what I believe now
Ravyn, Lady Heresy
went on to found The International Bible Students, who splintered into
Jehovah's Witnesses and a group today that still uses the original
name and is sometimes referred to as Russellites.)
Ravyn
What Catholics Believe About The End of the World
by Kenneth E. Untener
In January of 1843, a preacher named William Miller-the founder of the
American Adventist movement-announced that the end of the world would
take place between March 21,1843, and March 21,1844. He had combed the
Bible for clues and figured it all out.
Thousands from all denominations believed him, and tension mounted as
the yearlong vigil began, heightened by the appearance of a comet.
Alas, the fateful year came to an end, and the world didn't.
Neither did the speculation. There had been a miscalculation, Miller
pointed out. He and his followers found a passage in the prophet
Habakkuk about a "delay," and a verse in the Book of Leviticus about 7
days and 10 months. Neither passage, of course, had anything to do
with the end of the world, but never mind that. A new date was
announced: October 22, 1844. Tension mounted once again. You know the
outcome.
Similar scenarios have taken place in every age and continue at this
moment. Such prophets never fail to find believers. Elvis lives.
The hype increases as we approach the year 2000. Some take it
seriously, even fanatically, as did the Branch Davidian sect in Waco,
Texas, in 1993. One radio church lists 24 signs from the Bible that
the end is near. Crop rotation in Israel, for example, fulfills a
prophecy in Amos about the plowman overtaking the reaper. And on and
on it goes.
Some key questions
The problem with all this is that it creates a doomsday mood, and
causes people to treat this world like a throwaway ballpoint pen.
These past weeks I made it a point to converse with various
parishioners about this topic, and I'll treat here the things that
came up most frequently. I do so from a Roman Catholic perspective,
based on the work of recognized Scripture scholars and theologians of
various denominations. Let's look first at some commonly asked
questions.
What is Armageddon? There is a road running through the middle of
Israel to the sea. About 15 miles before it reaches the sea lie the
ruins of a city called Megiddo. Its strategic location made it the
scene of colossal battles going back 6000 years. When speaking of any
great conflict, people often spoke of it as Megiddo or Armageddon,
Hebrew words referring to the area around this city. Some go to great
lengths in speculating about a final battle of Armageddon between the
forces of good and evil preceding the end of the world (see Rv
16:14-16).
There is no reason to believe that the city or plain of Armageddon has
any connection with the end of the world. It is imply an image, not
unlike saying, "Well, next Tuesday is D day." If someone overheard
this and started watching for something to happen next Tuesday on the
beaches of Normandy (where the Allies began the invasion of France in
World War II), we would think it strange.
What is the significance of the millennium and "The 1000-Year Reign of
Christ"? A passage in Revelation reads: "Then I saw an angel come down
from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy
chain. He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil
or Satan, and tied it up for a thousand years..." (Rv 20:1-2).
The thousand years simply means a long time, just as we might say,
"You won't guess this in a thousand years." We are now in the long
period between Christ's victory (symbolically expressed by tying up
Satan) and his coming in glory. It could last millions of years. There
are people ("millenarians") who take this passage literally and search
for signs of some thousand-year period on earth. When you start
thinking in terms of a millennium, the approach of the year 2000 can
get exciting. The same thing happened as the year 1000 approached.
It's the old problem of taking symbolic language literally.
Should we be preoccupied about the year 2000? We number things for
convenience. The pages in a book, for example, are numbered for easy
reference. The page numbered 100 really isn't the 100th page, since
the first few pages either aren't numbered or have Roman numerals. The
numbers simply help us find the right page.
We have done the same with our years, and there have been different
numbering systems-the Jewish calendar, the Chinese calendar and
others. The Gregorian calendar, now in common use, was introduced some
400 years ago, and took the birth of Christ as its reference point.
The year 2000 is not really the 2000th year. For one thing, the
Gregorian calendar has no year "zero"-which means we are already one
year off. For another thing, there was a miscalculation on the date of
Christ's birth, which took place between 7 and 4 B.C. In other words,
the year 2000 is not the 2000th year after Christ's birth. Calendar
dates are just numbers for common reference, with no particular
scriptural or theological significance.
What about the "rapture"? We normally use rapture to signify spiritual
or emotional ecstasy. However, the more basic meaning of the word is
"to seize, to transport." End-of-the-world prophets use it in this
latter sense. Matthew's Gospel speaks of two women grinding meal; one
is "taken" and the other is left (see 24:41). Literalists do not
accept this as symbolic language, and they expect that at the end of
time the just will be plucked from the earth by God (see 1 Thes 4:17).
Bumper stickers read, "Are you ready for the rapture?" It is another
example of taking symbolic language literally.
How should we understand the Antichrist? The term Antichrist appears
only in the first and second epistles of John. It is clearly a term
symbolic of the forces working against Christ in all periods of
history, not a clue about a specific individual. If someone observed,
"Every family has skeletons in the closet," you would miss the point
if you started searching the hallway closet!
