Vocationalism In Christianity

In Western Christianity, the “theology” of Dispensationalism is achieving unheard of popularity. However with examination one can see the many cultural and biblical problems this theology has. Ultimately this theology isn’t just unbiblical, it is dangerous.

In order to understand if Dispensationalism is biblical, its history and beliefs must be understood. A British pastor named John Nelson Darby heard of a Scottish girl’s dream of Jesus returning to earth in two stages which led to him becoming a follower of this idea (Witherington 94). Darby expanded upon the vision by stating that Christ would return once for the Church and then would return after seven years to make his domain in Jerusalem (Witherington 94). After Darby finished working

on his belief system, he made tours to America in order to propagate his ideas (Balmer 34). His theology would gain many important followers, including Dwight L. Moody, James H.

Brooks and A.J Gordon (Balmer 34). Dispensationalism has been gaining followers for many years and its popularity can be seen in many places, such as in the Left Behind series which has captured the minds of many people around the world (Pagels 1). Now with historical context in mind, it is time to see what Dispensationalism teaches. Dispensationalism has three distinct characteristics: Rapture of Christians, Millennium Rule of Christ, and the Unfulfilled Prophecies of the Bible. For the purpose of this paper they will all be examined separately. The Rapture is the belief that Christians will be brought up and not have to endure the Tribulation (Robinson). The term “rapture” does not occur in the Bible but instead comes from a Latinized version of the word arpadzo which comes from “caught up” (Witherington 94). The belief in the Rapture for Dispensationalists is based on 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 which they claim describes an event where living Christians return to heaven with Christ (Robinson). Secondly, the Millennium Rule is the belief that Jesus Christ will literally rule over earth for 1,000 years after the Tribulation (Robinson). The key here is that (as opposed to the Post-Millennial views) the believers have no part in setting up his reign

on earth (Balmer 29-30). One should also note that Dispensationalists believe in a literal earthly reign of Christ, as opposed to others who believe it only metaphorically (Robinson). Dispensationalism also makes constant use of the fulfillment of prophecies. The sources for many of these prophecies are books such as Daniel and Ezekiel (Balmer 28). Many of the Dispensationalists teach that in order for the Rapture to occur many of these prophecies have to be fulfilled (Walvoord). Of course that is only natural since the Rapture in itself is a prophecy (Jeremiah 215).Ultimately Dispensationalism has many beliefs but this is a good summary of its key doctrine.

When one makes cultural critique of Dispensationalism, the problems with this theology begin to show. Firstly the fact that Dispensationalism uses an escapist mentality to gain followers is a problem. With a close historical look, one can see that many of the important events of the Dispensationalist movement have been around events of great struggle (Witherington 94). For example when Darby came to America it was in the Civil War Era (Witherington 94). People in times of hardship often have a desire to be removed from the pain that they suffer in daily life. In response to the hardships people endured, Dispensationalism’s teaching of being raptured out of harm would be popular with the people (Witherington 94). In a sense this desire helped the movement overcome its theological weaknesses, since people did not care about its theology only about its promise of escaping pain in their lives (Balmer 33-35). Secondly the lack of scholarly recognition in Dispensationalism is also a major problem. This lack of recognition is important because when one makes a study of theological systems of belief within the context of Christianity (such as Calvinism); one finds that historically these movements have been founded by well educated people (Witherington 95). Even today this can be seen in many denominations since the seminaries (and by virtue the professors) generally hold much influence in their denominations (Balmer 24). This is in contrasted by Dispensationalism’s followers who weren’t educated at institutions such as Oxford or Harvard but instead were lay people (Witherington 95). This is alarming considering the fact that the main proponents of Dispensationalism did not have scholarly knowledge but only a basic understanding of the Bible (Witherington 95). In many ways this movement can be seen as a parallel to the Pentecostal movement which was founded by lay people and has seen a great growth in recent years (Stephens). Now while both of those are certainly huge problems, perhaps the biggest issue with this brand of theology is that it essentially advocates Christians not to care about the world anymore. As Al Gore stated it is hard to accept ethics if the world is going to be destroyed in the Apocalypse (Gore 263). The reason is that Evangelicals (who are largely Dispensationalists) see little interest in social issues since the world is doomed (Balmer 38). Likewise many also feel that resources should be spent on evangelism not on issues of life, since by evangelism more would be “Rapture Ready” (Balmer 38).
Consider that before the days of mainstream Dispensationalist belief, Christians felt that Jesus could not only redeem sinful people but sinful institutions as well (Balmer 31).

