Is a fixation on the "End Times" the gravity for a superiority complex?
I’ve long found it hard to understand, much less appreciate, the excessive fascination over “End Times” stuff among believers. Taking it a step further, I see the dogmatic prioritization of eschatology (end times stuff), in a substantial portion of the church, to be both frightening and recklessly inappropriate.
My chief concern here is that it trains our focus away from that for which we have been created. It draws us into picturing ourselves across some sort of finish line that is not only elusive, but likely not within our reality … at least if history is any precedent. Projecting that more broadly up over the church, we see an institution that wants to write the rest of humanity off, wage war against culture, and/or shelter itself away from the “world.”
I can’t help but see this as something rooted in a mistaken sense of superiority. One that fails to honor what the church is called to be. Moreover, who we were created to be.
The Divine Intent was not to merely create a human, but rather a humanity. And by God pouring the Divine Image and Likeness into humanity, we must each accept that insofar as the image of God is in any of us, it is in all of us.
The theological significance of that, according to Stanley Grenz, is this: Just as God is the ground of our being, so too is God the ground of the VALUE of our being.
Beyond that, our creation in the image of God places an ecological significance upon us as well. In other words, our special status sets us in special relationship to the rest of creation. It’s a relationship that assumes upon each of us a tremendous obligation for the world around.
Despite this, I see the eschatological fixation fanning a troubling flame. It burns with a sense of indifference … As if we’re just waiting for the next train out of here. Even worse, it kindles the notion of being "better than ... " As if we deserve an outbound seat simply because we're us ... not them.
If we assume such a stance, how unlikely will effectively engaging in ethical and relational dominion over creation become when we’ve already given ourselves to shirking our ecological responsibility? How can we love others like ourselves when we fail to even see others like ourselves?
So, as this Holy Week marches on toward Good Friday, remember … that person you can't stand, or those folks you’re thankful not to be one of … their redemption commanded the exact same market price on Calvary as yours did.
An eschatological fixation seems to always forget that. It boasts an “us v. them” mentality. It says, “I can’t wait to get my crown of glory and watch them get the scorched earth they deserve.” It tricks us into the belief that we name the value for ourselves ... and for others.
Calvary didn’t work that way. Eschatology won’t either.
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