"Do I mow the lawn today?" and other theological questions...

Judgement Day. May 21, 2011. 6:00pm.

So says the Harold Camping of Family Radio ministries, a Conservative Christian evangelistic ministry. Important to Christian theology is the idea of the end things ("eschatology"), whether it be "what happens when I die?", "what happens to the world?", "is there a heaven?", or "is there a hell?" The Bible says alot about end things. These are important faith questions. The danger arises when answering those questions becomes the consuming passion, and not living out our faith. Perhaps Harold Camping is sincere and convinced. Tomorrow he will be a very disappointed man.

Judgment Day prophets have been around for a very long time. In fact, the Gospel of John records that end time speculation started even before Jesus' death! There have been lots of end time predictions through history, and many times people have climbed mountains to wait...and wait...and wait. I'm amazed by how the media has picked this up. Why the fascination with this End Times prophet? Is it just a warmup for the Mayan/Nostradamus 2012 End-of-the-World prophecies? There is certainly a public taste for this coverage, and it is interesting to watch the twitter posts as people confidently (?) proclaim that the world isn't ending. MTV is suggesting top five movies for end of the world, the Washington Post is predicting good weather for the end of days, and CNN suggests a last meal at your favourite restaurant. A little bit of a circus, but it is a fascinating religious phenomenon (sorry, had to!)

I'm an evangelical Christian, and I believe in Judgment Day. I believe a time will come when God will say "Enough!" "Enough cruelty. Enough killing. Enough destroying this creation I once called 'very good'." I need to believe in a God who will one day bring justice to an injustice world, re-make the world as it was to be in the beginning. I think that is the point of Biblical prophecy; not to provide a road-map/checklist for the end times, but to give struggling people hope that even when if seems darkest, God is still there, and one day He will say enough.

So I will mow my lawn today, and get groceries. Maybe new sneakers. Or I guess I could wait til tomorrow. ;-)