Christian apocalypticism or millenarianism focuses on believing that the day of world destruction will come and take people to a better world of God. The fascinating aspect which encouraged me to explore this movement is that the apocalypse is treated not as dangerous destruction but as the opportunity to get repentance and forgiveness. We treat the apocalypse as a negative notion due to the cinematography products. However, the Christian apocalypticism movement depicts the destruction from another angle.
The essential point of this belief is that the world people live in is a mere tool to execute death, power, and inequality. Skrimshire points out that Christian apocalypticism treats the natural world as a constant war between sin and authority (519). The followers of this movement claim that this is not the war of weapons; it is the war of the soul and mind (Duff 6). Seeking salvation, apocalyptic movement Christians accept the necessity of the destruction of this world. Complying with the leading Christian belief that the real world is just a test to pass to the heavens, religious millenarianism considers the apocalypse a final challenge.
Apocalyptic millenarianism has peculiar features in other religions besides Christianity. Thus, Duff speculates on the theme of the apocalyptic characteristics in Judaism (7). The author also points out that even Bible is originally supposed to contain those features (Duff 10). Therefore, this movement is not specific to a particular group of people. Apocalyptic millenarianism has deeper roots in the laws of world creation, which can be found in the Bible.
Exploring one of the new religious movements, I had the opportunity to consider the familiar facts from another perspective. Another interesting fact is that power is the main problem that humanity has to defeat. The main idea that I would like to remember is that the terrifying and destroying notion is not constantly as horrible as we think. Moreover, sometimes it can bring salvation and forgiveness to those who accept the world the way it is.
Works Cited
Duff, Nancy. “Christian Apocalyptic.” SAGE Journals, vol.75, no. 1, 2017, pp. 5-8. Web.
Skimshire, Stephan. “Activism for End Times: Millenarian Belief in an Age of Climate Emergency.” Theology Today, vol. 20, no. 6, 2018, pp. 518-536. Web.