Doomsday Passages in Scripture
We now take a closer look at how the Bible treats the end of the
world. We are familiar with various kinds of literature: poetry,
science fiction, history, satire. Most people are not familiar with a
kind of literature called "apocalyptic." It was very popular from
about 200 B.C. to 200 A.D., a time of great crisis in Israel.
The Greek word apocalypse (in English, revelation) literally means "to
draw back the veil." When times were tough, writers tried to bring
comfort by putting things into a wider perspective. Baseball managers
try to do the same when their team is in a slump: "We were riding high
at the beginning of the season, but now the sky has fallen in. Well,
we've been through tough times before. It's a long season and we've
got the horses."
Apocalyptic literature attempts to give assurance that, however bad
things may be, one need only draw back the veil and see things in the
perspective of the great battle against evil, and appreciate the
length and breadth and depth of God's victorious power at work among
us.
To paint this larger picture, writers drew from a storehouse of stock
apocalyptic images that dwarfed the immediate crisis. Among the
standard images were: stars falling from the sky, the sun and moon
darkened, lightning, thunder, dragons, creatures with many eyes, four
horsemen, trumpet blasts, water turning to blood, plagues. It's a way
of saying that the present order of things is not the whole picture
and will be giving way to something new and much larger.
Strange pictures are conjured up when people take these apocalyptic
images literally. Imagine what would happen if people in future epochs
took literally images we use today: raining cats and dogs, hit the
roof, money coming out of his ears, two-faced, forked tongue, on cloud
nine and so on.
Don't look for coded messages
Biblical writers addressed the problems of their day. These past
events have parallels in every age, and we can learn from them. But
there is not the slightest indication that the authors were giving
secret coded messages about distant future events. The Bible is not a
coded message for a select few. It is the basic story of human life
for all people in every age.
But people continue to look for coded messages. For example, the Book
of Revelation, using apocalyptic language, speaks of a beast with
"feet like a bear's." Some people in modern times have actually
thought this was a secret message about Russia. Never mind that the
Book of Revelation was written for an audience of the first century!
This is the sort of thing that happens when Scripture is treated like
a word game.
And then there are numbers. A thousand years simply means a long time,
and a certain number of months means a short time. Those who take
these numbers literally become the William Millers of every age. One
of the favorites is the passage in the Book of Revelation which
assigns the number 666 to one of the beasts. The author, using the
numerical value of letters, was probably referring to the Roman
emperor Nero. Since then, people have applied it to world leaders in
every age, including Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and many others. Popes
have been fairly regular targets.
Sayings of Jesus about the end of the world
When the disciples marveled at the beauty of the Temple, Jesus told
them that some day it would all be destroyed. He uses apocalyptic
language: "There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come
from the sky....Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,
for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful
judgment upon this people" (Luke 21:11, 23).
Taken literally, this sounds like a dreadful end to the whole world,
but it actually refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Because he uses apocalyptic language, many of the sayings of Jesus
about the end of Jerusalem are wrongly applied to the end of the
world.
Still there are times when Jesus does talk about the end of the world,
and here too he uses apocalyptic language: "the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the
sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken" (Mt 24:29). We find
the same stock images in the 13th chapter of Isaiah, referring to the
fall of Babylon six centuries before Christ: "The stars and
constellations of the heavens send forth no light; the sun is dark
when it rises and the light of the moon does not shine...the heavens
tremble and the earth shall be shaken from its place."
There will be an end to history as we know it, and the fads and
fashions of this world are passing. When it will come is irrelevant-it
will come for each of us at death. And how it will come is unknown,
because apocalyptic language is symbolic and cannot be plumbed for
secret clues that simply aren't there. The basic message of these
passages is a clear one: If we live as though the finite horizons of
this life were the whole of reality, we are fools indeed.
The second coming of Christ
There was a time when it was customary on Ascension Thursday, after
reading the Gospel, to extinguish the Paschal Candle-as though Jesus
were gone and we were left to await his second coming at the end of
time.
Scripture doesn't use the phrase second coming, but speaks of various
comings of the Lord, often using the Greek work parousia ("presence,
coming"). Jesus promised his disciples that he would come back to
them, and he did come back after the Resurrection, breathing the
Spirit upon them and fulfilling the promise that the Father and he
would make their dwelling with them (and with us). In Matthew's
Gospel, his last words are, "And behold, I am with you always, until
the end of the age" (Mt 28:20).
We believe that his presence will be manifest in a much fuller way at
the end of the age, which will be the parousia. We shouldn't picture
this as an arrival from outer space, as though he had to come "from a
distance." The image of Jesus "seated at the right hand of the Father"
expresses honor, not geographic place. The image of Jesus coming on a
cloud is an apocalyptic expression, taken straight from the Book of
Daniel-"I saw one like a son of man coming on the clouds of
heaven" (7:13)-and should not be taken literally.
