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Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Community Volume 16, No. 1 November 16, 1999 Question Box The following questions were answered by Deacon Bernie Yeatts Q. There are verses in the Bible referencing loved one and friends just taken away in the end times. This is referred to as the "rapture" by evangelical Christians. What is the "rapture'' and the Catholic doctrine on the "rapture"? A. Among evangelical Christians and, because of their influence within American society (due in large measure to televangelists and "Christian" radio stations), among Christians who otherwise would not consider themselves evangelicals, there is an expectation of a cataclysmic end of the world in which we are now living. The usual explanation for why this will happen is that it will be a divine punishment for the sins of humanity. This cataclysmic destruction is often called Armageddon. (Armageddon is an Anglicized rendering of Har Megiddo, "the Valley of Megiddo," which is in northern Israel, near Mount Karmel. Because of its strategic location it has been the scene of fierce battles from Old Testament times up to the 20th century.) It is also called the Apocalypse (the older name for the Book of Revelation) which, although it means "revelation or disclosure" has acquired a meaning of a "violent, sudden, dramatic, imminent end of this world." Associated with this cataclysmic end is the notion of a millennium, which evangelical Christians define as a 1000 year reign of Christ, the identifying characteristic of which will be peace. There is the associated belief that one can describe these events and determine their imminence by observing the signs that are documented in several books in the Bible, most especially the Book of the Prophet Daniel and the Book of Revelation, but also including a few passages from the Gospels and from several of the letters of Paul. Another concept that is part of this end-time thinking is that of the tribulation. This is defined as a period of seven years during which the cataclysm. will be at its worst. The anti-Christ will arise. Christ and the forces of Christ will do battle with the anti-Christ and his forces. Armageddon will be the final battle when Christ and his forces will vanquish the anti-Christ and his forces. Millennialism has three variations. Premillennialists believe that the tribulation and Armageddon will occur before the coming of Christ; Post-millennialists believe that they will come at the end of Christ's peaceful reign of 1000 years; Mid-millennialists believe that there will be periods of battle interspersed with years of peace. Faithful Christians will escape the severity of the tribulation and Armageddon through the rapture, being taken up by Christ. The scripture justification for the theory of rapture is from a literal reading of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, especially verse 17.
In all ages of Christianity there has been an expectation of the second coming of Christ with an associated judgment of all humanity, based on a literal interpretation of the words of Jesus about his return, the accounts of the his ascension in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. This, of course, was very strong in the years immediately after the ascension. Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians, the earliest written document of the Christian community (written about 50 A.D.) reflects this expectation of the imminent return. The Thessalonians were concerned about those followers of Christ who had died before his return. In this letter Paul is developing his theology about the fate of Christians, living and dead, at the time of Christ's return. Later Christian writers who were greatly influenced by Paul (St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, for example) tended to be Post-millennialists and their descriptions of the end times are somewhat peaceful. The most outspoken present day evangelical Christians tend to be either Pre-millennialists (Rev. Jerry Falwell and Rev. Pat Robertson, for example) whose descriptions of the tribulation and Armageddon place it imminent and violent or Mid-millennialists (David Koresh of the Branch Dividians in Waco, Texas, for example). They speak of the rapture as the reward for Christians who remain faithful to Christ in spite of the work and attractiveness of the anti-Christ. The Catholic Church has never taken a firm, doctrinal position on the subjects of the millennium, the tribulation, or the rapture. However many of the religious movements that place major emphasis on these topics and are caught up in promoting them, some even to exclusion of Christ's many other teachings, are marginally Christian. The Church has always cautioned against extremist positions, Gnostic revelations, and exclusionary sects and cults. We are well advised to watch out for movements that are led by individuals who claim to have received revelations that contradict the teachings of Christ and the Church acting under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In terms of Scripture, the Church (especially in recent years) has tended toward a contextual reading of Scripture, always keeping in mind the situation in