Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Pre-Revelations Quiz answers

As promised, here are the answers to yesterday's "pre-Revelations quiz":

1. What is the Revelation of?
The Revelation is of Jesus Christ to his servant John. Revelation 1:1.
2. The book of Revelation is written in what literary form?
Revelation is a letter to the seven churches in Asia. Revelation 1:4
3. What is the meaning of the word "apocalypse"?
Apocalypse means "unveiling".
4. How many times is the rapture referred to in Revelation.
The word "rapture" is never used in Revelation. The rapture, the tribulation and the reconstruction of the temple are ideas from other parts of the bible and are not mentioned by John.
5. Are there any beatitudes in Revelation?
There are 7 beatitudes in Revelation. Revelation 1:3, Revelation 14: 13, Revelation 16: 15
Revelation 19:9, Revelation 20:6, Revelation 22:7 and Revelation 22:14.

This morning I read a review of the Revelations series that begins airing tonight. Since both Jerry Jenkins, one of the Left Behind authors, and Frederick Smith, a professor at SMU, trashed the series it may be a complete bust. These men have widely different interpretations of Revelation and the Bible in general and neither one of them like it!

While I am glad to see that mainstream television producers are trying to write shows that will appeal to Christians, it is discouraging that they can't resist the impulse to sensationalize their subject matter. According to this review, other shows being considered feature a contemporary Jesus appearing to a troubled Episcopal priest and a spiritual "X-files" drama featuring an excommunicated priest. How about a show that features an ordinary ("quotidian" if you will) minister striving to serve the spiritual needs of a medium size congregation in anywhere USA? I promise you that pastors like that have lots of compelling stories to tell --without resort to the invocation of poltergeists, apocalyptic imagery and whiffs of spiritualism and New Age blather.

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