Eschatology and its Impact on Ecotheology
According to Wikipedia, “Christian eschatology is the branch of theological study relating to last things, such as concerning death, the end of the world, the judgement of humanity, and the ultimate destiny of humanity.”
In most theories around eschatology, the world ends. Typically, it’s predicted to burn up in a rain of fire sent as God’s wrath. Or it’s left to be destroyed by the heathens left after the rapture. Or it will crack down the middle and all of evil will be sucked into its depths. In almost every case, the world is abused and left for dead. So, of course there is a bias against the care of the Earth by believers. Why would it matter how much I recycle if i’m leaving for Heaven anyway? Why not use up all the resources as God intended, because he’s coming back to save us from this wretched place. This wretched Earth, who cares about it anyway. Wasn’t there a parable about how you shouldn’t keep your resources buried int he ground? Wasn’t the whole Earth not enough, so God made man? Isn’t the Earth meant for US? How am i supposed to fuel my private jet, in order to spread the gospel to expedite the end times, without fossil fuels?
Well, this week the group had a lot to say about how eschatology seems to be directly against the principles of Ecotheology. In my first blog, where I laid out the concept that WWJD would be Ecotheology. Jesus would probably be appalled at how eschatology as been misused to threaten the life he has created.
Our group has the pleasure of a non-believer. She had many questions on the checklist of the coming of the end times. The answers to what happens before the world ends can range, but in general literature around the topic tends to come up when things get tough for the life of the daily Christian. It could explain the influx of ‘end of the world’ movies today.
Most of our group was raised in the Post Millennialism mindset of eschatology. In general, this idea states that Christ will return after a 1,000 year long golden age. It encourages evangelicals, as Christ will only return when every soul has been given the opportunity to hear the gospel. The gospel will spread with a spiritual awakening over all the Earth. Evil will be routed, and requires Christians to educate everyone in preparation. Satan will lead a final rebellion after the 1,000 years and Jesus will come back to conquer him for the last time.
This supports the group’s observation that most eschatology feels like an ‘us vs. them’. Even when we evangelize, we are significantly more focused on bringing Jesus back and simply sharing the information, rather than genuinely helping others in need. There are even organizations, such as Operation World, that attempts to track of who still needs to hear the gospel.
Such a heightened focus on the end and a big war on Earth appears to support anti-conservatism, making it difficult to support Ecotheology. Why save and protect when it’s all going to hell anyway?
The group ended with a final curious thought. The scripture indicates that ‘The Elect’ includes every tribe and nations during the return of Christ. Then why is the church so white?