which the author found himself. At the same time, the Church provides some guidance for interpreting difficult passages and passages that have a direct bearing on the doctrines of the Church. But the Church also encourages us to read the Scriptures for personal prayer and enrichment. Study in a group such as our parish Bible Study Program keeps a person from wandering from the truth and becoming convinced that she or he has the true understanding despite that fact that it is not commonly accepted. Q. In Matthew 22:14 we read "Many are called, few are chosen." Aren't we all called? Extended to chosen, how does this all relate? A. Yes, all people are called to salvation. Matthew is warning, however, that the invitation alone does not insure salvation. Some response is required, figuratively described in the verses immediately preceding 14 as putting on a wedding garment. Matthew's point was quite clearly understood. The Jewish leadership thought of itself as chosen. However, it had failed to recognize Jesus as the Christ and even persecuted those who did. So, as with much of Matthew's Gospel, we recognize that the rejection experienced by the followers of Jesus at the hands of the Jewish leaders was the immediate background for many scenes in the Gospel. The application to believers of all generations is that some response to the invitation to salvation is required. The recent agreement between Lutherans and Catholics concerning the relationship of salvation and good works underscored the correct Christian understanding. Briefly, salvation is a freely given gift (grace) from God. We cannot earn salvation by doing good works. Rather, the good works we do are evidence of our acceptance of the gift of salvation. Q. What is the history, meaning and analysis of Romans 13:1 - 7?
A. Paul wrote the Letter to the Romans most probably a year or two before A.D 60. As of that time, there had been no persecutions, although a disturbance in Rome involving Jews had resulted in the expulsion of some Jews from Rome. There is some evidence that this disturbance was between Jewish Christians and Jews. In the interest of keeping the peace, the Roman authorities had allowed Jews to keep their own religious practices. Paul had the wisdom to realize that the last thing the Christians needed was to become identified as an insurrectionist movement. Paul himself was a Roman citizen and he seems to have appreciated the good order and civic infrastructure (roads, bridges, harbors, communications, etc.) that really made his work of evangelization easier. He saw that God was using the Roman government as an instrument for spreading the word. In all probability he was familiar with Jesus teaching about respect for authority ("Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's.") Thus this instruction about respecting authority. This is the position that the Catholic Church has taken throughout its history except when the civil authority tramples on the rights of its citizens and makes the exercise of religion difficult or impossible. Q. Why are the martyrs impatient? (Rev. 6:9-11)
A. These verses seem to be self-explanatory. In this scene, the martyrs want to receive the reward for their having given their lives for Christ and they want Christ to punish those who killed them for their faith. There is also the yearning for the coming of the kingdom which is a common trait of most Christians. Q. Since the people in Asia Minor spoke Greek and were steeped in Greek culture and philosophy, how were they familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures to the extent that they would recognize the signs of the end times presented in the Book of the Prophet Daniel and other Old Testament books? A. At the end of the Babylonian Exile, when King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return to Palestine, not all of them went there. Some stayed in Babylon and others moved to Egypt and the cities of Asia Minor. These Jews who did not return to Palestine are referred to as the "Diaspora." Since they were living in Greek society, it was difficult for them to remain truly observant Jews, try as they might. Many in the generations that descended from the first Jews of the Diaspora could not read Hebrew. So, around the middle of the third century B.C. the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek. This translation became known as the "Septuagint," from the Latin word for seventy, since the translation was allegedly undertaken by seventy rabbis at Alexandria in Egypt. (The Septuagint, by the way, is the source for the Latin translation done by St. Jerome and is the foundational version for the Bible in the Roman Catholic tradition. Bibles used by Protestant and Orthodox churches have different foundational versions, which is why the number of books and even the texts, in some cases, differ from the Catholic Bible.) The Jews of the Diaspora had a significant influence on their non-Jewish neighbors. They were respected, although many non-Jews would deny this, because of their wholesome, ethical lifestyle and their fidelity to the laws and practices and monotheism. There was also curiosity about Jewish writings, religious practices and beliefs among the non-Jewish Greeks and others. So there