Here are some collected thoughts about the events of the week:
IF we don’t know how to read the books of the Bible within their genre, AND we were taught that time is scripted from the beginning, THEN it makes sense why people are so fascinated with the end of the world.
It’s a bad way to read the Bible inside an faulty way to understand history… of course it all comes crashing down (in our minds).
I thank God for Harold Camping. I didn’t realize how many people thought “well he is half-right. It is going to happen, it’s just that we don’t know when” until this week. This has been eye opening.
May 21 will pass without incident, but then 2012 is hanging over head.
Jesus said that all these bad things he was predicting would happen “within this generation” (Matthew 24:34). I think it was all in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 ad. Others say that he was somehow referencing that founding of Israel in 1947. But we have to be coming to the end of that ‘generation’ too.
At some point we are going to have to admit that we may have taken a wrong turn or we may be reading the ‘map’ wrong.
At least part of the wake up will be realizing that it is not a “map” at all – but an ancient style of political critique that is couched in prophetic imagination. It’s called Apocalyptic literature and since we don’t know how to read it – we think that Revelation is some sort of Newspaper account written ahead of time. It’s not. It is theo-poetics addressing the Roman Empire of the first century.
I would love to get your comments or hear any questions that you might have. I want this to be a safe space for honest conversation.
Here is a post after the last round of Earthquakes and Prophecy talk: LINK The Bible is not about the end of the world
Bo Sanders: Public Theology 
May 19, 2011 at 6:19 pm
This is an important insight! But, if so much of Christian life is focused on leaving the present to enter the eternal, what does that mean for meeting God? It is interesting to note that although the rapture seems to be an important tenet to Christian life and action, that there is not a lot of solid scripture on it. If Revelations is restrained to one geopolitical context, then it means almost nothing for us today. This is the only critique I have of your post- I think the ‘end of the world’ although highly symbolic of the human quest to know the meaning of our existence, it is also not impossible. Perhaps it will not necessarily mean the destruction of our planet, but that God’s spirit will renew our planet- ‘new heavens, new earth’, and what about the idea of God revealing everything to us? I’d like to hear your thoughts on prophetic imagination!
May 19, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Oh, another thing, it is interesting to note that I think the ‘wrong turn’ started with Paul and the early apostles- even he believed that the ‘end was near’, advising people to be single if they were able to do so, but married if they were desperate enough. 🙂