Taylor on Dispensationalism

If you are one of the thousands who grew up on books like Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins and The Late, Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. If you are one of those who has become unsettled and confused but such theology (called dispensationalism). Or if you are one of those still convinced by ideas about "rapture" and "tribulation" here is a great article by a great guy named Aaron D. Taylor. It's called "the Day I Got Left Behind" from Sojourners. It doesn't challenge biblical exegesis, he's saved that task for someone else, it simply challenges the moral and biblical consistency of where such theology leads. Here are some quotes I gathered to give you a teaser.

"Never mind the fact that Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” and yet, when Israel was blasting the Lebanese to smithereens in 2006, preachers were calling it a “miracle of God” despite the fact that the war actually strengthened Hezbollah’s presence in the region. The same could be said about the Gaza raid last December."

All of a sudden, a cute little story about a boy thinking he has missed the rapture isn’t so cute anymore. If millions of others hold to the same beliefs, it could lead to a self-fulfilling premature apocalypse …"

"As evangelical Christians devoted to the truth of the scriptures, what do we do when we come across interpretations that seem to have dangerous consequences for humanity if everyone were to believe them?"

"To top it off, according to the Left Behind theology, if someone comes along with a solution to stop Jews and Palestinians from slaughtering each other, according to the same interpretation of scripture, that person has to be the devil (the antichrist to be exact)!"

Read the article.