Sw - Session 12 - Homework

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The Last Days How our View of the End-Times Affects the Way we Live our Lives Session 12 Homework

Early Christian Hopes “e way Christians view the future affects the way in which they live their lives.” Let me explain. e early Christians had hope for humankind and planet earth because they believed that far from abandoning this world, God, who is faithful to His Word and His creation, had made a covenant with this planet. e eternal, infinite God had personally entered the finite, space-time world of fallen humanity in order to redeem it. e Kingdom of God had broken into the kingdoms of this world and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Matt. 16:18). For them, Christian hope was not only beyond history, but also within it.1 ey understood clearly that they were called to be “the salt of the earth . . . and the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13,14). ey also remembered Jesus’ warning, that the attributes of salt and light could be wasted or rendered useless if not used properly. Salt serves to prevent deterioration, decay, rot. Light serves to illumine, expose, reveal. ey knew that Christians were to be actively involved in both functions. ey were to act as an ethical preservative in society, preserving the good that existed. At the same time they were to set a standard of righteousness and justice in a corrupted world. To them, acceptance of Christianity meant a conversion, and not only a “spiritual conversion” but a conversion of one’s whole lifestyle.2 To be a Christian did not mean primarily embracing a new doctrine. Primarily it meant living a new lifestyle.3 As a result, the Christian community slowly transformed ancient Rome over the course of 300 years. e North African Christian leader, Tertullian, for example, exhorted the Christian minority of his day to be the “soul” of secular Roman culture. Pagan Rome was beset with corruption and moral decay, but Tertullian urged the Christian community not to retreat from that culture but to contend for it.4 e secondcentury letter to Diognetus said, “As the soul is to the body, so are Christians to their city.”5 In Alexandria and many other cities, thus, women rounded up destitute babies and orphans and cared for them. Christians in these cities knocked on poor people’s doors and offered to move in to nurse the sick, deliberately exposing themselves to illness. Unlike their pagan neighbors, they readily ransomed their friends from barbarian captors, and when plague hit, they tended their sufferers whereas all others abandoned the sick at the first symptoms.6 In other words, early Christianity laid its heaviest stress on the theme of the Reign of God to be built in this world, knowing, of course, that it would only be established in full at Jesus’ Second Coming.7 Nonetheless, Christians could participate in God’s historical drama with his world. is apocalyptic vision of mission predominated among Christians until the third and fourth century. en it was gradually marginalized and replaced

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by a less powerful vision, promoted by the fifth-century Church Leader Augustine, which reduced eschatology (the study of Biblical beliefs concerning all future and final events (end times), as well as the ultimate purpose of the world, of humankind, and the Church) to a doctrine.8 e Effects of Dispensationalist9 End-Times eology on Evangelical Christians Since the 19th century, a certain brand of Christian theology (strongly influenced by Augustine’s theological dualism) has marked much of evangelicalism, limiting eschatology to the perspective of personal salvation, judgment after death, resurrection and eternal life. In its extreme, this theological conviction boils down to a sentiment embraced by John Nelson Darby, the promoter of Dispensationalist theology, 19th century evangelist Dwight L. Moody, and many other leading evangelicals of the last 150 years. Moody famously asked, "Why polish the brass on a sinking ship?” is particular eschatological viewpoint is a perfectly respectable position, held by many sincere Christians. Known as premillennialism, this view promotes the idea that the decay of the world is predestined and inevitable and that things will continually get worse until Christ comes back.10 Indeed, the "Antichrist" is getting ready to be revealed, the great tribulation is right around the corner, Jesus Christ is going to return to earth within our generation, when he will “rapture” the church into heaven, complete His plan for the Jewish people in the Middle East, and then set up His thousand year reign on the earth.11 Since the Bible has foretold this all, there is nothing we can possibly do to stop it and therefore what's the point of improving society and fighting for a better world?! In many conservative evangelical circles, this End Times scenario teaches Christians that all they should do is preach the Gospel and avoid any entanglements with the world. is means they should not involve themselves in political or social action.12 Indeed, since the world belongs to Satan, and since it will be destroyed at the end of time by Jesus Christ, anything that Christians do to improve society in the meantime actually opposes God’s will and delays his Second Coming. Not only should they refrain from impacting their culture, as a few of the more extreme dispensationalists teach, they should rejoice as they see the world facing wars, earthquakes, and social decay. Why? ese are signs of Christ’s imminent return.13 Dave Hunt, Bible Commentator and author of numerous books on the End Times, expresses this viewpoint in e Berean Call: “‘Christian activism,’ is not Christian, and represents a detour from the straight path the church is to walk before the world. It can confuse the real issues, lead

