THE APOCALYPSE-TO BE FEARED OR HOPED FOR?

"The Church Has Lost Its Message of Hope"

Augustine was undoubtedly the Church Father who did the most to fuse Greek philosophy with what was by his time only a semblance of Christianity. Initially an ardent advocate of millenarianism, he eventually rejected any idea of a future Millennial Reign of Christ over the earth. He gave Revelation chapter 20 an allegorical twist.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says:"Augustine finally held to the conviction that there will be no millennium. . . . The first resurrection, of which this chapter treats, he tells us, refers to the spiritual rebirth in baptism; the sabbath of one thousand years after the six thousand years of history, is the whole of eternal life." The New Encyclopedia Britannica states: "Augustine's allegorical millennialism became the official doctrine of the church . . .The Protestant Reformers of the Luthern Calvnist, and Anglican traditions . . . remained firmly attached to the views of Augustine." Thus, the members of Christendom's churches were deprived of the millennial hope.

Moreover, according to Swiss theologian Frederic de Rougemont, "by repudiating hisi initial faith in the thousand-year reign, [Augustine]caused incalculable damage to the Church. With the immense authority of his name, he sanctioned an error that deprived [the Church] of its earthly ideal." German theologian Adolf Harnack concurred that the rejection of belief in the Millennium deprived the common people of "the religion they understood," replacing "the old faith and the old hopes" with "a faith they could not understand." Today's empty churches in many lands are eloquent proof that people need a faith and a hope they can understand.

In his book Highlights of the Book of Revelation, Bible scholar George Beasley-Murray wrote: "Largely owing to the immense influence of Augustine on one hand and the espousal of millennarianism by the sects on the other, Catholics and Protestants have united in rejecting it. When asked what alternative hope they have for man in this world the official answer is: None at all. The world will be destroyed at the advent of Christ to give place to an eternal heaven and hell in which history will be forgotten. . . .The church has lost its message of hope."

Next time: The Wonderful Apocalypse Hope Is Still Alive!