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End Times Board Game and Unbiblical Madness

January 10, 2011 in (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times?, Afterlife, Dispensationalism, Ecology, Eschatology, Evangelism, Fundamentalism, Left Behind, Missional, N. T. Wright, Rapture, Recommended Resources, Roman Empire, Social Justice, Theology, Tribulation with 37 Comments

(thanks to Michael Morrell for showing me this via FB *Also note that “madness” is not to suggest the insanity of the good folks who hold to the view being critiqued, but to the “madness” of playing a board game :-) )

I am personally saddened that this is a real commercial by wonderful Christian folks at IHOP-KC.  I like much about this ministry, especially their emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit… but sadly, here is a reason why I keep my distance from the mainstream Pentecostal movement (even though I consider myself a charismatic).  This board game, Omega, is another example of an escapist and unbiblical reading of Revelation, Mark 13 (and parallels), 1 Thessalonians 4, and other relevant texts.  Just when I started to think that the end times madness was coming to an ‘end’ in our churches, this game is a reminder that the flawed theology of Left Behind and The Late Great Planet Earth is alive and well.

For some of you, it may surprise you that a Christian (like myself) would question the common approach to the so-called End Times texts.  I want to assure you that it is not because I think that God couldn’t do things that way, but rather that this system is not what Scripture actually teaches.  Out of a burden to read God’s Word with integrity, I reject the following: a rapture of the church when Christians will be taken to a non-physical bliss for eternity and when pagans will be left behind, a future 7 year tribulation, a future Antichrist, and the future destruction of the planet leading to a new spiritual existence in heavenly bliss.  This system of theology does not take the 1st century biblical context or the literary style in which God inspired the texts with enough seriousness.  All of these passages, when placed in a proper interpretive grid, are about issues the early church faced such as persecution; not about our future.  One of the only passages about our future is found in the final two chapters of Revelation, when God will bring heaven to earth for eternity!

Why does this matter?  Well, it completely determines how we express faith in the present.  Is Christianity about escaping this ‘evil’ world to go to a disembodies place of eternal bliss called heaven, or is it about God using us in the present and accomplishing one day in the future, the bringing of heaven to earth?  Is the way of Jesus a message of coming doom and gloom for earth, or about the hope that Christ will bring his restorative and healing justice to purify the “groaning” creation? If escapism is the answer, then there is really not a guiding framework for why we ought to care about “this-worldly” issues such as poverty, climate change, and disease; because this world will be destroyed eventually anyway.  Not only so, the goal is escape so the only thing we need to do is get people to recite a sinner’s prayer and then we can call it good… they will die and go to heaven so if they suffer on earth, that’s only a millisecond compared to eternity.  If the gospel we preach is about coming gloom and doom, then our message Continue Reading…

Final Thoughts on Why Mark 13 Matters Today! [Earthquakes…Signs of the Times, 10 (Mark 13)]

May 10, 2010 in (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times?, Afterlife, Consummation, Dispensationalism, Interpretation, Missional, Olivet Discourse, Rapture, Social Justice, Temple, Theology, Tribulation with 12 Comments

This is the tenth and final post in a series titled: Earthquakes… Signs of the Times?  I invite you to read the rest of the series here to catch up (the first post would be extremely helpful)…

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We began this series with the observation that the combination of attributing natural disasters to God’s judgment and popular futurist eschatology can lead to some very practical questions regarding supposed ‘signs of the times.’  This link makes it quite easy to entertain the thought that perhaps the “earthquakes” mentioned in Mark 13 (and other signs), may be an indication that the end of the space-time universe is coming soon.  This becomes even more of a concern if we read into the cosmic apocalyptic language of verses 24-25, the literal destruction of the cosmos.  Such a view can easily breed into a desire to escape the troubles of the present world (because it is all going to be destroyed at any moment).  This, then, can create a paradigm in Christian ethics that the only thing that matters is getting people to accept the ‘bullet points’ of the gospel, so that they too will be able to escape the coming turmoil.  As important as evangelism is, if this is our only task, we miss a main component of the Christian call of discipleship—a call to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6.8).