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to compromise and unholy alliances, and divert time and effort that would be better used in proclaiming the gospel.”14 To dispensationalists, hence, the failure of the church in its efforts to reform Gentile society is self-evident. ey feel that the Gentile nations are not destined for reformation, but judgment. As a result, the central mission of the church is to save individual souls heading toward hell out of the world. ey consider the present system of Gentile world-government to be a sinking ship, and the church to be the lifeboat. eir job is not to save the ship, which they believe the Scriptures say is doomed (at least in its present form), but to get as many people as possible off the ship and into the lifeboat of the church before it sinks.15 Christians, in other words, have been given a way off of the sinking ship into another boat. Why not present the hell-bound souls with the opportunity to get off the boat too, and in that way save as many as possible before the boat sinks in a catastrophic act of God when Christ returns? e consequences of this particular eschatological viewpoint on the life of Christians are clear: In expectation of the last days many evangelical Christians have bought into a sort of cultural pessimism which results in evangelistic activism (for some) and a present life of apathy (for most). Reading the Scriptures with this pessimistic outlook and baptizing this outlook with theological rationale, Christians simply mourn the coming destruction of ‘e Late Great Planet Earth’ instead of seeking to redeem it. Such a retreat, however, only contributes to the growth of evil. Since good people remain on the sidelines and no longer stand in the gap, injustice, racism, oppression, exploitation, discrimination, moral decay, corruption, environmental degradation and many other social evils often go unchallenged. Premillennial dispensationalism (though it may muster numerous proof-texts to substantiate its claims and, on a positive note, seeks to show that ultimately the hope of the world rests in God, and not in our feeble actions16), thus presents an unfortunate departure from the early Christians’ action-filled hope based in the knowledge of God’s encompassing love for his creation and inbreaking of his Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven!17 e Need for Biblical Hope Scripture asserts many times that God has already won the final victory through Jesus’ death on the cross, that his Kingdom is already among us, yet that this victory and his Kingdom will only be fully consummated when Christ returns.18 It is tragic that in our age this early Christian doctrine of hope for our world – the second coming of Christ – has been read with a pessimistic outlook and turned into the final basis for ‘Christian’ pessimism.19

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If you were Satan, how would you keep God’s Kingdom from advancing on earth as it is in heaven? Most likely you would attack those who are involved in spreading the Good News of this Kingdom in words and action at their most vulnerable point. at most vulnerable point for many urban Christians is our capacity to sustain ourselves in ministry. To remain optimistic, hopeful, and full of humor while being daily exposed to the reality of corrupt and unjust systems, structures and people, is the most difficult task in the work of advancing God’s Kingdom. us the principalities will seek to make us feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and pessimistic about what the church actually can accomplish against the systems and structures. ey will seek to make us loose our vision of God’s dream to restore Shalom on earth as it is in heaven and instead, deceive us into rationalizing that this dream was never actually spelled out in the Bible. Once our hope has been destroyed, we have been destroyed!20 In order for urban ministry workers, pastors and Christians in general to maintain hope and faith in their ministries and work spheres, they thus need to develop and tenaciously hold onto God’s vision for the city, nation and world – a vision that is based on the biblical message that God and God’s church will someday win and that this world will someday be renewed and restored to its original purpose!21 Because the early Christians held onto this hope, they were able to face sporadic persecutions and eventually overcome the Roman Empire – which John in his Revelation aptly called “Whore of Babylon”.

reflection questions Reflect on the following questions and write your answers into your Application Journal: • How does your view of the end times effect the way you live your life? • How does your church’s view of the end times effect the way your church lives life? • What hope is it that sustains you in your ministry and calling? • Does the Bible give a valid basis for hope in history? • If Christians retreat from society and do not act as salt and light, who will? Come prepared to share your answers in the following class session!