was some familiarity when St. Paul undertook the ministry of spreading to Gospel to these people. Q. Is the calculation of the millennium based on the Bible? A. Time is a human invention of measurement to make sense of the change of days and the change of seasons. It gives a sense of order so that humans gain some measure of control over what would otherwise be the whims of nature. But time is quite arbitrary as we know from the many calendars that the human race has had. In the case of the Christian calendar, we are indebted to a monk of the 6th century -- Dionysius Exiguus or "Little Dennis" -- for the concept of B.C. and A.D. But there are more than a few problems in his research and calculations that still plague us. The date for celebrating Jesus birth had been arbitrarily set at December 25 in the 4th century, shortly after Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. December 25 was chosen because it is the first day when the period of sunlight becomes measurably longer after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The choice recognized the title of Jesus Christ as the "Light of the World." During the pagan days of the Roman Empire, December 25 was the celebration of the unconquered sun god. It is theorized that the celebration of Jesus' birth supplanted that pagan celebration. Based on the information available to him at the time and the synoptic Gospels, Little Dennis computed the date of Easter. Then, using the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew as accurate chronological accounts, he computed the year when Jesus was born. He then moved back nine months from the date of Christmas and declared that the day Jesus was conceived, March 25, of the year of Jesus' birth was the first day of the year 1. However, we now know that Luke and Matthew were not chronologically correct and that their accounts contradict each other. But this really has no bearing on faith, since the Gospels were never written in the fashion of almanacs or historical works in the modern sense. But, the work of Little Dennis has persisted to this day, even surviving the dramatic switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century. This switch moved the first day of a new year to January 1 instead of March 25 and it brought the calendar into closer agreement with the movement of the earth around the sun by correcting the calculation of leap year. Research into the historical events and the Roman calendar of the period have led to the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth was born four, five or six years before the date calculated by Little Dennis. Therefore, the 2000th anniversary of Jesus' Birth would have occurred sometime between 1994 and 1996. And there is another calendar fact that makes the whole millennium frenzy somewhat humorous. Since the Roman system of counting did not contain the concept of zero, Little Dennis calculated that March 25 of A.D. 1 was preceded by March 24 of 1 B.C. So the third millennium really begins in 2001 not 2000. But should it be January 1 or March 25 or some other date? Having addressed all this confusion, the only rational conclusion one can reach is that we should celebrate the gift of life and the gift of Jesus Christ every day. Pope John Paul II was very wise in proclaiming the period from Christmas 1999 to Epiphany 2001 as a Jubilee Year. Preoccupation with the millennium and its associated events is really wasted time and effort. By the way, Dennis was know as "Little" because of his humility, not his physical stature. With all the undue concern and anxiety surrounding this inaccurate calendar business, a request to Dennis to pray for us that we get a share of his humility may be in order. If you would like to find out more information about calendars, there is a web site on the Internet at http://www.tondering.dk/claus/calendar.html. Extensive information on the dates of the birth and death of Jesus can be found in an excellent book by Fr. John P. Meier, a New Testament scholar and professor at the Catholic University of America and at Notre Dame University. The book is Volume 1 of a three volume work titled A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. It was published by Doubleday in 1991 and is available at many libraries and can be purchased at most bookstores.
THANK YOU! Thank you to Sue Bettenga's Little Rock group. The ladies in this group graciously accepted the call to volunteer for the Caring Ministry. When I called to ask for help with dinners for a cancer patient, they responded by taking their love and warmth as Catholic women but also took fresh flowers and vegetables from their own gardens, not to mention delicious dishes they had prepared themselves. The lovely lady on the receiving end called me, deeply moved, to tell me all the details of what had been done for her. What a great witness of what it is to be Christ for others! It is my hope to continue to provide this love and support to the families in our community when they are in need. We need more volunteers. Perhaps this wonderful example will move other groups to volunteer together. Please call me if you have any questions. Thank you again, Sue and group. You really do touch others. Mary Stuart
Last Updated on 6/26/03 |