In this episode we speak with former church pastor, author and teacher Keith Giles. Like many evangelicals, Keith inherited a dispensational understanding of the End Times. If you’re not sure what that is, think anti-Christ, mark of the Beast, the rapture, Jesus’s return, and the New Jerusalem.
Keith slowly became aware that this was a relatively new, ill-informed and damaging way of reading the bible. So he set about discovering a healthier ‘End Times’ vision.
After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim Nash and Nick Thorley reflect on their own experiences of dispensational End Times theology, and how their faith deconstruction and subsequent embrace of a more progressive faith has reshaped that.
Interview starts at 11m 40s
BOOKS
Jesus Unexpected: Ending the End Times to Become the Second Coming
Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics to Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb
Jesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible
Jesus Unveiled: Forsaking Church as We Know It for Ekklesia as God Intended
Jesus Undefeated: Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment
Jesus Unarmed: How the Prince of Peace Disarms Our Violence
Jesus Unforsaken: Substituting Divine Wrath With Unrelenting
BLOG
QUOTES
“I call it the ‘slow motion’ second coming of Christ. In other words, there is more of Christ in the world today than there was 2000 years ago. But it’s an ongoing thing, it’s a continual thing, it’s gradual.”
“The longer Christians hold onto this fantasy of this end times rapture dispensational theology, what it does is paralyze us. We sit around waiting. And we’ve been doing this since 1830 in large part. Any Christian church that embraces this doctrine, what it encourages you to do is to sit and wait for Jesus to come and fix everything.”
“We are the second coming of Christ.”
“Is the body of Christ physically present in the world today already? Yes. How? In us. Christ is here. He has returned in his church; in his body.”
Excellent!!
Generally very helpful.
But he seems to completely ignore passages like 1 Cor. 15 which speaks very clearly about our resurrected bodies. Personally I don’t see anywhere in the NT where what happens to us as individuals after our personal deaths being described as our ultimate hope.
Also he never addressed Rev. 20 or 21 and the vision of a completely renewed earth and the hope that one day Satan and evil will forever be eradicated.
Aren’t those facts part or our ultimate joke?
Wow! You beautiful young people spend your days trying to work out such complicated theologies. As we grow in our spiritual life, we realise religion is a map, life is the journey. There are many maps, and as we grow, we write our own map, and in the end we come to the same point .. the Golden rule.. love one another. At 80 I walk without words. God is the vitality in everything and everyone
, and my Mantra is … I love you. Bliss. I love you!