Will the World End in 2012?: A Christian Guide to the Question Everyone's Asking

The other day I went into a Lifeway bookstore to rest my eyes from the computer at work and to stretch my legs; to just get out of the office for a few minutes. As I began my browsing jog around the store the first rack of books consisted of the latest and greatest releases, and on the top shelf of the latest and greatest releases was a book with the above title by Raymond Hundley.

The first thing that struck me was that I wasn’t aware everyone was asking “"the Question.” Perhaps the editors at publisher Thomas Nelson failed in their PR campaign?

Can someone tell me what possible motive there is in such a title other than raw money? There is no intellectual or moral or Christian honesty in that title. That is exactly the type of hype I’d expect from Oprah or General Motors, or Abercrombie and Fitch – I’m not sure that Hugh Heffner ever used such hype – though to satisfy your curiosity I’m not speaking from personal experience on that one.

And if raw money is the motive, and I can think of no other motive for the title is indeed a patent lie designed to produce sales – then we have Thomas Nelson engaging in what is sometimes referred to as one of the oldest professions known to man – prostitution. However, this is an insult to prostitutes because I believe it likely that most prostitutes engage in their vocational activity in order to support themselves, Thomas Nelson, on the other hand, isn’t likely to starve or be homeless tomorrow if their executives engage in a modicum of honesty and deportment.

Now gentle reader, if you are offended by my comparison of Thomas Nelson with prostitution (and Thomas Nelson has plenty of company in the world of “Christian” publishing) then may I ask “why”? What is the nature and source of your offense? Is it that I invoke unpleasant images of the type that God uses in Ezekiel Chapter 23? Or is it that there is harlotry in “Christian” (and I use the term in its broadest application) publishing and we ourselves have become too promiscuous to sense anything amiss?

And what of Lifeway bookstore? Is there no discernment and integrity in prominently displaying a title worthy of Oprah, the New Age, or the latest Hollywood release?

How can a publisher publish Bibles on one press run and engage in deceptive titles the next? How can a bookstore have Bibles in one aisle and place – front and center – such nonsense as “The Question Everyone Is Asking” as you walk through its door? (When is the last time you went into a “Christian” bookstore and the first thing you saw were Bibles?)

I suspect that, volume per volume, there is more hype in the form of self-centered and self-help marketing, and in creating “questions that everyone is asking” in “Christian” publishing than in general publishing. I suspect there is more literary integrity in general publishing than in so-called Christian publishing. And I’m pretty certain that the atmosphere in Borders or Barnes and Noble is, by and large, a bit more healthy than it is in Lifeway, Family Christian Bookstore, and their competitors, because at least in Barnes and Noble and Borders the selling of sheep and doves and religious money changing is relegated to one or two aisles – the aisles containing “Christian” books.

Pilgrimage

Continuing with the Puritan Prayer quote from the two previous posts:

Preserve me from the intoxication that comes of prosperity; sober me when I am glad with a joy that comes not from thee. Lead me safely on to the eternal kingdom, not asking whether the road be rough or smooth.

I request only to see the face of him I love, to be content with bread to eat, with raiment to put on, if I can be brought to thy house in peace.

I wonder how often my focus has been “whether the road be rough or smooth”? Is my focus on the road or is it on Jesus? I think I’ve been too occupied with the road. Isn’t much of our teaching in the church about the road rather than about the Way? 

Rough road = not a good Christian life. Smooth road = God’s pleasure.

Where did we get this nonsense? Isn’t it about knowing Him?

“I request only to see the face of him I love…” Is there any other request to be made on our own behalf? I hear the Psalmist crying, “Whom do I have in heaven but You? And there is none I desire on earth besides You.”

“…to be content with bread to eat, with raiment to put on…” I hear Paul writing, “…if we have food and raiment, let us be content.” But we aren’t, are we? We quote Paul’s words, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” yet we seldom catch the context of abasing and abounding, of being thankful, of setting our minds on the pure and holy, of allowing the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

“…if I can be brought to thy house in peace.” This life is a prelude to eternity, it is the foyer, the threshold for the rest of our lives – of which there is – for those in Christ – no “rest of our lives” in the sense of a remainder, of a diminishing time period, or quality, for it is eternal. The “rest” of our lives is not 20 years, or 10 years, or 60 years, or one week – there is no remainder of life – there is only the ages to come in which God is showing His kindness to those who are in His Son (Eph. 2:7).

Do we see ourselves as on pilgrimage? Do we live as if this life is indeed a prelude to eternity? What do our attitudes, actions, words, time, and checkbooks tell us about whether we view ourselves as citizens of this age or of the age to come in Christ? 

Christ taught us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Is that just a quaint esoteric saying?