End Days or New Beginnings?

There is a plethora of chatter these days among theologians, believers, new agers and spiritualists about the “end days” being upon us.

Fundamental Christians believe that Christ Jesus is soon to return and those who are saved will ascend to Heaven, while the Earth is destroyed and those who refuse to believe will find a much less desired fate. New Agers believe the world will be transformed into a higher level of vibration, closer to that of pure light, and that “heaven”, or “nirvana”, is actually here now, and all we have to do is tune into it en masse. Others have taken the Aztec calendar very seriously, and are convinced that in 2012 the end will come.

The Bible says that Jesus told us no one will know the hour. I prefer that approach. Not knowing is good for me. I don’t take the book of Genesis literally, but it is filled with some great wisdom. I love the parable of the tree of knowledge. God instructed his new children to leave it be, that it was for Him and Him alone! OK, new agers, for the Creator, which is both male and female. Being a non-fundamental and non-conformist Christian, I can deal with either concept of God.  For now, I’ll use the simpler Judaic form. I could easily write a book on the interpretations of God the Father, God the Father Mother, God the Source of All Being, and the manifold manifestations of the Most High.  Another time. The point is, the truth behind creation belongs not to mankind, but to God alone. The more we try to taste the fruit of that tree, the deeper the trouble we find ourselves in.

Imagine yourself as a parent trying to give your three year old an algebraic formula, or teach them how to do your job, whatever it may be. The child is just not going to be able to grasp the concept. Well then, why do we try so hard to second guess the nature and origins of creation? What do you want for your children?  I would think first and foremost you delight in them just being children. Having fun, exploring, living in the moment, being naturally beautiful and in your likeness, without a care in the world, knowing that their every need will be met by you.  Knowing your love is unconditional, that no matter what they do, they will be forgiven and embraced, and that you will light up with joy and love every time they come running into your arms. Whether they come obediently, joyfully and lovingly, or whether they disobey, run away, get hurt, and come back bruised and crying, you will welcome your children into your loving presence, protection and care. And they, at age three, never have to worry why you love them. They don’t wonder how or why you made them. They don’t sit around trying to figure out how mom and dad got here. They just love the fact that you are here, and they trust you to supply them and love them.

Well, duh, people. The first book of the Bible imparts this simple wisdom. Leave being God to God, and enjoy the Garden. Love one another, rejoice in being alive, and trust that He loves you unconditionally, forgives you for just about everything (that doesn’t mean there are no consequences, right mom and dad?), and is your infinite supply for your needs, and even some of your reasonable desires.

So, why are we so focused on the end times? Why are we in such a hurry to get out of the Garden? Maybe because it’s hard.  It’s frustrating.  It’s frightening.  It’s full of pain and suffering.  People are becoming more and more detached. We’ve become Godless and selfless. We westerners especially are self indulged, self absorbed and we have become slaves to technology and materialism. What we drive and where we live have become more important than HOW we live and HOW we drive. Why do I say that?  Do we race each other in the supermarket with our baskets, flip each other off and call each other vulgar names?  Hey you a-----e, I was headed for the peanut butter! Where’d you get your basket driving license, from the Sears Catalog?  Man, what a jerk!???  No, we don't act like that.  Why, we’re so polite when we make actual human contact. We say excuse me, we let the other guy go around us, and some of us (though not enough of us) will occasionally let someone go first in the check out line!  Yes, I’ve actually done that myself a few times, and even witnessed it occurring among other fellow shoppers!  Wow, we really can be nice to one another now and then.  But, put us behind the wheel and, watch out!  Out comes the Evil One!  It is because we are disconnected in our cars, like we are disconnected in our lives.  Our materialism and our addictions to technology and its constant stimuli are creating a race of detached zombies.  I keep praying it's an intermediate phase that we'll find eventual balance in, because technology does have its plusses. But, I'm worried.

