{"id":3780,"date":"2016-08-19T15:13:04","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T20:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/?p=3780"},"modified":"2016-09-08T11:48:12","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T16:48:12","slug":"the-apocalypse-revealed-the-bible-explained-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-apocalypse-revealed-the-bible-explained-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The Apocalypse Revealed – The Bible Explained: Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"Apocalypse_vasnetsov\"$ <\/a>Contrary to the common understanding, Apocalypse does not mean end of the world destruction. Please, when you think of Apocalypse, do not think of things like the Left Behind series. It\u2019s wrong and has done a lot of damage to the word.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse is a Greek word that means unveiling or revealing. Apocalypse is a revealing of truth.<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nFor the New Testament, the Apocalypse, or the ultimate revealing, is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the apocalypse. He reveals what it means for God to be God and what it means for humans to be human.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s the point \u2013 the Apocalypse isn\u2019t so much some future event. The Apocalypse has already happened in Jesus. And the event where we really see the Apocalypse being revealed is on the cross. The cross is the Apocalyptic moment that the New Testament refers to.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s talk about humanity first. The Apocalypse, or revealing of the cross, shows us that humans have a tendency to unite against a scapegoat, or a common enemy. Rene Girard claims that the Jesus and the cross reveal what has always been true about us \u2013 when we are in a social crisis, we look for someone else to blame. Girard calls this the scapegoat mechanism. It\u2019s the sin that has plagued humanity since the foundation of human culture and it\u2019s the sin that killed Jesus.<\/p>\nBut the Apocalypse of the cross also reveals God. On the cross, Jesus prays, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d That is literally true about humans. When we are caught in the scapegoat mechanism, we don\u2019t know what we are doing. We are caught in something bigger than ourselves. But notice that Jesus also reveals something about God. Jesus prays for the Father to forgive. God is marked not by a desire for revenge, but by forgiveness.<\/p>\nThe Apocalypse is Jesus, he is the revealing of God and humanity. Throughout his life, Jesus invites us to play a new game, not the old game of forming community against a common enemy, but a new game of forming community centered around Jesus, the one how forgives us of our sins and invites us to forgive one another. If we refuse to live by forgiveness, we will doom ourselves to our own destruction. But if we live by forgiveness, we will participate in the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse#\/media\/File:Apocalypse_vasnetsov.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Image: Wikimedia \u201cThe Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nStay in the loop! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TeachingNonviolentAtonement\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Like Teaching Nonviolent Atonement on Facebook!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nFor more in this series:<\/em> \n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/video-the-bible-explained-part-1-creation\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 1: Creation is No Myth<\/a> \n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-explained-part-2-how-the-bible-high-jacked-the-image-of-god\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the \u201cImage of God\u201d \n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-bible-is-progressive-the-bible-explained-part-3\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 3: The Bible is Progressive \n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-apocalypse-revealed-the-bible-explained-part-4\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 4: The Apocalypse Revealed<\/a> \n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/08\/the-key-to-biblical-violence-the-bible-explained-part-5\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 5: The Key to Biblical Violence \n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2016\/09\/adam-eve-and-the-mimetics-of-being-human-the-bible-explained-part-6\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Part 6: Adam, Eve, and the Mimetics of Being Human<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Contrary to the common understanding, Apocalypse does not mean end of the world destruction. Please, when you think of Apocalypse, do not think of things like the Left Behind series. It\u2019s wrong and has done a lot of damage to the word. Apocalypse is a Greek word that means unveiling or revealing. Apocalypse is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1651,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>The Apocalypse Revealed - The Bible Explained: Part 4<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Contrary to the common understanding, Apocalypse does not mean end of the world destruction. 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