Un-Raptured

(The Cross of lorraine)

Well! We made it!

I must give you credit for staying with me through all nine previous posts. I hope that I didn’t ramble too much. I have strong feelings about this topic. I wanted to make a case for an alternative interpretation of the Biblical text. A case that is based on gleaning from the text what the original writers may have intended within the social and religious context of their own time. Not what someone in the nineteenth century may have wanted the text to say. And, especially not what folks in the present day want it to say. Words that were written to encourage people in the early days of the Christian church have been turned into weapons to inspire fear in people, and thereby, control them.

The name of this blog is Breaking the Chains that Bind. This false doctrine of a so-called ‘Rapture’ is a chain that needs to be broken.

If people are going to be truly free, they must be free from fear. I have heard countless stories of people who now suffer from forms of PTSD because of how the rapture has been presented to them.

How is that even a thing?!?

Where is the love of Christ in this?

Didn’t one writer say that there is no fear in Christ? In fact, love in this context casts out all fear!!!

The whole of Rapture theology does NOT pass the smell test. It is foul! It is hateful! IT IS WRONG!

We as a species have always tried to figure out who is a member of our tribe and who isn’t. Perhaps that need is hard coded into our DNA. Perhaps somewhere in our distant past that particular knowledge was necessary for our survival. Our ancient ancestors may have only survived by putting up defenses against some ‘other’ that could destroy them. I don’t know. But, it is plausible.

Somehow over the millenia, as the outside dangers were tamed or defeated, that need diminished. However, the code was still operating. It wasn’t somehow ‘commented out.’ Without the threats from outside, we developed and perceived threats from the inside. Those who didn’t look exactly like us. Or, who didn’t speak like us. Or, who didn’t believe in the same gods as we did. These became the ‘others’ that we excluded and tried to destroy.

For the last two millenia the Christian Church has allowed that code to run unchecked. In fact, I think that the Church has tweeked the code to near perfection. She has built walls. “But, we must protect the faith from the faithless!” she cries. In reality, she has hoarded the goodness of the Divine and built walls to keep all others away from it. She has become, in many ways, faithless herself.

The doctrine of the rapture is one part of that wall. It has no other purpose than to define who is ‘In’ over against who is ‘out.’ It manipulates people by grabbing them by the emotions and driving them like cattle using the prod of fear to achieve their own end. And, that end is control. The proponents of rapture theology coerce and control by fear. Fear of being ‘left behind.’ Fear of all ‘others.’ Fear of an angry and vengeful god.

Rapture thought also paints the world and the cosmos as an enemy. All things that are not aligned to make people believe in the small, vindictive god of these people must by necessity be evil. They must run their evil course to its evil end where their evilness will be finally put to the evil end that only evil deserves. The earth, society, cultures…these are all part of that evil world. So, they look at all things that are not part of their small pitiful faith with uncaring disdain. “Climate change? If it’s real, (and, we doubt that), so what? The rapture is coming, then the end of the world. Who cares about it? Or, who cares about war or famine or natural disasters? These are all simply precursors of the end of this evil world. We’re gonna fly home to heaven! To hell with everything and everyone else!”

Folks, there will be no rapture. The ‘elect,’ (whatever that means), are not going to fly away to some heavenly bliss. The earth is not going to be thrown into chaos and turmoil controlled by some person called Anti-Christ. This earth is has been around for about 4 billion years. It’s going to be around for quite a few more.

Ok, so what?

If the dispensationalists have it all wrong, (they do), what is an alternative? If we don’t live with our eye on the end of this age, how should we live?

The apostle Paul spoke about keeping our ‘eyes on the prize.’ That prize was eternal life, salvation, a life well-lived caring for others. It was a life that bore fruit. Fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

This life. Right here. Right now. We only get this one chance to make a positive difference. We can only offer comfort to the homeless, the poor, the sick and infirm, the immigrant, the indigenous, the Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist for as long as we have the gift of breath and life. After that? Our days of making a difference will be past.

Jesus taught his friends that the Kingdom of God was at hand. It was breaking into present reality. This kingdom was not some far off place that could only be found in some heavenly, non-corporeal reality. This kingdom was NOW! The imperative for people to live in that kingdom has not diminished over time. If we are going to follow Jesus, who has become King, then we’ve got to live like it. And that does NOT mean ignoring the present. It cannot mean ignoring the needs of ALL others. It does NOT mean destroying our planet.

It does mean that we must be ALL inclusive of others. We must care for our home. We absolutely must be grounded in the here and now.

We don’t get a free pass. There’s no ‘get out of jail free’ card. Jesus didn’t come to ‘rescue’ us from the reality of this life. He came so that we could HAVE life! And, so that we may, like Jesus, give our life away so that others may have life.

Rapture theology kills. It ends love. It excludes others. It has no care for the world that God gave His only Begotten Son for. It is actively authoritarian and controlling. It seeks to amass power. It is in all ways corrupt and evil.

We are better than that. God is better than that.

Shalom.

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