We humans really seem to want to know the future, especially when it comes to the end of the world.
On my sabbatical this summer, I visited Delphi in central Greece. It was an ancient religious site known for having an oracle who could provide information (for the right price) to those seeking to know the future. It was probably originally dedicated to the Greek goddess Gaia ('Mother Earth"), but around 800 B.C.E. became a religious site dedicated to Apollo. Wealthy travelers from around the known world journeyed to Delphi to offer extravagant treasures to the oracle in exchange for her oracles. Large treasuries were built around the site to hold all the riches. Delphi became so popular and so rich, it hosted the Pythian Games, similar to the ancient Olympic games.
The Oracle of Delphi was a young girl, probably in her teens, cared for by the priests of Apollo. Our guide showed us how a stream had flowed under the temple, most likely carrying noxious vapors from deep in the earth. The priests essentially got the Oracle high on the fumes so she would make her pronouncements. Since the words of the Oracle didn't make any sense, the priests would interpret them--again for a hefty donation. The site was left to ruin once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and the Christian rulers developed their own ways of receiving treasure.
It seems a part of human nature to want to know the future, to somehow control it and bend fate to our own ends. Throughout human history, people have paid everyone from carnival fortune tellers to televangelists to cult leaders promising to know the secrets of the future. Probably the biggest sham of all going now in America is taught every week at thousands of churches across America: the Rapture.
If you grew up Catholic, mainline Protestant or another faith background other than Evangelical Christian, then you may have no clue about the Rapture. When you do find out what it involves, you may scoff, but trust me, belief in the Rapture is driving everything from New York Times best-selling books to survival gear to the foreign policy of the United States.
In its most basic form, the Rapture entails a belief that near the end of the world, Christ will snatch up to heaven all true Christians. Following that "Rapture" there will be seven years of "Tribulation" where those who remain on earth will be under control of Satan and the Antichrist. The humans who were not raptured can convert to Christianity during this time. After those seven years of "Tribulation" Satan and the Antichrist will get sent to hell and any humans who did not become "true" Christians will be sent to hell for eternity too.
You may have heard of the best-selling books in the Left Behind series, which spawned board games, children's books, and a series of bad movies starring Kirk Cameron--yes, that Kirk Cameron from the late 80's and early 90's TV show Growing Pains. Just like the priests of Apollo in ancient Delphi, the Left Behind series made millionaires out of its authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins who interpret the obscure "oracles" of Bible prophecy. Jenkins writes the prose, but LaHaye is the "scholar" of prophecy. Tim LaHaye and his wife Beverly have been long-time leaders in the Religious Right, especially the so-called "purity movement" which stresses women being submissive to their husbands, women's worth being found only in their ability to reproduce, and absolutely no-premarital sex, especially the responsibility of girls since they have the power to tempt good boys with their feminine wiles. It seems proponents of the Rapture always also are proponents of a patriarchal understanding of gender and sexuality.
The major problem with the Rapture is that it's not biblical. If one opens up their Bible, you won't find the Rapture anywhere in it. Instead, the Rapture has to be created by cutting and pasting particular verses from Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, some apocalyptic sayings of Jesus in the Gospels and generous slices of the book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. It's a pastiche of Bible verses taken out of their original contexts to create a false doctrine that has dreadful real world consequences.
Lutheran New Testament scholar Barbara R. Rossing has this to say about the really bad theology of the Rapture:
"The Rapture is a racket. Whether prescribing a violent script for Israel or survivalism in the United States, this theology distorts God's vision for the world. In place of healing, the Rapture proclaims escape. In place of Jesus' blessing of peacemakers, the Rapture voyeuristically glorifies violence and war. In place of Revelation's vision of the Lamb's vulnerable self-giving love, the Rapture celebrates the lion-like wrath of the Lamb. This theology is not biblical. We are not Raptured off the earth, nor is God. No, God has come to live in the world through Jesus. God created the world. God loves the world, and God will never leave the world behind."
