A few weeks ago a world-wide bestselling author of 16 novels with 80 million copies sold died at the age of 90. The Rev. Tim LaHaye, co-authored the "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic, end-time novels which readers may recall I have criticized more than once for creating a biblically unfaithful and false picture of the return of Christ. LaHaye wasn't rapturously transported to heaven, escaping a cataclysmic end to the Earth. He had a stroke, while fetching the morning paper I recall, surrounded in hospital by those who love him. It sounds as though it was a gentle end to a long life, what we would all hope for.
I despise the fear-based, ooga booga nonsense of these novels and all literature and teaching which predicts this sort of apocalypse. Jesus told his followers that they would not know the hour or the day of his coming, and urged them to live compassionately and with love in the here-and-now. I do not expect to be "raptured" but I do know I'm called to be a servant of Christ in each and every day I'm given. This stuff is fantasy avoidance at its worst.
I find it ironic that many of these devotees of End Times stuff are climate change deniers. While they are salivating over the apocalypse, "biblical" floods and fires are devastating regions of the US and these events are increasingly extreme. July was the hottest month for planet Earth in recorded history. There is a crazy presidential candidate for the Denial Party who refuses to pay attention to the scientific evidence. Hullo!
Come to think of it, maybe Jesus should just beam us up...
Comments?
2 comments:
OMG! Good Grief!
It's also this kind of crazy thinking that argues against taking initiatives to find peace in the middle east. After all; it contravenes God's plan for the onset of Armageddon!
Unbelievable!
Does this kind of thing make us realize why atheists are against religious teachings of all sorts?
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