A Happy Ending ? Inconceivable !
I haven't yet seen 2012. I expect I'll see it in about 6 months' time when the DVD comes out ! But from what people write about it I don't expect a happy ending.
But at present all our expectations are doom-laden. It's the end. Well it might not be the end exactly, but it's the beginning of the end. Whether the sun will expand dramatically and swallow up the earth, or whether it means a global flood as the sea level rises, or whether it means drought and famine on an equally Biblical proportion, or the North-South Water Wars, or whatever, or civilisation believes that mankind as a species is terminally ill and entering the last phase of the illness.
In a way it's just the projection of our individual fate. We are born, we grow, we fade, we die. Every story has a sad ending.
Christians catch the virus. Look at our society: the diseases, the disasters, etc. It's the beginning of the cataclysms of the end-times, with the predicted persecutions and oppressions (before the coming of the Son of Man at a time we couldn't possible foresee. Hmm)
We find it hard to believe in a happy ending.
The Bible thinks differently. Ruth begins with Naomi surrounded by death and seemingly with the certainty of a lonely death herself as a refugee. It ends with her home amidst her own people, dandling her grandson on her knees, while all the women laugh and chatter around her.
Jesus' own experience tells us that he can turn seeming disaster into a happy ending. His disciples lost their master (briefly) but found in his resurrection a new hope they had never dreamt of.
When Jesus was warning his disciples about the Roman crushing of Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem he told them "stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near".
Peter tells refugees who have fled from their homes and who face a "fiery trial", "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."
Because one thing is sure - whatever the world faces, Jesus assures a happy ending.
But at present all our expectations are doom-laden. It's the end. Well it might not be the end exactly, but it's the beginning of the end. Whether the sun will expand dramatically and swallow up the earth, or whether it means a global flood as the sea level rises, or whether it means drought and famine on an equally Biblical proportion, or the North-South Water Wars, or whatever, or civilisation believes that mankind as a species is terminally ill and entering the last phase of the illness.
In a way it's just the projection of our individual fate. We are born, we grow, we fade, we die. Every story has a sad ending.
Christians catch the virus. Look at our society: the diseases, the disasters, etc. It's the beginning of the cataclysms of the end-times, with the predicted persecutions and oppressions (before the coming of the Son of Man at a time we couldn't possible foresee. Hmm)
We find it hard to believe in a happy ending.
The Bible thinks differently. Ruth begins with Naomi surrounded by death and seemingly with the certainty of a lonely death herself as a refugee. It ends with her home amidst her own people, dandling her grandson on her knees, while all the women laugh and chatter around her.
Jesus' own experience tells us that he can turn seeming disaster into a happy ending. His disciples lost their master (briefly) but found in his resurrection a new hope they had never dreamt of.
When Jesus was warning his disciples about the Roman crushing of Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem he told them "stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near".
Peter tells refugees who have fled from their homes and who face a "fiery trial", "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."
Because one thing is sure - whatever the world faces, Jesus assures a happy ending.
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