Left Behind<\/em> may be a cinematic disaster<\/a>, but it\u2019s not hurting anybody, right?<\/p>\nWhile we\u2019ll have to wait until that movie comes out to know just how catastrophic its effects on humanity will be, and I imagine they will be severe, the truth is that attitudes like we see displayed in the poster above are hugely problematic.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Because they have very real consequences.<\/p>\n
The causes of global warming aside, the effects of global warming are devastating. To people. With homes. And families. And livelihoods.<\/p>\n
In short, one person\u2019s prophetic celebration, is another person\u2019s catastrophe.<\/p>\n
Or to put it another way, when we celebrate from the comfort and safety our prophetic armchairs something we\u2019ve decided is a fulfillment of prophecy, what we\u2019re really celebrating is a terrible flood\u00a0destroying someone\u2019s home, the financial ruin of a family after an ecological disaster obliterates their source of income, and the death of millions of men, women, and children from starvation brought on by epic droughts.<\/p>\n
This is why theology matters.<\/p>\n
When war, global devastation, and environmental ruin become things to celebrate as the \u201cfulfillment of prophecy,\u201d then not only do we ignore clear Biblical mandates to be peace makers and stewards of the earth, we who should be working to bring the kingdom of God to earth, instead, become villainous co-conspirators in the reign of evil and death.<\/p>\n
This is what happens when we ignore Jesus\u2019 declaration that \u201cno man knows\u201d the hour of his return.<\/p>\n
These words aren\u2019t simply a boundary line. Jesus\u2019 isn\u2019t saying \u201cYou can know everything about the future, except this one small detail.\u201d In his prophetic declaration, Jesus is affirming his return, but he is also denouncing the sort of end times fervor the consumes so much of the church. When he follows this famous declaration with a command to \u201ckeep watch,\u201d Jesus is not telling his followers to spend all their time trying to read the prophetic tea leaves. In fact, the opposite is true.<\/p>\n
In his parable of the end of days that follows this famous declaration in Matthew 24, Jesus says the servant must care for the household which he has been entrusted with. We, the church, are those servants. The world is our household. If we are to be the wise and faithful servants Jesus calls us to be, then we must care for the world we have been entrusted with.<\/p>\n
When, instead, our time is consumed by trying to decipher prophetic signs that don\u2019t exist or, worse, when we celebrate the destruction of the household we have been entrusted with, then we become the wicked and lazy servant who will find his place with the hypocrites.<\/p>\n
The sort of prophetic fervor that permeates so much of the church today, which sees prophecy around every corner and which celebrates moments of devastation and destruction as if war and global warming were benevolent signs from God, is not only misguided, it\u2019s antithetical to a gospel which calls us to care for the world, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and defend the oppressed.<\/p>\n
Which means our obsession with the end times doesn\u2019t make us a holy people with privileged insight into the future.<\/p>\n
It makes us lazy, wicked hypocrites.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christian Nightmares found and posted this image yesterday. While it leaves me more than a bit flabbergasted, I don\u2019t find it all that surprising. Countless people in the church are convinced that the Second Coming is imminent. As in Jesus is probably, no definitely coming back tomorrow. Why are they so convinced? In a word, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":8884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Should Christians Celebrate Global Warming?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christian Nightmares found and posted this image yesterday. While it leaves me more than a bit flabbergasted, I don't find it all that surprising.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/01\/should-christians-celebrate-global-warming\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should Christians Celebrate Global Warming?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christian Nightmares found and posted this image yesterday. 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<\/a><\/p>\n