Christians Who Quote Revelations Too Much

Well, here I sit, in the middle of a divorce.

I'm also taking a bible study class (Disciple) at a local church. It's a good class, but the people in it are a little more conservative than I would normally gravitate to.

We take each others' prayer requests. This was a little offputting to me at first. I was surprised at the idea of offering up requests to God as if he would simply fulfill them. ("Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends."). So, I listened to others' concerns and even prayed for them. Praying was something alien to me; I had been out of the church for about 25 years, basically because, as a teenager, I wasn't satisfied w/what I was getting in church (platitudes, mostly, while evil flourished in the world).

But, I'm developing, changing, learning, growing. God may not directly answer prayers, but he hears them. (Why he hears them but doesn't answer them the way we want is probably another blog topic. Not afraid of big topics, am I?) So, after a couple of years and some consideration, I decide to offer my own prayer request to the group.

I tell them I'm getting a divorce, my lawyer will write a letter to my wife that she's not expecting and I'd like their prayers.

Now, I, when presented with this sort of spectacular statement, would (I hope) probe a little bit more. What's the marriage like? Is this a temporary wish for a divorce? Does the wife really not know what's coming, or has she had some sort of indication?

I don't recall any of those sorts of questions being asked. What I do remember is getting quoted at from the book of Revelations: "even cowards are for the lake of fire." And that's the exact phrase the guy used: "for the lake of fire." (Rev. 21:8).

[dramatic pause, string of expletives]

What the heck does Revelation have to do w/divorce? And am I being called a coward for having this letter delivered unexpectedly from my lawyer to my wife? Did they ask about the situation or just jump to conclusions? Yes, I told my wife I wanted a divorce. Yes, we had tried counselling, w/out success. Yes, she was basically ignoring me.

What is it w/Christians that define themselves by this one book? (Also the book of John, apparently.) Everything is judgement and end times with these people. They have the smug satisfaction that the bad people will get theirs, and the good people (these Christians) will get to watch. Of course, they'll be sorry for the sinners (because they hate the sin, not the sinner), but they'll still have that little frisson of schadenfreude.

There are so many other things in the bible by which to define yourself:

• A man had two sons. He asked them to work in his vineyard. The first said yes, but he didn't. The second said no, but later changed his mind and did. Which was the better son?
  
  
• After you've worked in your master's field all day and you've both come to his house at the end of the day, does he say, "sit and dine w/me, thou good and faithful servant"? No, he asks you to fix him dinner. [Meaning, you don't do good works for a reward. You do them because you're obligated to.]
  
  
• "All things are permitted, but not all things are beneficial."

And on and on and on. Why do we need to focus on burning lakes of sulfur and great red dragons and 144,000 saints?

There are times/places when Revelations is relevant. I'm thinking of the church in North Korea, a persecuted church. (Revelations was written for the persecuted church.)

But in a comfortable, industrialized nation? No. I think the book of Amos is much more appropriate for our focus. Or Romans, maybe.