That led many, such as Walter Rauschenbusch, to reform the ungodly world by advocating for things such as worker rights and child protection laws (Balmer 31). On the other hand Evangelicals believe that no such need exists to reform corruptness since God will take them back with him at any minute (Balmer 31). The reason for the contrast was that the Social Gospel (of which Rauschenbusch was a supporter) believed that Christians were to reform the world while Dispensationalists held to the belief that reform was useless since Jesus would return at any minute (Balmer 37). Ultimately one can see that our society only becomes better when we use long term considerations not short term calculations (Gore

264).

After both Historical and Cultural considerations, one must consider how Dispensationalism stands theologically. Consider the three main beliefs previously mentioned: Rapture of Christians, Millennium Rule of Christ, and the Unfulfilled Prophecies of the Bible. First the Rapture and its validity according to the scriptures is something that has to be asked. A key passage is 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 which is used as proof of rapture for Christians however there are issues with this passage (Witherington 94). The first issue is that 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 tells us that a trumpet will sound which makes the chance of a secret silent Rapture unlikely (1 Thess 4:16-17 NRSV). Secondly one should also question if 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 speaks of Rapture since when the Bible speaks of Jesus returning in the clouds, it seems to be talking about the second coming (Olson). One should also note the importance of Revelation 12 which states that states that the Woman is given nourishment from God (Rev 12:1-6 NRSV). This seems to support the claim that the Church is not set apart during the Tribulation; rather the Church is protected by God. Secondly, one needs to ask the question of whether or not the Millennial Reign is biblical. This teaching is widely based off of Ezekiel 40-48 and Revelation 20 which states that Jesus will have a millennial reign over earth (Olson). Depending on one’s view of the prophecies, the answer of the legitimacy of the Millennial Reign will vary. One issue is if the 1,000 years is literal or a metaphor for a long period of time (Robinson). Then there is the issue of how the Millennial Reign is actually going to occur. Many such as St. Augustine felt the Church age was the millennium described in the Bible (Robinson). This is the belief held by most churches such as the United Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church (Robinson). So in this regard it is hard to support the idea of a literal reign when the perceived view by most is that the millennium is figurative (Robinson). Examining unfulfilled prophecies is also needed since it is a key part of Dispensationalism. Now keep in mind that these prophecies are viewed by Dispensationalist as things which are to happen “literally” (Olson). The issue with literal assumptions of prophecies is that it does not consider the fact that many of the “unfulfilled” prophecies are either fulfilled or are conditional (Witherington 95). Some of the prophecies are conditional meaning that when the conditions God made were not fulfilled the prophecies became null (Witherington 96-97). Then consider the idea that many of the “unfulfilled” prophecies might actually be fulfilled, only not literally (Witherington 96). For example, in Genesis the story of seven lean and seven fat cows was not meant to be taken literally but was a metaphor for the upcoming famine (Gen 41:1-32 NRSV). To support a system of theological belief based upon literal assumptions when prophecy in the Bible is not prose is quite troubling.

The beliefs of Dispensationalism are quite hard to support intellectually considering the problems that this system of theological belief has. This brand of theology is quite dangerous to people individually as Christians, but also to our world and its ambitions. Therefore, before one is to adopt a system of belief, he is required to make a close examination to test its beliefs.