Not TEOTWAWKI After All...

Yes, I'm posting about the rapture that didn't happen.  Don't hate me for jumping on the band wagon of current news and events.  It's not that I'm not creative and original; these sorts of things deserve a response.

So what's my personal view on the May 21, 2011 Doomsday predictions?
Well, to sum it up, people are mental.
Seriously.

This is what I, as a Christian, believe about the "end of the world":

• Jesus Christ's gift of dying for our sins is the one and only way to get to heaven.  Period.  Being a good person doesn't cut it.
• That being said, the Bible is God's Word.  While I understand that it was written and has been translated by men (fallible humans), I believe that what it says is divine and true.  Did you catch that? TRUE.  It's not "outdated".  It has proven applicable and relevant to my life over and over and over again.  I'm not a Bible scholar.  Did I ever say I was?  I don't read the 4 (yes, 4) Bibles that I own nearly as deeply and as often as I would like to.  But what I hear and understand by my pastor and my devotionals shows me time and time again that everything I need to help me understand God and His will for my life can be found in scripture.
• That being said, I can't stand it that some man calling himself a reverend has the audacity to think he can put my awesome God on his time schedule.  Using, according to the news reports I read all over the internet today, "his own mathematical formula and calculations" to define a date and time for Jesus to return is not only ludicrous, it's downright insulting to the entire concept of FAITH.  He quotes all kind of Bible verses, but there were two major things that I found issue with: 1) he conveniently leaves out any of the context that the scripture he was using to "calculate" dates with and also any of the scriptures that reaffirm constantly that no one knows the time that Jesus will return, and 2) he pegs the time down to 6 p.m. with the idea that it will begin in New Zealand and spread westward?  Really?  As a friend of mine from high school wrote on his Facebook page, "I just never thought that God would recognize the validity of a human concept like the International Date Line."  Indeed, Tony.  Indeed.
• Make no mistake.  Jesus tells His disciples that He is coming again.  But He makes it very clear (repeatedly) that not even the Pope in Rome will know when that time will be.  As a born again believer, I know in my heart that I should be living EVERY day as though He will be coming.  I should be telling everyone I come across about the amazing things He has done in my life.  In my weakness, He is strong.  Christian means "Christ like".  While I do want to be more like the example He gave, and show His love to a hurting world, I am nothing like Christ.  He never sinned and I am sin itself.  More than being a "Christian", I want to have a close, personal relationship with Him.  That is more important and lasting than any label.  I want Him to come back, whenever that may be.  I know that when I stand before God's throne, I will have nothing to commend me to Him.  I will have no excuses or justifications for my life and the mistakes in it, other than the fact that Jesus loves me enough that He died in my place and will intercede on my behalf.  
• It saddened me to see the open mockery taking place on Facebook.  Events set up for "post rapture looting" where people would "grab stereos and squat in mansions" when "God's not looking".  People trying to pin the rapture down to an expected day look foolish, and drag a lot of us down with them because we are both called "Christians".  Open mockery of God makes me sad and angry.  I believe that people are just so jaded and calloused that they really don't care whether they will be condemned to Hell if they reject Jesus and God.  Very, very, very sad.

I spent most of the day reading more of Nick Vujicic's book, "Life Without Limits".  I'm about 3/4 of the way through.  It is turning my life -and my attitudes about it- completely upside down.

Please, please, please read this book!!!

I'm going to close this and get ready for church in the morning.

I love you all and I hope that you are ready for Jesus' return, whenever that may be.