The Eucharistic Prayer for Children III expresses all this quite well:
"Jesus now lives with you (Father) in glory, but he is also here on
earth among us....One day he will come in glory."
We don't really know what it will be like when Jesus, already present
among us, fully manifests himself in glory at the end of the age. It
will be probably be as different from our expectations as was every
other "parousia," including the incarnation.
Is the end of the world near? No one has any idea. It could be 40
million years away (the sun has at least that much fuel) or it could
happen a week from Tuesday.
A frightening end or a new birth?
Perhaps the best way to describe the end of the world is to see it as
history coming to term. This is a birth image, which is one of the
images Jesus used. We are within history, which is like being in the
confines of the womb, and what a mistake it would be to think there is
not a wider reality ahead of us. It would be equally a mistake to
think that what we are about now is unimportant. Just as in a
pregnancy, what is being formed is very important to what shall be, so
in the process of history, what is taking shape will be very much
related to what is born into the reign of God. We are not throwaways,
and this is not a throwaway world.
While the end of this stage might be frightening, as birth can be, it
need not be seen as catastrophic. It is a passing over into something
not fully known. When a child is born, almost all its points of
reference are changed, and that can be traumatic. But it is a
beautiful event.
We have a wide picture of salvation. We really believe in the saving
of this world, the one we're living in. In his miracles Jesus gave us
a taste of the Kingdom emerging into this world, and the world into
the Kingdom. We don't take this world or history lightly.
Catholics generally are not preoccupied with prophecies of impending
doom. They have an optimistic view of the world, and see the end as
the gradual (not sudden) passing of creation into God's realm. They
give value to the things of earth by incorporating them into their
journey to God. Perhaps this is related to our rather "earthy"
tradition of using material things- palms, ashes, water, bread, wine,
oil, fire, incense, vestments, colors, icons, symbols-in our worship.
But on the other hand, we don't have the illusion that this is the
whole of reality. What a tragedy it would be if a person were to gain
the whole of this world and destroy oneself in the process.
Apocalyptic imagery can be used badly to make it seem as though "the
end" were simply a matter of the just being plucked from the deck of a
sinking ship (the universe) and transported to a new ship unrelated to
this one. It can trivialize the significance of Jesus becoming part of
our world in the incarnation. In so doing, it can trivialize the
length and breadth of salvation.
When will it all happen?
When will history come to term? When will the "birth" happen? We don't
know. There is no indication that it is near, and there is no
assurance that it is far. What is important is not when it will
happen, but that it will happen. History is short when put in
perspective. The Second Epistle of Peter reminds us, "But do not
ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a
thousand years and a thousand years like one day" (3:8).
What is also important is that our own end is relatively near. By the
insurance mortality charts, I have 23 years left. Only God knows the
actual count. In the Parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus presents this
perspective in language we can all understand. After a bountiful
harvest the rich man plans to store his grain in bigger barns,
believing be can now rest, eat, drink, be merry. God says to him, "You
fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you
have prepared, to whom will they belong?" (Lk 12:20)
When we see ourselves and this world in the perspective of history
coming to term, we see with different eyes. Things that seem so
important within the limited horizon of the womb of history become not
so important. Things that seem not so important in this world's eyes
become very important. It changes one's whole attitude about what you
want to do with your life.
Instead of fretting about the question of "when," therefore, we are
wiser to focus on the question of "who"-namely, upon a loving God who
promises to walk with us to the end, whenever that occurs. Our
understanding of the "end" flows from a real-life conviction about the
here-and-now meaning of our lives and our universe. In short, we
believe with St. Paul that the same God "who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil
1:6).
Bishop Kenneth E. Untener, a native of Detroit, has a doctorate in
theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. In 1977 he was
appointed rector of St. John's Seminary, Plymouth, Michigan. In 1980
he became bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw. A writer and popular
lecturer, Bishop Untener regularly conducts retreats for priests and
gives talks around the country.
Drew Sagan
A very clear passage for me in scripture is Luke 21:8 which states
"And he said, Take care that you are not tricked: for a number of
people will come in my name, saying, I am he; and, The time is near:
do not go after them."
It is quite clear from this passage that Christ tells his followers
NOT to be fooled by those who claim that the time for amazing things
to happen is at hand. This is of course totally contrary to
Watchtower thinking from the start of the movement (CT Russell had a
book entitled 'The Time is at hand').
I believe that this passage teaches us that anytime we believe that
something going on in the world around us is a 'sign' we are in
error. Rather than pointing toward what would be going on during the
'time of the end' in Matther 24, I believe Christ was pointing out how
the world was actually going to continue on in the same path. Things
will happen but nothing will give us a warning of his return, how else
could he return as a theif?
Christ cannot come without any warning, but at the same time have all
kinds of noticable signs and events that 'tip us off'. Anybody who
lends themselves to such ideas I feel is in danger of getting to
emotional involved in things that go beyond the faith and move in to
skepticism.
-Drew
Ravyn Guiliani
My Blog URL
http://blog.myspace.com/ravynz_roost
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