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application journal:

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endnotes 1

Vishal Mangalwadi, Truth and Social Reform, 124-125 Eduardo Hoornaert, e Memory of the Christian People, 81 3 Eduardo Hoornaert, e Memory of the Christian People, 165 4 online available at http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/1999/04/08/end-times-andchristian-responsibility/ 5 Ray Bakke, e Urban Christian, 83 6 Philip Yancey, e Jesus I Never Knew, 156 Aristides, a Christian philosopher and envoy to Roman Emperor Hadrian, wrote about the Christians of that time: “ey love one another and they never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger they take him home and are happy as though he were a real brother; they don't consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit in God. When one of their poor dies, they provide for his burial according to their abilities; and if they hear that any of them is imprisoned or oppressed for confessing the Messiah, all of them provide for his needs, and if it is possible to free him, the deliver him. And if someone among them is poor and need, but they don’t have enough to give, they fast two or three days in order to supply the needy with necessary food.” (quoted in Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid, Complete Evangelism, 17) 7 Eduardo Hoornaert, e Memory of the Christian People, 86 8 Eduardo Hoornaert, e Memory of the Christian People, 87 9 Dispensationalism emerged in 19th-century England. It was brought to America by missionary John Nelson Darby from his native Ireland, spread at evangelistic conferences and was later popularized by the widely acclaimed Scoffield Bible Translation. In subsequent decades it spread throughout the world through the work of European and American missionaries steeped in a dispensationalist mindset. It thus formed the backbone of much of evangelical church growth in the Two-irds World. Dispensationalism teaches that God has divided history into seven dispensations and has treated humankind in different ways in each of these periods of history. It also teaches that God has a special plan for Israel that will be completed at the end of history after Christ raptures the Church into heaven. is will most likely occur before the “Great Tribulation” when God’ s wrath is poured out on the earth. Jesus Christ will then set up a thousand year reign on earth. Dispensationalists emphasize evangelism almost to the exclusion of everything else. While not all conservative evangelical Christians accept the theological ideology’s basic tenet of seven dispensations, many other key beliefs of premillennial dispensationalism have influenced the evangelical church worldwide. 10 “It asserts that all negative occurrences in the world show that things are getting worse, and that this means that the end of times is near. Positive occurrences, then, should be viewed with suspicion. Indeed, peace talks in the Near East must thus be seen as a clever scheme of the devil.” (Walter Gut, Dispensationalismus – die heimliche EndzeitIdeologie, Bulletin aus dem VBG Institut 2/03 Oktober 2003, 6) 11 online available at http://www.thnet.com/homes/users/thompsbk/ Before that the Jews must be returned to the Biblical lands of Judaea and Samaria before the world can end. is has, according to some, driven up American support for an aggressive Israeli approach to its neighbors in the Holy Land. And perhaps not simply for love of Israel, but love for self – the desire to see world’s end and thus one’s own rapture transpire quicker. As Mark Mitchell from the Pennsylvania-based evangelical think tank, Institute for Global Engagement, says: “e stream of end-times thinking (generally grounded in the eschatological theory of dispensationalism) represented in works like Left Behind has had a problematic influence on evangelicals’ international worldview. e tendency is implicated, for instance, in the lopsided views of the Middle East held by 2

