Biblical Criticism and Fall Fashions

So I'm having an e-mail conversation with a World-War II generation friend who's questioning the validity of the New Testament based on the objection that the disciples and Jesus clearly thought that the world was going to end in their lifetime. If they were wrong about such a significant thing as that, what else were they wrong about?

There are a couple things to be said about this objection. One is that it was a very popular objection in the early 20th Century and two is that almost no one objects to Christianity on these grounds any more. This is why hanging your faith (or the dismissal of it) on current Biblical criticism is just about the same as banking your 401K on the staying power of this fall's fashion trends. The status changes constantly. What's 'cool' to criticize today will get you laughed at tomorrow.

If you only read Acts and the Epistles, you might, indeed, get the sense that the apostles considered the clock to be ticking and the end of the world to be imminent. However, if you look at the gospels which were 'sourced' by those same apostles, every single time the issue comes up, Jesus is emphatic and adamant: no one knows. Even (and this is almost embarrassing to admit) Jesus didn't know. Only the Father knew.

If the apostles were so sure that the world was going to end, why not put those words in Jesus' mouth? It would have been easy to do. But instead, they report what they actually heard. Jesus would return. All things would be exposed, made right, dealt with. No one knew when that would happen, so best be prepared.

It is in the context of this crucial backdrop that we need to read the letters and the sermons in Acts. The apostles knew that they didn't know. But they did know that Jesus had come and died and risen again and that these events had ushered in the last days, this final season. The Messiah had come and there was not another to be waited for or looked for. It was a new era, the final era before the end of all things. The Holy Spirit was available to all, and everyone now had access to the throne room of grace in Christ.

There was only one more major event to happen in all of history: the return of Christ. This was coming at any point, at any time, and so we need be ready for it--woe to us if it caught us off guard!

Speaking of being ready, I gotta' go make a run to the mall-I hear that friendship bracelets are back in this year.