jesserogerstourblog-deactivated asked: You're probably already tired of hearing conspiracy theory questions, and I'm not going to go into the details of what I believe to be true and what I think is false.
I certainly do not think the earth is controlled by lizard people (though my brother used to believe that wholeheartedly), but the NWO makes sense. I've asked you before, and you're a devoted Christian, so don't you think that the idea of an NWO following the total (seemingly deliberate) economic collapse of the United States seems very consistent with the book of Revelations?
I heard someone say recently, "This country is headed nowhere good. As for me... I'll keep my guns, my Bible, and my US Constitution at hand and prepare for the worst."
Ah, yeah, I knew the conspiracy theory questions would come sometime, though it’s not something I’ve happily anticipated. It probably comes with the territory of libertarian blogging. Hopefully I’m dealing with them well enough.
Actually, as a Christian, I don’t really think it’s wise, profitable, or consistent with God’s two all-encompassing commands to try to read current events — and especially specific people and people groups — into the book of Revelation.
The more we look for prophecy-fulfilling boogeymen all around us, the easier it is to forget that our enemies are not of flesh and blood — that even if we did happen to interpret a prophecy correctly and figure out that a given group would play some key role in the apocalypse (unlikely), our job isn’t to hate and fear them but to demonstrate to them the sacrificial love of Christ with ever more fervor. In this political climate, for instance, I too often see Christians interpreting Revelation as an excuse to hate and fear the Muslim community, and I find it absolutely heartbreaking.
For myself, I don’t know for certain how much of Revelation should be read literally, symbolically, allegorically, metaphorically, prophetically, historically, or some other -ally, but I do know that it’s concerning when “sincere Christians [waste] time trying to read [Revelation] like it is a cryptic horoscope of the future. This is tantamount to divination, which the Bible strictly forbids. I also worry that the bizarre apocalyptic pronouncements of some national Christian leaders, combined with the even more bizarre attempts of some to affect world politics on this basis (as some Zionist Christians have recently tried to do) justify non-believers dismissing Christianity as foolishness.” Whatever Revelation’s exact purpose (which I don’t claim to know) may be, it isn’t that.
Greg Boyd (with whose interpretations of the meaning of Revelation I don’t necessarily agree) puts it well:
For me, it’s enough to know that Jesus will return someday and set up his Kingdom. When and how he does so is irrelevant. In the meantime, our job is to work to build his Kingdom by living the way he taught us to live. That’s a 24-7 job, leaving no time for crystal ball gazing into the future!
Guns, the Bible, and the Constitution might come in handy, but above all the Christian is called to love.
