Where is the love?

So the day the world was supposed to end came and went and it seems that it was just another false alarm. Not many of us seem to have been surprised to still be here on May 22, as even most evangelical Christians thought Harold Camping was hopelessly misguided in his attempt to set an exact date for the rapture of the church.

Still, many Christians in this country do believe that the world is going to eventually end in a manner much like the one Camping described, and quite a few of them seem to think that the day is going to come relatively soon.

Much of this “end times theology” is based on the last book of the Christian Bible, Revelation. If you’ve never read that part of the Bible, it’s a little hard to describe. It is very symbolic and filled with metaphor, and throughout the centuries there have been widely varied opinions on what it might mean. There have been those who believe it describes events that happened in past, events that are in the process of occurring over a long period of time, or events that will happen in the future.

That last interpretation - that it describes a coming “apocalypse” that signals the end of the world - didn’t really take hold in Christian thought until the 19th century, and it didn’t gain a wide following until the Scofield Reference Bible came out at the beginning of the 20th century. Scofield’s notes on Revelation sketched out the end of the world scenario that continues to influence modern end times prophets like Hal Lindsey, “Left Behind” novelist Tim LaHaye, and Harold Camping.

I’ve read the book of Revelation several times, and my own personal interpretation is that I have no idea what it is trying to say. I’ve also perused the various modern and historical interpretations of it and frankly I’m not convinced that anyone knows what it means.

But of course there are plenty of people who do think they have it figured out, and a surprising number of churches seem to base much of their message around a particular interpretation of this difficult-to-fathom little corner of the Good Book.

The really surprising thing to me is that while some of these people seem enraptured (pardon the pun) by whatever fiery death Revelation may or may not predict for the world, they seem to pay less attention to parts of the Bible whose message seems to me to be a lot more clear and instructive.

I would imagine, for example, that anyone who calls himself or herself a follower of Christ would spend a lot of time reading the four gospels that document his words and deeds, using them as a guideline for how to conduct their own lives.

Interestingly, Jesus isn’t quoted as saying a much about how the world might end. Instead, he spent most of his time showing compassion to people the world tended to despise and imploring his followers to do the same. He also had a lot to say about loving your neighbor (Mark 12:31), forgiving others if you expect God to forgive you (Matthew 6:14), and serving God instead of living for worldly pleasures (Matthew 6:24.)

John 3:17 says that God sent his Son into the world not to condemn it, but that “the world through him might be saved.” I’m no theologian, but it seems to me that the people who think of themselves as Christians and spend most of their time looking for signs of the end of the world instead of showing compassion to their fellow man might have gotten seriously off track somewhere.

If America is truly a Christian nation, then shouldn’t we be a country full of people who are slow to judge others, seek spiritual enrichment rather than material gain, and constantly look for ways to be of service to those in need? Look around – is that what you feel surrounded by?