Recently I was astounded when my partner, who was raised in a strict Christian sect, informed me of a worrisome trend among American Christians: Many fundamentalists and evangelicals want to bring on the ‘end times’ — thus hastening ‘the rapture’ and the glorious return of Christ. They want our society to fail and fall apart. They want our world to be judged and destroyed.
She and I are both horrified by this supposedly ‘devout’ longing. To us, it’s a stark, striking indicator of extreme self-centeredness and arrogance.
Think about it: these folks want to hasten ‘the end of the world’ — the complete collapse of the world as we know it — so that they can be wafted up to Heaven, while all the ‘sinners’ and non-Christians are cast down into Hell. These folks believe in their own total ‘righteousness’ and are happy to condemn everyone else to eternal misery and damnation.
Does that sound like ‘Christian brotherly love’ or Christ-like compassion to you? I didn’t think so. These beliefs are cruel, mean-spirited, and decidedly UNChristian.
In truth, the whole religious/Christian concept of ‘the end times’ is wrapped in enigma, confusion, spite, and plain old human folly and arrogance. As a belief system, it’s both very potent and a complete mess.
In this article, I attempt to sort the wheat from the chaff, and also offer an entirely different take on the concept of ‘end times.’
What does ‘the end of the world’ even MEAN?
First off, let’s dispense with the broad fear that the world will just ‘end.’ The earth has been here for billions of years (though many Christians believe it’s only been a few thousand years), and has gone through many eons-long cycles of change, evolution, and extinction. Biologists say we’re currently in the midst of the sixth extinction — and every week, numerous species are disappearing and possibly going extinct. But the earth always … remains.
So the earth Herself is going to survive (short of a super-violent, gargantuan celestial event). But that doesn’t mean our human societies will be able to keep going ‘as is.’ In fact, every society that’s ever existed has gone through a cycle of growth, over-expansion, decadence, decline, and eventual collapse. No society is immune, and no society lasts forever.
Thus, when people talk about the ‘end times’ or TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it), what they’re really referring to is our all-too-human fear of societal collapse and/or overwhelming, catastrophic changes in the world of nature.
And today, when ‘climate change’ — which is actually intensifying climate disruption — is accelerating and becoming more and more obvious, all around the world, it’s safe to say that we are in the early stages of TEOTWAWKI. Today. That’s simply a fact, at this point.
But oddly — bizarrely — many Christians who believe in ‘end times’ prophecies and the coming ‘rapture’ also angrily reject climate change and proven climate science as a ‘liberal hoax.’
They say that human activities simply can’t change our climate — because only God can do that. They are perfectly OK with empowering God to drastically change our climate — and to destroy and ‘punish’ us — but in doing so, they totally disempower humanity, deny scientifically verified realities, and condemn our societies to inaction and accelerating collapse and chaos.
But that’s all just fine and peachy — because hey, God-the-judge-and-destroyer is also going to swoop down and save us.
Oh, wait — I forgot, God is only going to save some of us … that is, a few of us. Only the true Christian faithful are worthy of being saved. Everyone else — the vast majority — is condemned to eternal damnation.
Excuse me, but that’s arrogant, offensive, and downright cruel.
As I said, for the most part, Christian ‘end times’ beliefs are a confused, completely unloving, spiteful, and antagonistic mess.
Are we living through ‘end times’ … or awakening — or both?
Still, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that we are, in a sense, living through ‘end times.’ But what does that really mean? Exactly what is really ending or disappearing?
I’ve been thinking about these questions long and hard for many years, and I’ve concluded that the real ‘end times’ that we’re experiencing are almost the polar opposite of the Christian version. Human affairs abound in illusion and delusion — and much of what American Christians ‘believe’ about reality and our ‘end times’ is either not true at all, or just wishful thinking, or both.
For example, I’d say that humanity’s long-term denial of global ecological issues is the primary cause of climate disruption and increasing ‘end times’ chaos. Our arrogant, willful blindness about how our societies operate, and about the horrific effects we’re creating all around the world, has led us directly to this ‘point of no return’ — where we’re now rapidly breaching dangerous climate tipping points. (But incredibly, most American Christians refuse to believe any of this.)
The truth is, WE are busily creating the preconditions for accelerating ‘end times’ chaos. We have been willfully blind and caught up in our naive, arrogant belief that we’re somehow ‘separate’ from — and superior to — the natural world that surrounds us.
