We’re all going to die. No getting around it.

Maybe emerging technologies will make it possible to live much longer and, perhaps, even more healthily. Maybe we’ll become part flesh-and-blood, part machine. Maybe scientists will create human beings in the laboratory, replete with specially-designed characteristics. Maybe computer or artificial “intelligence” will come closer and closer to mimicking the human brain and a hard line between man and machine will disappear altogether.

But, we’re all going to die. Whether it’s today, tomorrow or years down the road. Or, let’s broaden our perspective much further and extend that timeline. The human species is doomed, not just each one of us.

Think about it.

Even if we humans (or whatever we are called in the far future if we survive that long) make it for billions of years but don’t escape our planet Earth, this world will fry when the sun dies in a burst of massive energy. Or, if our species has left this planet long before and migrated elsewhere, in some form and by some means, the universe as we know it is also going to die. Physicists are now pretty convinced, given expansion rates and all sorts of other forces, that eventually the universe will plain “peter out.” It will run out of juice, sort of like those dimmable light bulbs as you turn them down until the light fully disappears. All life in this universe will cease to exist.

We’re all going to die.

And with the end of the universe as we know it, time will end, too. You may recall that time is relative, as Einstein so famously proved (a proof that has held up to the tightest scrutiny). It has to do with time’s interdependency with light and gravity, the latter two of which are part of the known universe.

Now, in keeping with this current theme of “Who is a Christian?”, we come to another fascinating set of beliefs, having to do with what lies ahead.

I’m going to briefly attempt to summarize these core beliefs, while also touching on some variations.

But, first, just like in my last post where I cited an image of a kind of clownish character demanding attention at sporting events in order to share a truth he firmly believed in, my mind here goes to another character, cartoonish if you will.

You’ve all seen it. The semi-crazed fellow, dressed usually in some sort of robe, standing on an urban street corner with the sign that says something like: Repent! The End is Near!

(Christians might recognize the loose connection with the famous prophet and cousin to Jesus we know as John the Baptist, who was similarly dressed in coarse clothing, possibly a little wild-eyed and unkempt … after all he ate locusts, we are told! … loudly preaching, “Repent!”)

Now, this cartoon fellow is echoing what some pretty serious people have been saying off and on for thousands of years. He’s saying that life as we know it is about to come to a quick conclusion. Humanity is going to soon awaken to an entirely new reality and it may not be pretty for many. Hence, “Get a grip! Change Your Behavior! Get Prepared!”

There are many, many reasons to be very skeptical about all of this. It’s incredibly easy to recall all of the predictions and prophesies of the end of the world … that have proven to be complete duds. Having said that, even non-Christians get on board and predict the end of humanity because of environmental or climate predictions, war, population explosions and food and resource implosion.

Predicting the end of all things has been a growth industry for millennia.

Which brings us back to Christians and what the mainstream believes. Are we in the End Times as no small number of churches profess and Christians believe? (For those who care, this is a branch of Theology called Eschatology… deep focus on the implication of being in the last days before God decides to pull the plug.)

To be extremely simplistic, there are two main sources of information, both from the Bible, that believing Christians refer to when it comes to the end of life as we know it.

The first is a set of “prophecies” or predictions by historical Jewish and Christian writers about the conditions that will precede the end, what it will look like as the end is “occurring” and what will follow. These include extensive passages from the Hebrew Scriptures (or Old Testament) and some from the New Testament, written shortly after Jesus’ death.

The second source is the accounting, in the four Gospels in the New Testament, of the actual teachings of Jesus.

Let’s set aside for the moment skepticism about how authentic these are and grant that a lot of this is accepted as at least fully or partially true by the vast majority of Christians around the world.

These prophesies and predictions are directly tied to a set of beliefs that go like this:

God created the universe and all that is in it. God created mankind for a specific purpose. Things went awry as men and women sought to be their own gods, in essence, and our species is “fallen.” God sent his Son to lead people back into the fold, still giving us choice. We currently live in that time now. The last step is that God will choose a time to make the whole thing right again, return everything to its original purpose. This is the Four-Part Story of which I’ve written before. Creation. Fall. Redemption. Restoration.(For reference, I wrote a seven-part series that included this in October, 2018.)

Most Christians believe that Jesus will “return” to set things right. When and how that actually happens is open to conjecture. A close reading of scripture generally suggests that those afforded “heaven” as an eternal afterlife, will not be strumming harps and beating their wings while resting on clouds … but, instead, experience a whole new reality that makes the grandest and most joyful experience in this one seem bland and boring.

There are popular versions of the possible End Times scenario, which include a period called the Tribulation. This thinking is connected with the notion that believers will get to bypass a terrible time on earth before things are set to rights. Instead, they will be instantly zipped up to heaven via the Rapture. In this teaching, non-believers will be “left behind” and face plagues, wars and all sorts of vile things, given one last chance to come to belief and be “saved.” The chronic naysayers are in deep trouble. In some Christian circles, there is talk of pre-Trib and post-Trib. The most famous popular depiction of this line of thinking was in the wildly successful series of novels with the apt title Left Behind.

A somewhat softer but non-inconsistent viewpoint on End Times thinking refers to Jesus’ many teachings to his disciples, one of the most direct being that they should keep their “lamps lit,” for they would not know the day or the hour of his return. Not only were they to stay firm with the John 3:16 reminder but they were charged with living out a life based upon Jesus’ example … and with the ever-present thought that his “return” could happen at any moment.

I will explore that a bit in my next piece but I’ll conclude this one with the following thoughts:

There are many, many reasons why I believe that Jesus existed and that the chronicle of his life and teachings are accurate. There are many, many reasons why I made the highly improbable shift from skeptic and critic to believer. I have written on much of this. I do believe that we will all meet Jesus one day, one way or another. That moment will be revelatory, to say the least. Whether the meeting will be before or after our mortal lives are finished, when and how he will “come again,” and whether or not there will be specific major calamities befalling all of us before his arrival … I cannot say with any certainty.

So, yes, however you look at it, I believe we are in unique age in human history and have been for two thousand years, when Jesus’ arrival on the scene changed the entire equation. I recognize that many people don’t see it that way, which I understand.

As a Christian, do I expect that Jesus will soon arrive on a cloud of glory? Sometimes, I hope so but I’m not losing sleep thinking about that. Instead, I try to live as if he may, but knowing full well that he may not.

Next: Transformation in this Life