Credit for the name of the blog goes to my classmate at St Andrews Sam Adams. In the 'Bible and Contemporary World' programme we've been studying the Book of Revelation and its relevance for contemporary culture. Sam started a Facebook group called 'Rapture Survival Group' for the students to interact away from the official St Andrews discussion boards.
Rapture Survival sums up the essence of Revelation today. In the West we have become so influenced by the Left Behind series that a lot of Christians assume that there will be a rapture of saints before the trouble with the antichrist begins and then Jesus coming back. If you Google 'rapture survival' there are 452,00 hits with advice on how to survive the post-rapture period. At St Andrews we as a class watched a documentary which showed rapture survival kits available in the United States, most involve handguns. We couldn't believe it but we probably should.
So thanks to Sam for the name, may we use it well.
"So teach us to number our days..."
2 years ago
Although my brother bought me a copy of one of the Left Behind series, I never did get round to reading it. Quite glad really, as it doesn't tie in with my understanding of Revelation.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, wasn't Jesus' teaching about the possibility of inclusion in the Kingdom of God, not about some people proclaiming that they had exclusive special rights to some paradise or other?
My father once commented that he was hesitant about the theory that Christians would be "raptured up" and escape whatever tribulation was in store for the last days because this interpretation of Revelation came later in church history. Is that true?
ReplyDeleteRonnie, I think I'd like to address a few questions to help us understand Revelation better. OK, this is probably hermeneutics 101 but...
ReplyDeleteWhat did it mean to the people it was written to? Who were they, what circumstances did they face?
What cultural and religious references did John use in his writings? Did he subvert or change the meaning of any of those references? For example a lot of the imagery is from the Hebrew Bible - but how did John change that in the light of his Christian perspective?
What was the essence of John's message to his audience? If he only had 140 characters, how would he tweet it?
If we are content to interpret much of the Old Testament as referencing Christ, then the question of what Revelation meant to the people who heard it at the time arguably has no necessary bearing on how we interpret Revelation today.
ReplyDeleteFor them it could be about the Roman empire, or it could have served the purpose of keeping Christians in line. For us it could be the rapture. Disconnected-to-the-original reinterpretations has a surprisingly pervasive tradition, from what I'm aware.