But since the 1970s, humanity has slowly been waking up to what we’ve really been doing, all across the planet. It’s a depressingly slow process, this mass awakening — but it’s starting to happen. It’s gradually been spreading and gathering steam.
Our old destructive, dysfunctional ‘models’ of human life and society are being exposed as the dangerous shams that they are, and more humane models and systems are starting to emerge, all around the world. Patriarchy, misogyny, racism, greed, and ecological destruction are slowly being rejected and supplanted.
Backlash: the reactionary drive towards endarkenment
However, there’s also a powerful worldwide backlash to this awakening process: a frightening, compulsive reactionary drive towards endarkenment.
Much of humanity’s current dilemma re: how to deal with climate disruption and our destructive oil-based economies results from our overall refusal to deal with reality and let go of the past (as well as our current addictively ‘comfortable’ reality). We’d much rather go on living in illusion and delusion, as if ignorance really is bliss.
But — it’s not. We’re not living in bliss. Rather, we’re increasingly living in fear — for WE are collectively bringing on these destructive ‘end times,’ and our ignorance and mass recalcitrance are proving disastrous. And some of us know it.
Yet scarily, many of the Christians who so strongly believe in ‘end times’ prophecies have no idea at all that they themselves, and their rigid, backward beliefs, are among the primary causes of our current tribulations. Their arrogance, denial of scientific truths, and intense clinging to outmoded social models like patriarchy and misogyny are leading us to dire social chaos and environmental disaster.
They are, sadly, very much on the wrong side of history — and will be remembered as a prime motive force behind mankind’s stupendously idiotic refusal to adapt and change.
Humanity seems to be bifurcating into two main groups: those who want to grow, change, and adapt, and those who willfully insist on maintaining everything ‘as is,’ and keep working to tamp down or eliminate all change and growth.
But life IS about change and growth. By aligning themselves with the forces of ignorance, denial, and cruel inhumanity, many Christians have chosen a path of deeply UNChristian belief and behavior, and are acting as unwitting agents of impending apocalypse (though some are deliberately choosing to hasten ‘the apocalypse,’ as noted earlier).
Either way, their deep refusal to adopt more humanistic, open, and respectful attitudes toward life, scientific truth, and much-needed social reforms is leading directly to our escalating ‘end times.’
Endings, new beginnings … and possible rebirth
However, that’s not the whole story either. At the deepest level what’s really in the process of ending are the aberrant, dangerous beliefs and denial-laden behaviors that many American ‘Christians’ embrace.
If humanity is to survive at all … these ancient, delusional belief systems simply have to go. The time for separateness, arrogance, patriarchy, and social misanthropy is over — but for now, these deeply ingrained systems and attitudes are putting up quite a fight, as they struggle to survive and continue their domination.
Ultimately, it’s them (our wrong-headed beliefs) or us. This issue truly IS black-or-white. We can hold onto outmoded, backward, and dangerous beliefs — and go down in flames — OR we can evolve, change, and grow into a better, saner future. Today’s intolerant, oppressive, and cruel ‘Christian religion’ requires intense reformation and reformulation — a total overhaul. It needs to reverse direction, and re-focus on Christ’s essential message of love and compassion.
In an astounding, forehead-smacking piece of bizarre cosmic irony: if there WAS a ‘Heaven,’ arrogant Christian ‘end times’ believers would assuredly not end up there, and surely wouldn’t be among the ‘saved.’ No, in their hateful zeal and cruelty they’d likely be bound for that … overheated, ugly Other Place (if there was such a place).
. . .
Meanwhile, our awakening … continues. Humanity as a whole needs to keep moving in the direction of truly living Christ’s most fundamental teachings — such as ‘love your neighbor’ and ‘treat others (including the natural world and its inhabitants) as YOU wish to be treated.’ That would give our intensifying global tribulations and these challenging ‘end times’ we’re living through some deep, vital meaning and importance.
Such a (ongoing) choice would mark a profound shift in human consciousness and evolution. It would make these difficult ‘end times’ … not just an ending, but also a new beginning and rebirth.
. . .
Editorial Disclaimer — The opinions expressed within this content are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the Medium website, its editors, or its affiliates.
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This post was previously published on ILLUMINATION.
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