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Monday, June 25, 2007

Glenn Beck and the False Prophets
The other night CNN's Glenn Beck devoted a full hour to the question of whether we are living in the "end times," that is, at the end of human history when God will supposedly render a final judgement upon the entire human race with a few, faithful Christians being saved and the rest of humanity sent to hell. He invited three "experts" to help him answer his questions about the ultimate fate of human life on this planet, namely fiction writers Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, and Joel Rosenberg who combines fictional accounts of the end of the world with "non-fiction."

The frightening part of this program -- and you can check out the full transcript here -- was that the popular host of a major news network was utterly failing to separate fact from fiction and offering paranoid fantasy as a substitute for reality. Beck was not questioning these authors; rather he was cheering them on ... agreeing with their view that the world as we know it is coming to an end soon, and that when this happens, it will not be the disaster that most rational people would surely call it, but rather the long awaited fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

This is not the first time that Beck has promoted the irresponsible theories of LaHaye and Jenkins, authors of the best-selling Left Behind series, and it probably won't be the last. CNN executives should take a closer look. Their popular host may be using the network to promote a narrow and sectarian version of Christianity that no responsible theologians, Catholic or Protestant, would endorse. Not to mention the implied condemnation of the vast majority of humans on this planet who would suffer unspeakable suffering, death and an eternal punishment in hell were the Beck/Jenkins/LaHaye false prophecies actually fulfilled.

Why the Left Behind series is both bad fiction and even more important, bad faith.

The End of the World is Coming. Soon. Not!

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The Rev. Charles P. Henderson is a Presbyterian minister and Executive Director of 
  Cross Currents. 
He is the author of God and Science (John Knox Press, 1986).  
A revised and expanded version of the book is appearing here.
God and Science (Hypertext Edition, 2005)
He is also editor of a new book, featuring articles by world class scientists and theologians, and illustrating the leading views on the relationship between science and religion:
Faith, Science and the Future (CrossCurrents Press, 2007)  

Charles also tracks the boundry between the virtual and the real at his blog: Next World Design, focusing on the mediation of art, science and spirituality in the metaverse.  

For more information about Charles Henderson.