#barbara rossing

[wellconstructedsentences]

The Rapture is a racket. Whether prescribing a violent script for Israel or survivalism in the United States, this theology distorts God's vision for the world. In place of healing, the Rapture proclaims escape. In place of Jesus's blessing of peacemakers, the Rapture voyeuristically glorifies violence and war. In place of Revelation's vision of the Lamb's vulnerable self-giving love, the Rapture celebrate the lion-like wrath of the Lamb. This theology is not biblical.

The Rapture Exposed by Barbara Rossing

[tristansherwin]

UTTER ... HOPE (MARANA THA, REV. 22:20) 'Some people walk about with their head in the clouds. Others walk about with their head in the sand. The church is called to be neither. Not the fanaticism of those who have mentally left the planet, nor the complacency of those buried in the present age. But a people who live fully and faithfully in the present—with hearts genuinely oriented toward the future.'

UTTER ... HOPE (MARANA THA, REV. 22:20)

[comtedemoney]

The Rapture Exposed

The idea of “The Rapture”—the return of Christ to rescue and deliver Christians off the earth—is an extremely popular interpretation of t...

The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation by Barbara R. Rossing

The book's blurb:

The idea of “The Rapture” — the return of Christ to rescue and deliver Christians off the earth — is an extremely popular interpretation of the Bible’s Book of Revelation and a jumping-off point for the best-selling “Left Behind” series of books. This interpretation, based on a psychology of fear and destruction, guides the daily acts of thousands if not millions of people worldwide. In The Rapture Exposed, Barbara Rossing argues that this script for the world’s future is nothing more than a disingenuous distortion of the Bible. The truth, Rossing argues, is that Revelation offers a vision of God’s healing love for the world. The Rapture Exposed reclaims Christianity from fundamentalists’ destructive reading of the biblical story and back into God’s beloved community.

There is a reason both dispensationalism and The Rapture are peculiar to English-speaking Evangelical sects: they originated in the late 19th c. in England in a sect called "The Plymouth Brethren". The Church, however, neither holds nor teaches either of these.

Barbara Rossing does an excellent job of debunking and exorcising these false teachings. Her book was a useful part of a Bible study class on the book of Revelation which our former rector led a few years ago. It was a joyous relief to several of us raised in sects who did teach those things that they were not part of the ancient Christian faith.

[buggie-hagen]

God came to be born in the world. Jesus is God's final word incarnate in the world and that word is "yes." God loves the world enough to live in it.

Barbara Rossing, "The Rapture Exposed," p. 11

[buggie-hagen]

with reflection by Barbara Rossing

[andrewrpierce]

We differ, first of all, on our views of God - whether our God is a God whose will is to destroy the world. Second, we differ on whether Christians are to embrace an escapist ethic, as Rapture proponents argue, or are to urgently love and care for the world in anticipation of Christ's return. These differences in ethics will be crucial for our future.

Barbara R. Rossing in The Rapture Exposed

[andrewrpierce]

Whether prescribing a violent script for Israel or survivalism in the United States, this [Rapture] theology distorts God's vision for the world. In place of Jesus' blessing of peacemakers, the Rapture voyeuristically glorifies violence and war. In place of Revelation's vision of the Lamb's vulnerable self-giving love, the Rapture celebrates the lion-like wrath of the Lamb. This theology is not biblical. We are not Raptured off the earth, nor is God. No, God has come to live in the world through Jesus. God created the world, God loves the world, and God will never leave the world behind!

Barbara R. Rossing in The Rapture Exposed: The Message Of Hope In The Book Of Revelation