The Rapture Wager
Bill Moyers, in "Welcome to Doomsday" (The New York Review of Books), wrote in depth about Dispensationalist (those who believen in the imminent Rapture) dispensing with any need for Environmentalism or any other approach to husbanding the Earth's resources.
What does this mean for public policy and the environment? Listen to John Hagee, pastor of the 17,000- member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, who is quoted in [Barbara] Rossing's book [The Rapture Exposed] as saying: "Mark it down, take it to heart, and comfort one another with these words. Doomsday is coming for the earth, for the nations, and for individuals, but those who have trusted in Jesus will not be present on earth to witness the dire time of tribulation." Rossing sums up the message in five words that she says are basic Rapture credo: "The world cannot be saved." It leads to "appalling ethics," she reasons, because the faithful are relieved of concern for the environment, violence, and everything else except their personal salvation. The earth suffers the same fate as the unsaved. All are destroyed.
It's a harrowing idea: if people actually believe this stuff about the fast approaching end and the benificence of their creator, it's going to be impossible to motivate them to do anything to husband Earth's resources more intelligently.
That wouldn't seem the most prudent course here either, although I'm sure their faith is unshakable in this regard.
As an atheist, I'm frequently reminded of Pascal's wager, basically, that one should wager that God exists since the payoff for the lucky winners is infinite. (See, e.g., Pascal's Wager.)
Well, isn't this "Rapture Wager" sort of the same thing in reverse?
After all, suppose one were to wager that our environment is in danger of collapse and the human race in danger of extinction if we don't take steps. By taking steps, we increase the chance that humankind continues to exist and evolve. If we were wrong and the Rapture indeed arrives next week, were we really so much worse off?
On the other hand, suppose we wager that the Rapture is just around the corner and God will provide so we should just go ahead and exploit all our natural resources without regard to the future. Rapture arrives as expected: no problem. Rapture fails to arrive: deep shit.
Now, as the disclaimer goes, past performance is no guarantee of future results, but let's look at a bit of history: an awful lot of awfully devout Christians have been waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus (a collateral event to The Rapture) pretty much since the week after he died the first time, and so far as we can tell it hasn't happened yet. Let's see: 2000 years, give or take, 104,000 weeks minus a few for change to Gregorian calendar … basically zero chance that Jesus touches down next week and all those tennis shoes are left behind.
So, to my mind and despite all the warning signs (see, e.g., my posting on The Prophetic Red Heifer), I'm not convinced that the chances for the Rapture next week are all that great.
Wouldn't it make more sense to bet that it's not going to happen really, really soon?
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on Thursday, 19 May 2011 at 23.30
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I'm honestly surprised you haven't had a single comment on this page in over six years. So, let me be the first to tell you this is a great post – thanks for sharing it!
In related news, what do you think of all this May 21, 2011 rapture business ;+)