Speculation that the COVID-19 pandemic is the prelude to the end of the world as we know it is starting to percolate among some Christians. But such speculation poses several serious problems. I want to identify several of them.
1. Calculations about the timing of the end of the world run counter to Jesus's own warnings that the coming of the Son of Man will occur unexpectedly (see Matthew 24:36-44 and Mark 13:32-37). Jesus's assertion that "about that day or hour no one knows...but only the Father" is ignored or explained away on the assumption that the real timetable has been revealed to us in Scripture. All we have to do is uncover what is hidden and make the right connections with events in our time. Experience has shown, however, that these connections are entirely subjective and open to adjustment when the predicted events do not occur.
2. Scripture can be twisted to make it say almost anything. For the most part, these apocalyptic readings of the Bible pick and choose texts willy nilly from selected biblical books (such as Daniel, Matthew 24, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation) and weave them together to create a highly speculative and subjective timetable of events. Passages often are lifted out of their literary and historical contexts and forced to fit with current events. There is no constraint on the interpreter's imagination. It can be twisted to mean almost anything. The Bible is treated as little more than a set of tarot cards or a Ouija board. Such abuse of Scripture treats it as little more than the local clairvoyant or fortune-teller.
3. The richness of the Gospel is narrowed to a fascination with the end of the world. The central Christian messages of the love of God for the world, of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, of the salvation that is provided through Jesus Christ, and of our vocation to serve the purposes of God in the world are pushed to the side in favour of speculation about the timing of Jesus's return. We are left with a truncated gospel that is really good news only for a select few. This is a pale shadow of the rich Gospel brought through Jesus Christ.
4. Speculation about the end of the world typically leads to the division of the world into the righteous and the damned, with little hope for the latter. Doomsday predictions tend to convey the message that the world is beyond redemption, that God has given up on the world and that all that remains is its judgments and final destruction. Such views can lead Christians to cocoon themselves in enclaves of the redeemed and to abandon any efforts to improve the world by alleviating suffering or seeking justice. If God is about the bring the world to an end, why would we be at all interested in it? Shouldn't we just hunker down and wait for the fireworks? But such a view loses sight of the truth that "God so loved the world..."
Having said all of this, it is not sufficient simply to dismiss the purveyors of end-time speculation as part of a fanatical and misguided fringe in the broad spectrum of Christianity. Behind the failed predictions, abuse of Scripture, and judgmental attitudes there is a kernel of truth. This is what makes coming to grips with predictions of the end of the world so challenging for Christians.
Our biblical faith is future-oriented in the sense that God's work in the world is in progress and awaiting its completion,. God is not yet finished with us; his Kingdom has not yet come in its fullness. This affirmation is the consistent testimony of Jesus in the Gospels, it undergirds Paul's theology and it dominates Revelation. Out Christian hope is based upon it. In a world that is focused on the immediate moment and has little sense of history or of a future, we are reminded of the Christian orientation toward the future.
Nevertheless, we must not narrow Christian hope to a particular scheme of events or a specific timetable. The good news of Jesus Christ gives us hope for the future that is richer than what is found in end-of-the-world predictions. As for me, I want the full Christian Gospel, not just the crumbs that fall off the eschatological table.
TO BE CONTINUED...CHRISTIAN HOPE