The Pangea Blog
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. Because if ‘God caused it,’ then those people deserve what was coming to them. This could very easily become an excuse to ignore the call to justice in this and other natural disaster scenarios. That is why it is imperative that we continue the process of refining and discerning theological issues, such as those presented in Mark 13. But if we choose to read the scriptures for all they are worth, then perhaps we will find the need to join with God and help navigate the creation project towards its completion (Revelation 21, Romans 8). This definitely includes partnering with God to pull back the rubble of the Haitian earthquake as a sign of the new creation!
The church in the West is transforming in many ways, and situations like the one Pat Robertson created with his detestable words, are becoming less and less acceptable by the standards of many Christians. But these theologically flawed judgments will continue to be an issue in the coming years as hyper-fundamentalists continue to extort the Scriptures. Jesus set his face against the Temple and prophetically cast his judgment in opposition to it. As we demonstrated from our text, much of this had to do with the religiosity and corrupt nature of the system it represented. Jesus’ prophecy called out the religious elite of his day for falsely representing Israel’s God and for perpetuating a system that caused much oppression and marginalization. Perhaps the question here for us ought to be: Who in our day will take up the mantle of Jesus and prophetically call out the Christian leaders who continue to make false public judgments? Who will speak a counter-message to those who falsely represent the God of the Scriptures? Who will choose to be a prophet who calls out the false prophets? Not to start a war of words, but rather to declare to the outside world that the Church of Jesus Christ and the God they serve have no affiliation with those who speak condemnation to a culture who is searching for hope. Perhaps one of the greatest tasks of the Church in the present is to do justice both in our acts of compassion (for Haiti and other disastrous situations) and in our interpretations and appropriations of the Scriptures. May we all choose to proclaim in both word and action – a hope-centered gospel!
Thanks for reading this series! Feel free to leave some final thoughts…
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