I recently saw a family of five in a breakfast restaurant one morning, and every one of them was staring into some kind of high-tech data phone device or DST game toy. Not one of them was talking to the other. They even found it hard to look the server in the eye to order their food.  I think they would have preferred being able to text their orders in!  Being an entertainer I see it all too frequently. People sitting at bars, sitting at tables, texting away to someone they can’t see, can’t feel, can’t hear, completely removed from the people they are with, and definitely not tuned into the heart rendering performance I’m giving. We’ve become so addicted, and it is addiction (texting and DST gaming produce the same endorphins in the brain as cocaine, if you’re wondering why you just can’t get enough!).  We can’t even back out of a parking space before we're dialing that phone.  Hey, watch it a-----e!  Try putting both hands on the steering wheel next time!  Ooops, I think that was my pastor.  Hope he didn't see me flip him off!

So why not let it be the end of the world?  I mean, where do we go from here?  When you think about it, it’s downright scary!  I certainly don’t want to live in a world of self-centered technobots, do you?  Listless slaves to external stimuli, brain dead with no sense of wonder; hopeless and agitated, Godless and dreamless. Come on Jesus, hurry up and take us to those streets of gold. Let me just lay down and pass over to the world of light and love again!  Take me to someplace where the garden is fresh and new, where love reigns, where people love being in the presence of one another and God!  I'm ready, take me today.  I think that world was meant to be here, but we just had to have a taste of that apple, didn't we? 
No wonder we’re so bent on figuring out when the end is coming. We’ve dug ourselves a ditch. But folks, not everyone is digging that ditch. I see it in the church, even if I don’t prescribe to all of its notions about creation, God, Jesus's teachings and the afterlife. Still, I see people who live their lives in faith, loving God and trusting wholely and dutifully in Him. I see them loving others, learning to live the principles Jesus put forth in the Sermon On the Mount.  I see it in those who are living spiritual principles of selflessness, who, as Paul instructed, REJOICE IN THE LORD.  There is a movement so strong today, and Christianity has itself been reborn into a new light of love in action!  It had its moments of darkness, from the Crusades to the southern Baptist hellfire and brimstone era.  That's all changing, thank God.  Churches like Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, and Pastor Tom Mullin's Christ Fellowship, are giving Christianity a new name, and a solid new foundation in God's world.  They have cleaned up Christianity's act, and are impacting thousands upon thousands of lives in a new, exciting and wonderful way.  And while, again I stress, I do not adhere to every interpretation of fundamental Christianity, I believe wholeheartedly in what it is "fundamentally" about. People loving God more than themselves, putting the needs of others first, and having a heart for humanity like Jesus did.

When I hear people bash the church, I just have to shake my head and wonder, what have you done for someone else today?  Whose life have you changed?  Who have you loved?  Who have you reached out to?  Who have you forgiven?  Who have you blessed?  Who have you reminded that they are a beatiful child of God?  When is the last time you thanked God for what you have, for who you are, for His mercy, forgiveness and love?  When is the last time you stepped into a church?  Maybe all those preconceived notions will fall away to the realization that it's good to gather with people somewhere besides a sports bar, doing something besides pounding beers, and watching ice hockey and short skirts.

Is it the end of the world, or a new beginning? Why not a new beginning? Is it too insurmountable a task to think that humans can grow beyond their hatred and selfishness?  Perhaps I’m too idealistic. Maybe it will take the end of the world to get it done. I don’t believe that way though. I believe every soul is a divine creation and that we are all living at our own levels of development, growing back to God. I believe that God has created every possible form of thought and as we evolve, we get to experience the totality of life, in order to become more like our creator. This is where I depart from fundamental Christianity. I’m somewhere in between Unity and the Christian church. I’ll write more on this subject later.  I have my issues with the new agers too!  Still, I admit I really don't KNOW anything, and you can have that tree if you want it.  I like everyone else am just guessing, and we're all wasting too much time pondering and not having enough fun just experiencing the joy of the life God has given us.

I just want to say that this phase the world is in now is extreme, and yes, we could welcome it's seemingly inevitable prophesied end. On the other hand, we are becoming a more enlightened humanity, with exciting possibilities. We’re just in transition from being earthbound to becoming light bound beings. Heaven bound?  Perhaps.  Is there a here and there?  Are time and space just illusions of perception?  Einstein and quantum physicists seem to agree on that fact lately.  Again, I don’t really know.  If God intended us to know we would know!  So, instead of trying to eat from the forbidden tree, find ways to express God’s love and enjoy the garden a bit more.

