Our Public Witness

In the aftermath of Saturday's tragedy in Japan (which continues to experience diffculties) there has been the usual talk about signs of the end of the age. Some have linked Saturday's earthquake with other recent world disasters as signs that God's ultimate judgement for the world is coming.

Of course, the idea of the end of this age has been everywhere recently. It's been more than 2,000 years since Jesus' ministry on earth, and we've had many predictions of the end of the world that haven't come to pass since then. Now, the talk focuses on the Mayan prediction of the destruction of the world in 2012 and the Christian response, which supposes that the second coming will be on May 21, 2011.

In many ways it's understandable that people are consumed with the idea of when the apocalypse will come. It will certainly effect everyone, and the lack of certainty is tough for everyone. As humans, we like to have all the answers. We like to understand what's happening. We like certainty. All of this creates tension with faith, which requires belief and hope in that which we can't prove, touch, taste, or see in this present age.

But there are a couple of things about this that bother me. First, the preoccupation with finding signs of the end of the age serve as a distraction. We are told time and again not to worry about tomorrow. Scrutinizing the signs of the end of the age flies in the face of that. It also distracts us from our important mission here on Earth, which is to reach the lost with the Gospel and to glorify the Lord through our words and deeds.

Second, talking about the suffering of others in terms of signs of God's judgement is a misrepresentation of the Gospel. Many point to the earthquake Saturday as a sign of the end of the age in terms of pointing out that we're close to the second coming. Many probably mean it in a non-offensive way. But we can't escape how it presents Christianity to the world. It looks like we're saying all the people of Japan are being made to suffer for their offense to God. We can't know that, and what we do know of the Bible is that life doesn't work like that.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. And the just and the unjust will have to make an account on judgement day, but to say that natural disasters and tragedies are God handing out punishment to people on this Earth is not only disrespectful of the suffering of those afflicted but disrespectful to God.

When we step out in faith as Christians, we are judged by an unbelieving world. Our words and deeds matter, because they are seen as a reflection of what it means to be a Christian. It is an awesome responsibility, and one that should not be taken lightly.