Millions of Evangelical Christians are taught each Sunday that the Rapture is the only true understanding of the future. Yet, the Rapture was only created less than 200 years ago by an Anglo-Irish preacher named John Nelson Darby. Darby didn't gain too wide of a following in his lifetime, but a con-artist named Cyrus Scofield took Darby's thought and included it in a special edition of the King James Bible. The Scofield Reference Bible contained notes and cross references to explain Darby's thoughts about the Rapture along with other fundamentalist beliefs such as a literal six-day Creation and that the Earth was created in 4004 B.C.E. It offered a "scientific" text to refute the popular writings of scholars like Charles Darwin. In events like the Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, TN the Scofield Reference Bible was brought out as evidence to refute the falsehoods of modernity. It's popularity spread across the nation and it remains one of the best-selling books in U.S. history.
The belief in the Rapture--that the earth is headed for a cataclysmic end as a part of God's fore-ordained plan is behind Evangelical Christianity's opposition to fighting climate change. (Why care for the earth if it's all going up in a fireball any day now?) It's behind Evangelical Christianity's support for the modern state of Israel, even if that means the oppression of fellow Christians in Palestine. (Their reading of Revelation says that the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948 is a fulfillment of prophecy, because Israel is mentioned in their end-times scenario. Oh--and all the Jews will either convert to Christianity or be sent to hell after the Tribulation!) The belief in the Rapture is also why so many Evangelical Christians grow up traumatized.
Imagine being taught from birth that at any moment Christ could Rapture all true Christians up to heaven and if you aren't one of them, then you will experience seven years of hell on earth under the rule of Satan and the Antichrist. Take a quick search of the internet for "rapture trauma" or "rapture anxiety" and you will find tales of people with psychological issues because they grew up fearing the would be "left behind." Barbara R. Rossing tells the story in her book The Rapture Exposed of when one of her students came and told her about his ongoing anxiety and depression. He had traced it to coming home as a child to find his mother, who was usually there waiting for him, not at home. Raised on the Rapture, he immediately assumed his mother had been raptured and he was left alone to face the Tribulation. He continues to suffer from issues associated with abandonment, shame and fear.
Religious abuse is a real thing. How we talk about God, the future and the worth of each person matters not just for the future of our planet but also for the psychological well-being of people all around us every day.
This Sunday I will preach a sermon titled "The Rapture is Bull Crap." It's not just an explanation of a popular Christian belief that is just plain awful, but it will be a discussion of what kind of God are we worshiping anyway? If the God Christians claim loves everyone is going to leave those of us behind who haven't said the magic words of prayer or done enough good deeds to suffer in some kind of mixture of Mad Max and the Saw movies, then is that God really loving? I'd say that kind of God isn't worth worshiping. That kind of God isn't the one I have come to know as demonstrated in the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That kind of God offers no hope for our future, only salvation for a few and destruction for everyone and everything else.
I believe in a God who doesn't leave anyone behind and who journeys with us into the future. The God I believe in is with us all the way and invites us into creating a new and better world. I don't need to spend my money trying to predict the future; all I need to do is trust that my loving God, as demonstrated in Jesus Christ, will never leave me or you or any of us.
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Beginning last Sunday, Bethany and I are preachingt a sermon series for progressive Christians on the Book of Revelation. If you weren't able to join us in person, check out the KCUCC Facebook page for videos of any sermons you missed.
- Last Sunday I talked about Revelation as a refutation of "empire, both the Roman Empire and the ways our nation functions as an empire today.
- On October 13, I'll preach about the modern belief in "The Rapture" (that Jesus will come and take up to heaven all the good Christians as in The Left Behind series books) is really not biblical at all.
- On October 20, I'll share about Christ's letters to the Seven Churches in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, and imagine what a letter from Jesus to contemporary American Christians might be like.
- Finally, on October 27, Bethany will preach on how the message of Revelation does not promote the idea of letting our current world burn, but rather calls us to care for God's creation.
Grace and Peace,
Chase
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