I do believe we have been given the power to create our worlds and our realities, or at least, to change the conditions of the universe(s) we are living in.  God gave us certain abilities, centered around the way we think and the words we speak.  I'll expound on these concepts in future posts.  I'm no expert in these matters, but I have some reflections I'd like to share, in time.
If I had a wish list, I’d start with wishing we’d calm down, be less self absorbed, hang up those cell phones, take them away from our kids, insist they to talk to us in complete sentences, teach them love and respect and demonstrate it to them ourselves, and get back to simple basics in living. I do believe we could see the collapse of the financial markets soon, and that our materialism will be brought to a grinding halt, which painful as it may sound, could be the best thing to happen to us.  Sorry, I’m not impressed with your Lexus and your designer shoes, or your 8,000 sq. ft. home in Frenchman's Creek.  In fact, I’m not impressed at all with the myriad of things we humans find to brag about it. I’m interested in what God is doing with you. I don’t really care either who won the World Cup championship or the Super Bowl, the British Open or who reigned at Wimbledon.  That’s another self absorbed shallow addiction this society has fallen into, right along with Blackberries and Evos!  Case in point, the fall of the Roman Empire. It came after a long renaissance of art, spiritual growth and advances in mathematics and science.  Rome became powerful and rich, then fell into complacency and lavish self-indulgence. Self absorption, ego and materialism followed, and then came the orgies and the national addiction to gladiator sports. Athletes became the new Gods whiule artists and theologians were treated as second class citizens, except for a few charismatic stars of the time, the ones the powers that be placed on pedestals as another form of entertainment. You can see this very pattern happening in America and elsewhere today. We pay basketball players who can't speak proper English, tell you who their state senator is, identify an adverb or tell you what the square root of nine is, millions of dollars, while teachers have to strike for enough money to afford the basics of a sub-middleclass existence. Sign of the end times?  Well, sign of some misplaced priorities, that's for sure!  Come on people, sports?  Really?  That's what we're living for these days?  How many televisions do we need in a restaurant?  My answer: ZERO!  Turn 'em off and talk to one another about something that really matters!!!  And hey, maybe listen to the song that singer is singing.  Might have some social importance, or touch upon matters of the heart.  Might even make contact with your brain!  Nevermind, what am I saying?  Let's watch the Marlins pitch another little round ball across the plate while that muscle bound guy swings another bat and misses.  Yea, I'm gettin' a lot out of that, aren't you?

End times?  Maybe, and I could even weldome them, given the redundant scenario I just layed out.  However, I’d rather focus on beginnings. New beginnings. Beginning to love God more. Love one another more. To make more contact with one another. Beginning to calm down. Beginning to be less self indulged. Beginning to rejoice in the Lord and the life we’ve been given. To look forward to the beginning of a new day. Beginning to smile more. New beginnings in faith. Beginning to really care that people are suffering in Indian and Africa, walking the streets of America homeless, hopeless and hungry.  Beginning to do something about it.  Beginning to reach out to one another, to our next door neighbors, our communities.  To care that our children are carrying guns and having sexual realtions at the age of ten.  That they are falling prey to sexual predators and drugs.  Beginning to step up and do what is morally, ethically right, and having integrity in our business practices and in the way we treat our fellow human beings. The end days, if they are upon us, are God’s alone. Let Him worry about that. It’s beyond our control. What we can control is how we live, how we act, how we love. That’s all God ever expected of us…His beloved children.  Uncondionally. 

If these are indeed the end days, let them signify the end of darkness, self absorption, greed, lust, prejudices and hatreds; the end of fear, war, violence and destruction.  Let them signify a new beginning for humanity: love, joy in the Lord, prosperity for all, tolerance and appreciation for/of one another, and celebration of the God within all of us and the incredible, magical, wonder filled life we have been given!

God speed, go in His light!  Blessings and love always.
David Goodman