Are we living in the end times...

I am taking a class on Sin and Eschatology this semester where we have been discussing the Second Coming and the Rapture. These terms have often been used interchangeably, but are actually quite different. One of our assignments was to choose a book from a short list, read the book and then write a short book report focusing on the Eschatology presented in the book. I choose a book called, Will Catholics Be "Left Behind" written by Carl E. Olson. You might recognize a part of the title as a reference to the Left Behind novel series by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins. This very popular novel series, which has resulted in two Left Behind movies, focuses on the Rapture and the events of the Tribulation that follows. The Rapture occurs at the beginning of the first book with all the "holy" Christians being whisked away to heaven while the unbelievers and the false worshipers are left on earth to face the coming disasters. The books, of which I have read most of them, derive their foundation from the Book of Revelation, but then apply fictional characters who find themselves living in the Tribulation. There are a number of very interesting elements of the Left Behind novel series that I want to explore.

First, we need to understand what is meant by the word 'rapture' and if this is the same as the Second Coming. These two terms are acutally quite different. Rapture, as understood by most Protestants, refers to the 'secret' coming of Christ in the clouds to liberate the true Christians from earth who "will be caught up together with them [the risen dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thes. 4:17). Those 'left behind' face the disasters spoken of in the Book of Revelation which culminate with Christ returning again to establish his Kingdom on Earth. This is a pretribulation or midtribulation belief, which has Christ saving some, leaving others to face Satan's wrath and then returning again to judge all and begin his 1,000 year reign. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, does not believe in any 'secret' return of Christ prior to the his Second Coming. Whereas those who adhere to the rapture take a quite literal interpretation of the Book of Revelation, Catholics understand Revelation to to be a mixture of symbolic language and literal language describing both historic events of the past and future events that are sometimes spiritual in nature and sometimes physical in nature. While this may seem rather complex, it is actually fairly evident that this is the case in examining Revelation. For example, it'd be rather odd to say that the following passage could, in any way, be taken literally:

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth (Rev. 12:1-4).

This is obviously not a literal event that will or even could happen. On the other hand, passages such as "I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life. The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls (Rev. 20:12)" can be taken very literally as Christ himself spoke of this event in the Gospels.

I want to explore this topic some more in future entries of the next few days. I also want to fulfill a suggestion of one of my readers, who responded to my request for topics to blog about by asking me to relate my vocation call story. My blog entry this coming Thursday will be on my call to priesthood. It seems appropriate to relate my call story on that day as it marks 30 days until my Diaconate ordination. My readers are still free to suggest other topics of discussion as well (hint, hint, hint) and I will be happy to blog on them in hopes of getting a good dialogue going between the readers and myself. I will continue my blog on the End Time in the next few entries. Until then...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 20:19 | link | comments |
blog