As 6 pm on May 21, 2011 approached, everybody had a joke about the rapture, which was to have left clothes and automobiles strewn about, minus their occupants, now raptured to the heavens.
My little chuckle was that I intended to buy a giant 52 inch flat screen TV a week ahead of time so that I could have a full week to enjoy the magnified images before the bill arrived in my mailbox. If only I could have convinced my wife of that, I would be smirking to myself in this post rapture moment as I inspected giant bullet holes in giant corpses on NCIS.
Apparently, it was the great faith of the rapture predictors that coaxed them to climb out on a limb and announce the May 21 date to the world. We were supposed to take note and get our life right with God so that we could catch the wave.
The rapture message was to be one last moment of people turning in faith towards God. In fact, whenever some group pushes rapture, it weakens the faith. In stead of undergirding the faith, it turns faith and believing into a joke. Most of the world saw this trying to predict what Jesus said couldn’t be predicted, as just plain silly. Serious reporters on network news could barely keep a straight face as they reported it.
But long after the rapture hype subsides, the silliness aura will linger. Our faith is cheapened, trivialized by the very ones who were supposed to be the true believers. The next time that some Christian speaks out of conviction, the wavering may think: “Those other guys spoke with conviction too, and it was all a bunch of silliness. Maybe this is silliness as well.” The waters have been muddied. The willingness to take faith seriously has been squandered.
So Christian brothers and sisters, I’m afraid the days of making pronouncements and having secret answers have hit the wall. So be it! The real, authentic good news that leads to faith is still about engaging the woman at the well, inviting the tax collector, touching the hurting, and sharing the story of love on the cross.
No comments:
Post a Comment