Rossing Enwraps Assembly

By Pr. Paul Sinnott, House of Prayer, Hingham, Mass.

If any of the voting members at the 2006 Assembly of the New England Synod June 8-10 failed to believe in the concept of the rapture when they arrived, they surely did when the assembly closed. For nothing could better describe the state of those hearing the talks by the keynote speaker, Dr. Barbara Rossing, than “rapt.”

In two separate hour-long presentations, Rossing, professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, gave a compelling and hope-filled counter argument to the popular, but fear-filled assertions of some interpreters of the apocalyptic events of recent months.

In debunking the popular notions of the “rapture,” Rossing followed the trail back to its source – not scripture, as some believe, but to the 18th century in the work of John Nelson Darby. Darby coined the rapture as a two-part event, where selected “righteous” people would be taken from the earth’s boundaries, followed by a seven-year time of tribulation and Christ’s second coming. “This is pick and choose scriptural literalism of the worst kind,” said Rossing.

In her first talk, Rossing outlined that this thinking would predict:

►the blessing of violence as God’s way
►an ecological disaster of global proportions
►a series of events alleged to occur only in the Middle East

All of these, maintains Rossing, contribute to a climate of fear, contrary to the teachings of Jesus.

“Why then,” she posed, “does this have such appeal? Because this dramatic approach makes the Bible come to life in the world. There is a God-hunger,” she continued, “and we have a different story to tell. … Mainline Christians have been asleep at the wheel.” The Jesus story “is not about war and destruction, but about the healing of the nations. It’s about seeing that no one is ‘left behind,’” she added

Rossing announced an ELCA-wide initiative to emphasize biblical scholarship in our church on all levels of teaching. “We are people rooted in scripture. We know how to make the Bible come to life. Lutherans read the Bible!”

Although it was no revelation to those who have read her work, “The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation,” voting members heard Rossing iterate that the Book of Revelation is a “wake-up call, not a predictive script, not a horoscope. As in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Revelation is calling people to repentance with a sense of urgency. … It’s to get up to follow the lamb, Jesus.”

Rossing urged each person to have ready stories of “hope, reconciliation and healing” to make the Bible come alive. “This is something we can do,” she said.

Note: Rossing’s book, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation, is available through the Janssen Resource Center of the New England Synod. Please call (508) 791-1530, x103.