For a Christian to attribute the Haitian earthquake to the divine hand of God’s wrath is not only bad theology, but has practical ramifications.  Continue Reading…

The Rest of the Biblical Story and the Rapture of the Church [Earthquakes…Signs of the Times, 9 (Mark 13)]

May 5, 2010 in (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times?, Afterlife, Consummation, Dispensationalism, Interpretation, Missional, N. T. Wright, Olivet Discourse, Rapture, Temple, Theology, Tribulation with 17 Comments

This is the ninth post in a series titled: Earthquakes… Signs of the Times? I invite you to read the rest of the series here to catch up (the first post would be extremely helpful)…

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So far we have examined some “big picture” themes from Mark 13. Our next step is to attempt to place the text within context of the canon of Scripture. In regards to issues of meaning, we made an interpretive decision to give the whole of the chapter to pertaining to the events leading up to the destruction of the Temple. Often, this Mark 13 is viewed as ‘signs of the times’—the “end times”—so disasters in our day (i.e. Haitian earthquake) are easily mistaken for indications that the so-called rapture and Tribulation are near. Having deconstructed the ability to attribute the text to futurist views, the question alluded to above remains: If this passage does not speak of the end and the second coming of Christ, are we still able to speak of his second advent with confidence? In order to answer this question, we need to look at the biblical narrative for clues to how this all fits together. Continue Reading…

Shaking Up the Heavens…Cosmic Destruction? [Earthquakes…Signs of the Times, 8 (Mark 13)]

May 4, 2010 in (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times?, Dispensationalism, Interpretation, N. T. Wright, Olivet Discourse, Temple, Theology, Tribulation with 9 Comments

This is the eighth post in a series titled: Earthquakes… Signs of the Times? I invite you to read the rest of the series here to catch up (the first post would be extremely helpful)…

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Here is the text that needs to be dealt with in order to close some open-ended questions that still may linger about this passage as it relates to earthquakes and other natural disasters as signs of the end-times:

24 “But in those days, following that distress,
” ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;

25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

Our current passage of continues to warn the disciples of the devastation to come, finding its climax in cosmic apocalyptic language.  The images of the sun being “darkened,” the moon losing its glow, stars falling from the sky, and “the heavenly bodies” being “shaken” have often been regarded as an event that will happen during the still future tribulation.  This is to take place as a sign that Jesus (Son of Man) is about to return.  But this makes the mistake of misinterpreting apocalyptic language!  In context, this passage suggests an impending Continue Reading…

The Son of Man Already "Came Back!" [Earthquakes…Signs of the Times, 7 (Mark 13)]

April 29, 2010 in (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times?, Dispensationalism, Interpretation, N. T. Wright, Olivet Discourse, Rapture, Temple, Theology, Tribulation with 44 Comments

This is the Sixth post in a series titled: Earthquakes… Signs of the Times?  I invite you to read the rest of the series here to catch up (the first post would be extremely helpful) …

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Today’s post is going to look at the language of the “coming of the son of man.” In many popular theological systems, this is seen as a text connected to the rapture of the church. I do not want to analyze ‘rapture’ theology in this post, but simply to point out that this is a popular connection that is made. As has been alluded to throughout this study, there is a way to understand this whole chapter of Mark 13 to be attributed to past fulfillment. In other words, when Jesus speaks of a coming disaster (earthquakes, destruction, etc.), this is all about things that will happen within the generation of the disciples (see v. 30). This interpretive option comes into full shape in the work of N. T. Wright. What follows is a summary of his arguments concerning the “Son of Man” language in Mark 13.

In order to understand the language and Jesus’ usage of “Son of Man,” we must understand its usage in the Old Testament. The phrase originally occurs in Daniel chapter 7. The context of this passage contains the images of beasts who are representative of pagan nations in a literary sense. These beasts attack the “son of man” figure who is a literary representation of Israel. Many interpreters are quick to make this figure a literal Continue Reading…

Angels Vs. Messengers… A War of Words? [Earthquakes…Signs of the Times, 6 (Mark 13)]

April 25, 2010 in (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times?, Dispensationalism, Interpretation, N. T. Wright, Olivet Discourse, Rapture, Temple, Theology, Tribulation with 36 Comments

This is the Sixth post in a series titled: Earthquakes… Signs of the Times?  I invite you to read the rest of the series here to catch up (the first post would be extremely helpful)…

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We have been doing a study to discern whether or not we can rightfully say that earthquakes and other natural disasters are “signs of the times” or indicators that the “end times” are coming soon.  This next point, is not critical to the study but may offer us a helpful hint about Mark 13.  There is a textual nuance that may become important in this study that is found in verse 27.  The TNIV renders the passage the following way: “And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds…”  The question at hand is the word “angels” which is from the Greek word “άγγελοι.”  This is a word that commonly refers to angels in the Bible, but can also equally refer to human messengers Continue Reading…

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