End time, Time in Christ Insight from the Seven Bowls in the Book of Revelation
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Date
1997
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
If there is an absolute certainty in one's life, it is his/her disappearance from the face
of the earth one day. The problem is so existential that it affects the actual living of people.
Ancient people and us today, unbelievers and believers we all experience this same existential
problem.
For unbelievers, their human disappearance from the earth whereby they have
invested a great deal of infrastructure, and technology is fatal. This pessimistic thinking has
been passed on by certain existential philosophies which sees human existence as accidental.
The believers, especially Christian believers, perceive the problem differently. In fact,
the beliefs of Christians about this issue is collectively known as eschatology. It includes
themes such as, the end of the world, death, Parousia, the resurrection of the dead, the last
judgment, and heaven and hell. All these themes appear as mysteries which cannot be
understood fully once and for all. However, Christians have the advantage of understanding
these mysteries through another mystery, Paschal Mystery. Thus, through the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, the future humanity after this earthly life, the future of this world
and its time become understandable. Therefore, the preoccupation of the Christian believers
should be the life according to the demands of the Paschal Mystery.
Life modeled on Paschal Mystery is a commitment. The frailty of human life can force
us to ask the kind of questions (about the end of human life, end of world and its time) whose
answers might lead to despair if one does not get satisfactory answers. The present reflection
does not provide the satisfactory answers for these people; but instead, it leads an
understanding of the end of time in the perceptive of Paschal Mystery-Endtime. The focus of
time in Endtime is no longer on the rhythms of the cosmic universe but on the Christ-event.
This perception leads to a positive and optimistic approach to the future of human life and to
the future of the world. This approach provides the readers with hopeful attitude towards life.
This is important in today's world whereby many people have lost hope because of the
hardships and the pressures of life. Only in the death and resurrection of Jesus do our hope
make us alive.
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Keywords
The Endtime, According To Millennialism, Premillennialism, Amillennialism, Postmillennialism, Seven Bowls, Christ's Event, Theological Reflection