![]() ![]() ![]() Physical/earthly realities such as social injustice, violence, hunger, preventable sickness, and the destruction of nature are invitations to the church of Jesus to get our hands dirty and proclaim that this world matters (even in its broken state)! Christ will complete creation upon his return, uniting heaven and earth for the life of the age to come! This world’s worth to the Creator runs deep and because of this, the world as a whole ought to be intrinsically valuable to us. Nothing in the text (if read in its proper context) alludes to the actual complete destruction of the planet. The Bible flows from Creation (Gen 1-2) to Renewed Creation (Rev 21-22). What I’ve come to realize is that the church of my youth probably had the rapture all wrong. Certain Christians understood the timing of the rapture as it corresponds to the book of Revelation differently than others, but no one ever denied the imminent return of Jesus to evacuate the church out of earth. Eventually this planet would be destroyed and we Christians would “fly away” to heaven at the rapture of the church. This distinction came with a subset of beliefs about the destiny of God’s world. Jesus and spiritual bliss in a distant heaven = goal of the game.I did not grow up in a church culture that taught that we ought to tell outsiders how much they suck, but that this “world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through.” Now, this is not hatred toward the people on earth. ![]() So we are to love Jesus and hate the world. The world, after all, is corrupt and the place we truly long for is far, far away – heaven. ![]() People genuinely taught me that loving Jesus matters more than anything else in the world. Most of what I recall from those early childhood and teenage years bring memories of good things. ![]()
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