Apocalypse and Paradise

I have been hesitant to discuss this topic, but as we now have predictions of the end of the world occurring in October (sense it didn't happen over the weekend) I have decided to add my two bits to the discussion.

Before I start, I would like to say that this has serious ramifications for our society in general. Family members of friends of ours sold everything and gave the money to charity because they were no longer going to need it. It's a great gesture. I'm not sure what this means about their feelings of those running the charities. The concern is what do they do now? They've got nothing left. Do they dare trust another authority figure again? Will they trust the church?

Secondly, predictions about the world coming to an end and Christ's coming back are very old, as old as Christianity. So, in some regards, this phenomenon is nothing new.

Here's my perspective, view on things. Any of you are welcome to disagree, but this is how I see things at the present moment.
I have always read Apocalyptic literature (like the Revelation of John) as a way of giving hope to an oppressed group of people. In essence, Apocalyptic literature says, "It is going to be ok. God is ultimately in charge. It may not look like that now, but in the end, God's kingdom will prevail."

When we remove Paradise from this earth, we lose a sense of who we are as beloved children of God. In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says, "Consider the lilies of the fields..." We consider them because we are connected to them. If the Divine cares for them, how much more are we cared for? Yet we are connected to them. What effects the lilies of the fields effects us in ways we have always suspected, but are only just now scientifically discovering how close the connection is.

When we insist that Paradise is someplace else (Heaven, accessible only in the afterlife, or after the end of the world), we remove ourselves from the world around us. Inadvertently, this separation allows exploitation of the lilies of the fields to which we are so connected. Which means our own exploitation, of course.

Keeping Paradise connected to the earth, knowing it is just around the corner, and is something we can participate in the here and now, connects us to another part - actually a stronger part - of the Christian tradition. I invite you to look, ponder and read Saving Paradise by Brock and Parker (I've mentioned this book in a previous post) for a fuller discussion of this tradition. Keeping Paradise, the Kingdom of God, the Great Economy a part of the earthly experience, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, provides a critique of our smaller economies, kingdoms and environs. As such, the critique gives us something to work towards. Paradise shapes our actions. I believe it also reminds us of who we are, beloved children of God.

I think you can see my own bias. It shapes my perspective in how I live and how I see the world. What underlying beliefs and biases shape how you see and interact in the world?