So I googled the phrase “Christianity without eschatology“ and I was surprised that nobody has used this term in a positive way on the internet before. Only 10 results. Every reference I found was negative.
Like in some book on google books Immense Unfathomed Unconfined: The Grace of God in Creation blah blah blah by Sean Winter (have no idea who that is) from 2013 “Yet, as the pivotal debates of twentieth-century theology showed, a Christianity without eschatology is itself likely to be a distorted Christianity.4” Really interested to find how that is so, I immediately looked down at footnote 4, only to find its a kind of “Karl Barth said so” fallacy.
Barth is quoted as saying “If Christianity be not altogether thoroughgoing eschatology, there remains in it no relationship with Christ.” Absurd.
Another book, by Carl E. Braaten, says “Christianity without eschatology and Marxism without transcendence are two heresies fighting each other.”
These people must think they’re really smart, but its clearly the opposite.
A Presbyterian website says “Christianity without eschatology is no good news for the world.”
A thesis on Scribd says “Is a Christianity without Eschatology still Christianity? Diving into Revelation immerses oneself in the grandiose tradition of mystical apocalyptic writings but also…”
So, let’s ask the simple question, Can there be Christianity without eschatology, and would it be a good thing, or a bad thing?
Well, of course there can be. Its pretty much what I grew up with. Yes, there was eschatology, the whole “Jesus could return at any moment thing” but nothing like the rapture and Left-Behind and all that nonsense. But in reality, despite the few sermons that attempted to scare the crap out of the kiddos that Jesus could return at any moment and catch you with your hand in the cookie jar, mostly, it was a Christianity without eschatology: Christianity is about going to heaven to be with Jesus when you die, not about some kingdom on this earth, not about waiting in the grave for the second coming and the resurrection. You die, and if you’re saved, you go to heaven, and if not, to hell. No waiting period. That’s Christianity without eschatology, and its the only Christianity I find worth beleiving in today.
Eschatology is fantasy. Its Jewish fables, like Titus tells us to avoid. Yes, eschatology is all over the New Testament, but I’m growing more and more to see it as interpolations by Judaizers. After all, when people get off on their eschatology kicks, they begin diminishing the gospel and pushing Judaism, Judaizing, Jew World Orders, Kingdoms on this earth for Jewish Supremecists, etc. The gospel gets lost.
Also, let me ask a simple question…should I be more scared that Jesus might come back tonight and catch me watching a dirty movie? Or that I might have a heart atack and die while watching the dirty movie and miss heaven? In other words, eschatology of the sort of “Jesus can return at any time” is used as a scare tactic, but one that is lame, and really doesn’t work for long. It works for kids…for a few years. It doesn’t work for adults. After 10, 20 years of him not coming, you begin to realize he ain’t coming back for another 100, 200, 300, 1000, 2000, etc. years, and you slack off. Better to build your faith on what is real; live the Christian life because of judgement after death, not because a second coming might sneak up on you while you’re sinning.
Eschatology is ruining Christianity everywhere you turn. I’ve decided to just tune it out. Christianity is about going to heaven to be with Jesus after death, not awaiting a physical resurrection (Jesus rose physically, but sorry Paul, that doesn’t prove we all will too), not waiting for a Jew World Order (we’ve already got one anyway), not waiting for any number of loony end time scenarios from Revelation. All of this clownish stuff just cheapens the reality of Christianity, that Jesus saves souls to take to be with him in heaven after death. I’m going to just focus on the latter and let the unbalanced focus on all the circus gimicks.
“1) Does a Christianity without eschatology lose something important in expressing the solidarity of God with the poor?” (another site that shows up in the google search https://anoigmatic.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/the-powerful-have-no-need-of-eschatology-they-have-already-had-it/ )
The poor can believe in Jesus and go to heaven. That will be way better for them than hoping that some Jew World Order will care about them.
Another site from the 10 google found was https://thinkingreed.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/the-problem-and-necessity-of-eschatology/
Deception. Jesus’ resurrection is not eschatology. The resurrection of everyone at the end of time or on the last day, or splitting that into a first and second resurrection as in Revelation, would be eschatology, but Jesus’ resurrection is NOT eschatology.
In a comment at http://dev.atoday.org/what-is-adventist-eschatology-good-for/ , Stephen Ferguson said “The gospel message is fundamentally eschatological.” But he also said “Buddhism is eschatological in seeking to get us out of the endless cycle of violence that is the wheel of samsara.” This shows a total lack of understanding what eschatology means. Going to heaven after death is not eschatology. Thus in Buddhism, exiting the cycle of reincarnation is not eschatology. Eschatology is about the end of the world. Buddhists don’t believe that the world will ever end, but do believe that individuals will exit the cycle of reincarnation into the world. Similarly, Christians need not believe that the world will end, but only that Christians go to heaven when they die. A Christian can believe Ecclesiastes 1:4 instead of any number of fantastic eschatological theories put forth by the Judaizing interpolators in the New Testament, and Ecclesiastes 1:4 says “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.”