Reading from Saturday, December 4

Yo yo.

Reading for December 4
Daniel 11:36-12:13
This is the last chapter of Daniel, and it contains a prophecy of the end times. This first major philosophical thing to note is what happens to those who are already dead:

There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. ² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Meaning that before the event described here occurs, everyone who died, simply died. No afterlife, no heaven, no hell, just death. What the prophecy here says is that those who have died will now be judged and go to heaven or hell for eternity. It is believed that the event being described here is the rapture - the theoretical time when Jesus returns to earth to rescue the believers.

After the initial rapture, it's believed that there will be seven years left of the earth. During those seven years, the people who weren't brought to heaven in the initial rapture would endure a very difficult time on earth, but those who came to faith and remained strong in their faith at the end of the seven years would also go to heaven and the rest of the world would be destroyed.

That's pretty heavy huh? What's everyone's thoughts on this whole end of the world scenario? Should this be taken literally or metaphorically? Every generation has expected it to happen in their lifetime. As I'm writing this I'm wondering if it coincides with the Mayan 2012 prophecy about the end of the world; and I'll bet a lot of Christian's expected Jan 1, 2000 to be the time of rapture with Y2K and all that nonsense. But seriously, scholars and friends, what is your interpretation of these stories?

1 John 4:1-21
More end of the world stuff.

I suppose as each Testament nears the end, its inevitable that a lot of the text will concern the end of things. Here, John mentions the Antichrist. The Antichrist is believed to be a person who will rise to great power on earth - and if I'm not mistaken I think he is supposed to come after the initial rapture occurs. He will win a lot of people to his fellowship and convince a lot of people that he is divine. John tells us what to look out for, and how to tell the real thing from the anti-thing:

² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

It's interesting that he says the spirit of the antichrist is "already in the world". Does that mean he has existed for over 2000 years and he's some immortal super beast that hasn't revealed himself yet, or does it mean that that type of attitude towards faith and Christ already existed at the time of this writing? That second one is probably the more likely case.

What's most remarkable about this chapter is that John goes from warning about the end of the world to once again reminding us to love one another. As if both things are equally important:

 ⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Then he closes with one of the most beautiful lines in all of the Bible, that sort of makes everything make sense:

¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This, I think, is so key. I will admit the possibility that God does not in fact exist. I can't prove he's real outside of feelings and emotions I've experienced. But the thing that makes him "real" is our reaction to his story. I spoke with my friend Pete about this a few months back. In the same way that the Democratic or Republican party doesn't actually "exist" in the sense that you can see and touch it, it exists because of the people who believe in their respective ideals and dedicate their lives to carrying out those ideals; God exists in the same way. I believe he is more than an idea put into practice by people, but for those who do not believe, you can't deny that God exists, even though he doesn't. As long as there are those who believe in him, and more importantly "love one another" he will "exist".

Psalm 123:1-4

so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
   till he shows us his mercy.

Proverbs 29:2-4

 ² When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice;
   when the wicked rule, the people groan.
 ³ A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father,
   but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
 ⁴ By justice a king gives a country stability,
   but those who are greedy for^[a] bribes tear it down.