Christianity is Changing
In theology there is a term that is used occasionally when it comes to discussing God: apophatic. This term indicates that we know God in negation, that is, when we make a claim about God we must also say that that claim is not true, God is higher than that. It is a way of saying that language cannot contain God. The classic texts for this come from the Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the late fifth century and have had a huge impact on the Eastern branch of Christendom.
I think a lot of progressive theology is apophatic; there is a recognition that our language has limits, that what we say must be transcended.
The philosopher Hegel used a dialectic that contained a bit of apophaticism, the antithesis. Karl Barth’s early theological dialectic also had this apophatic component, and if Bruce McCormack is correct, this dialectic or apophatic character of language ran all through Barth’s theology. Our postmodern theology has as its base more than just tacit recognition that all of our ‘God-talk’ is provisional.
However, there is a theology that one must be unequivocal about, that one must name for what it is. This a theology that is dualistic, grounded in scapegoats, Gaia-hating, Jesus-denying, Spirit-quenching and misanthropic. It is known as Dispensationalism. This Christian theological view has always been around in one form or another. It asserts that God acts in different ways during different periods of history. The form of Dispensationalism with which most of us are familiar was popularized by C.I. Scofield with his publication of The Scofield Bible in 1909. This Dispensational view became wildly popular with the publication of the Left Behind series authored by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Over 65 million copies have been sold of the books in this series and it has spawned two different movie franchises as well as video games. What’s next? A Left Behind Theme Park?
As this sorry spectacle unfolds with the reboot of the movie franchise starring Nicholas Cage in the first installment due out soon, my greatest concern is not the bad acting we are sure to see and have come to expect from Mr. Cage. My biggest concern is that this nonsense will be believed by many to be the gospel.
What is the Good News of these films and this theology? Why, it has to do with a really pissed off god who hijacks his (and god is always a male in this theology) children through a teleportation device (sic) known as the Rapture and lets the Devil loose upon the earth to wreak havoc on humankind for seven long and horrible years (known as the Tribulation). At the end of this time, Jesus leaves his heavenly throne and comes to the rescue of the few genuine Christians and engages in an all out holy war bloodbath. Jesus, you know, that machine gun toting, RPG blasting, thumb on the nuclear button savior of the world. Jesus, the pissed off warrior.
What? You say you don’t recognize this Jesus from the Gospels? What’s the matter with you? There are a gazillion cross references in The Scofield Bible to help you with that.
People are going to pay good money to go watch these films, just as they have paid good money to read these awful books and play the degenerate Left Behind video game. Worse, is that they are going to leave the theater believing that this film is a correct and appropriate hermeneutic for interpreting the Bible. I offer five reasons for rejecting the claims of this crap:
1. It bases its theology on the most marginal book of the New Testament.
2. It is completely oblivious of the function of the ‘lamb christology’ of the Book of Revelation.
3. It’s portrait of Jesus is completely out of step with the portrait of Jesus in the Gospels.
4. It turns judgment into an accounting process.
5. It turns the Abba of Jesus into a mixture of Hannibal Lector and Jigsaw.
It is the most anti-gospel message out there. It is the complete opposite of the gospel. It is really a venomous heresy. It is the equivalent of a nano-technology altered genetic weapon of mass destruction. It is a theological virus whose only purpose is to kill the real good news found in the Gospel of Jesus. Dispensationalism is not to be tolerated as just another form of theology for it is BULLSHIT.
This is not the time to go all lovey-dovey and ecumenical. This is the time to say what a thing is with no hesitation in our voice, no quivering of lips, no mincing of words. Dispensationalism is a lie from the very pit of hell, from the abyss of human religion, from the secret precincts of sacred violence. Dispensationalism, as a way of thinking) must be challenged, demolished, deconstructed and not allowed to flourish. It is an affront to every living, breathing follower of Jesus. Tough words? You bet! The Dispensationalists? They are to be loved and cherished for they too are made in the image and likeness of God. But their thinking, their ideology, their god must be torn down, not with ‘fleshly’ weapons but with the very words of the good gospel of the living Lord Jesus. You can either speak out against this theological bullshit or you can remain silent while the world buys into its hatred. As for me and my house, I intend to speak out for the gospel and against this anti-gospel. Here I stand, I can do no other.
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