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many fundamentalist evangelicals.” (Mark T. Mitchell, A eology of Engagement for the ‘Newest Internationalists’, e Brandywine Review of Faith and International Affairs, Spring 2003, 12) 12 For fairness sake it needs to be stated that not all dispensationalists advocate total withdrawal from society. Some have continued to be involved in social action, even while accepting the premillennial position. Consider one of the greatest evangelical leaders and social reformers of the 19th century: Lord Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury (1801-1885) was a member of the British House of Commons. He had a committed resolve to better society around him and thus was involved in alleviation of bad conditions in insane asylums; workers’ conditions, especially women and children; he helped relieve poor housing conditions; had a great interest in missions and bible societies. For 57 out of 60 years in public service he received no salary. 13 online available at http://www.thnet.com/homes/users/thompsbk/ 14 online available at http://www.thnet.com/homes/users/thompsbk/ 15 S.R. Shearer, a Dispensationalist writing on Religion in Politics, online available at http://www.thnet.com/homes/users/thompsbk/ 16 Stanley J. Grenz, eology for the Community of God, 619 17 Apart from premillennialism, two other important eschatological viewpoints exist within evangelicalism: Postmillennialism and Amillennialism, named after their particular interpretation of the "thousand years" of Revelations 20. In contrast to premillennial dispensationalism, postmillennialists emphasize the continuity between the current era and the age to come. ey generally have an optimistic outlook toward world history. As the Gospel spreads throughout the earth and brings its divinely intended results, evil is eventually routed. In fact, due to the pervasive influence of Christian principles throughout the world, the world’s inhabitants will have a heightened experience of goodness. Although God’s Kingdom on earth comes as the work of the Holy Spirit, God uses human efforts in advancing his coming. rough Christ, God has commissioned his church to participate in the advance of the divine reign and the establishment of community. Knowing this, Christians ought to be motivated to redouble their commitment to work and pray, in order that his will might be done on earth as it is in heaven. Indeed, adherents of this eschatological viewpoint hold that until the kingdom of God is fully established on earth, Christ will not return. Hence, God’s people must actively work in their societies to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. In doing so, they will eventually be successful in the completion of this divinely given mandate. e result? An earthly golden age of one thousand years will be established, during which Satan will be bound and evil temporarily restrained. At that point Christ will reign over the world through his obedient church, and the principles of Shalom will permeate the whole earth. After these thousand years, Satan will be loosed to lead a short-lived rebellion. At that time Christ will come a second time to fully rout out all evil and establish the new heavens and new earth once and for all. While this view is helpful in getting Christians active in their communities and societies – and thus much closer to the viewpoint of the early Christians – it has a couple of serious drawbacks: 1. It seems to predict a world that is progressively getting better, which our experience clearly denies. 2. Left unbridled, postmillennial optimism also runs the risk of separating itself from its proper source and thereby degenerating into blind utopianism. (Stanley J. Grenz, eology for the Community of God, 614-619). A third eschatological viewpoint among evangelicals is generally known as amillennialism. e word means “no millennium”. Its proponents do not anticipate an earthly golden age before or after Christ’s return, but simply anticipate that the second coming of Christ will mark the beginning of eternity without an intervening interregnum. e result is a worldview characterized by realism. Victory and defeat, success and failure, good and evil will coexist until the end. e future is neither a heightened continuation of the present, nor an abrupt contradiction to it. e kingdom of God does not come by solely as the result of human cooperation with God’s intents. But neither is it simply the divine gift for which we can only wait expectantly.

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Consequently, both unchastened optimism and despairing pessimism are illegitimate. Rather, the amillennialist world view calls the church to realistic activity in the world. Under the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, its actions and cooperation will help advance God’s reign and bring about important, penultimate results. Yet, ultimate success will come only through God’s grace. erefore, God’s people must expect great things in the present and actively pray and work for the advancement of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, knowing, nonetheless, that the kingdom will never arrive in its fullness in history. Hence, they must always remain realistic in their expectations. (Stanley J. Grenz, eology for the Community of God, 615 + 619). 18 Graham Gordon, What If You Got Involved?, 19 19 Vishal Mangalwadi, Truth and Social Reform, 130 20 Bob Linthicum, City of God City of Satan, 278 21 Robert Linthicum, City of God City of Satan, 278

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