How important is theology to your everyday life? Or another way to word this question is: "How important is the Word of God to your worldview?" Does your worldview affect the way you live, love and die? These rhetorical questions drive home the point that your view of God, and His revealed Word, is the single most important thing about you. Not how much money you have, how smart you are, or how talented you are. Because your view of God, as revealed through His Word, affects every aspect of your brief passage through this shadow called life.
My heart grieves, these days, over the cavalier way that God's precious truth, with regards to the return of Jesus Christ, is being treated, not by the world, but by some within the church and by some of her leaders. The movie, "Left Behind" which champions the doctrine of the rapture, has stirred up no small amount of debate and discussion about the veracity of the secret rapture being a separate event from the glorious public Second Coming of Christ.
Here is what deeply troubles me about the way some Christian leaders, with large realms of influence, are handling this important doctrinal issue. Some of these leaders have been using the Internet lately to drop heavy bunker-buster theological bombs as a "virtual air strike" on the rapture with seemingly little or no interest in fighting the nitty-gritty "ground war" of giving the full and careful biblical exposition of their beliefs. One individual, named Kevin, who inspired the title of my blog article, with the following words in response to a Christian leader who linked to Zach Hunt's article where he denies the forth-coming of the rapture:
Kevin says, "In my opinion...it is quite a disservice to the Church to drop a "bomb" on a particular subject and then refuse to discuss/debate it." Kevin further states, "Historical tradition should not be a basis for theology. Biblical reference must always be the basis."Notice what the Bible says about the nobility of proper scriptural interpretation:
"The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." (Acts 17:10,11)Kevin must be from Berea (or at least an Honorary Berean :). You see, here is my concern: Whichever view of the rapture is ultimately right, how can Christian leaders treat such important and lofty biblical subjects so lightly as to carelessly drop a "theological bomb-shell" on the church via the internet without the commitment to first teach the sheep what the scriptures have to say on the subject in a careful verse-by-verse, "whole counsel of God", exposition.
Kevin, I agree with you, it is, as you put it, "quite a disservice to the Church to drop a "bomb" on a particular subject and then refuse to discuss/debate it". Christian leaders are called to a very,very high and solemn standard by Christ Himself, the Head of the Church, who walks among the lampstands (the local churches as discussed in the book of Revelation). Jesus loves to "hang in His 'hood" with His "Homies", to use modern vernacular. The church is where He hangs...where He abides. He is Truth (John 14:6) and His word is truth (John 17:17). He has called His disciples (especially the leaders within the church) to this standard:
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15).
"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." (James 3:1)
"Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." (I Timothy 4:16)I am not denying that there are good people and good theologians on both sides of the rapture debate, but what troubles me is the cavalier way doctrine is being handled by many within the church, by church leadership and by those who dwell "outside of Berea" in the dark catacombs of mere human logic and reasoning.
Sola Scriptura.
