamacare"). But as we defend those policies, we should beware, lest we become postmillennial idealists, seeing the kingdom just around the corner if we can get the right legislation in place.
Liberal and conservative — those terms are relative. I taught at Anderson College two different times. When I came back, two of my colleagues — both named Bill — were talking about me. Bill Number 1 asked Bill Number 2, “Is Lawrence as liberal as he used to be?” Bill Number 2 replied, “What some people call ‘liberal,’ others call ‘fundamentalist.’”
Seventh, I admire Rapturists because they accept the Apostles’ Creed.
They don’t know that they accept it. Many Rapturists turn their collective nose up at the idea of the Apostles Creed, if they’ve ever even heard of it. But, except for reference to Christ’s descent into hell and their misunderstanding of the reference to the holy catholic church, they believe every word, of the Creed, most especially the final, “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.”
FINAL WORD: So there you have seven reasons I, an amillennialist, admire Rapturists. I part company with them from the Get-Go. Well, no. I part company with them even Before the Get-Go. But I have to admire their commitment for these seven reasons I’ve just described.
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