Look Busy...

Greetings, fellow travelers,

Planning anything after May 21? You might want to rethink: Jesus is coming on that very day. Well, according to this source:

http://www.familyradio.com/graphical/literature/judgment/judgment.html

Of course, we all hedge our bets and say, "Well, we'll see...." But notice how grounded on Enlightenment rationalistic scientific calculation the whole enterprise is. And locking even God into a box of predetermined scheduling. Not to mention having to do a lovely little tapdance with scripture verses in order to show that Jesus didn't really mean what he said about "nobody knows the day or hour." Now, rather than just enjoying a moment's snicker together, let me ask: in what exactly does this attitude place its faith? The relational, interactive person of God, or a mechanistic moralistic arbiter? (okay, loaded question) And, following from that question, what is the motivation for placing faith in the mechanism of a plan (rather than the Planner)? In short, against just what windmill is this attitude tilting?

Now swing around and look forward: what is the overt outcome lurking behind the words? And what is the hidden desire (perhaps hidden even from this position's advocates)?

My guess is that the whole thing revolves around feelings: powerlessness, loss of control, dependency, perhaps some resentment and anger as well. So we bargain that when we perceive that the ideal world (as we envision it) is slipping away, the Biggest Kid on the Block will intervene, and the Informed Ones will be rescued from any and all ambiguity, safe on the lifeboat to Heaven (so to speak), leaving all others to rot. Oh, the language offers an out for unbelievers, but notice that it doesn't seem very enthusiastic about bringing outsiders on board. Much more time (=words) is spent on the details of the coming disaster.

Furthermore, what is the whole point of the End, in this view? Retribution around the corner against those in the driver's seat presently (= "them"), and bliss for the underdogs (= "us"). That is, the End of all things is seen as evening the balance of the moral scale -- in favor of "us." Such a view leaves itself wide open to the criticism, "well, then, does that mean that God has to rectify a mistake?"

Missing from this view (according to me, of course) is any sense of God's freedom to "save" any and all, any divine emotion except anger, a somewhat more organically biblical (my view again) sense of the eschatological end as a consummation, a restoration of the harmony intended at Creation, a cosmic redemption, universal reconciliation, and so on. The End as Completion by the God Whose ways are simply beyond our comprehension (much less our calculation!). "Faith" crouches into defensive fear (I will follow the rules so I don't miss out), rather than deep trust, in God as free agent of goodness, operating within the ambiguities and contradictions of this life.

Cheers,
Bob