Eschatological Crisis

Well I'm having an eschatological crisis.  Rather than an existential one.

All of the talk about Duck Dynasty has once again opened the never-healing gash caused by the rift between the world and Christians.  My eschatological crisis is not directly related to the recent uproars of this Duck escapade.  So rather than the exact cause, it's just a symptom.

The cause of my internal bewilderment is really the whole end-times stuff.  I was going about my usual business last week and the middle of my day, in the middle of an activity, I just stopped.  It was one of those self-aware moments.  So profound was the impression that I felt, that I had to pause.
I began to think:
  "Something isn't right."
  "This world is real... But temporary."
  "Something is just off."

I have to believe that others experience these impressions as well. It's really rare, for me at least.  Our lives are filled with so very many distractions, and even most people in the world would agree that most of our daily concerns aren't very meaningful.  But occasionally, even if I'm busy, sleep-deprived, anxious, or whatever, there appears a sharp pang of clarity.   "I don't belong here."

Of course, not in the sense that I feel not included or left out, but in the sense that I don't want to belong here.  Something innately tugs me to what is truly meaningful.  Something drifts me towards the truth.

Diagnose or explain away as you will.  Is it fabrication or imagination?  Is it the same vibes a psychic gets when "reading the tea leaves."  Is  it just human philosphy?  Is it my ego trying to manufacture supernatural experiences so I can justify my beliefs?

I reject those notions.  But who am I instruct or guide on those uncanny premonitions that appear so scarcely.  I walk by faith, it's my guide.  I agree with what Paul wrote in Romans 1; God makes himself known and left his evidence on our hearts, tangible or intangible.  As seen here:

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

What differentiates this particular "crisis" from an existential one is that it's all tied to eschatological concepts.  In other words, it gives me something concrete to tie in all of these strange, odd feelings.  Rather than asking the existential questions with open-ended & unanswerable thoughts, I rely on the information I have to answer them.

When I have these feelings, I'm reminded of these passages.
  "This world is real... But temporary." Paul says in Romans 8:

¹⁸ I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ The whole creation waits breathless with anticipation for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters. ²⁰ Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice—it was the choice of the one who subjected it—but in the hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from slavery to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of God’s children. ²² We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now. ²³ And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free.

  "Something is just off."  From John 18:

³⁶ Jesus replied, “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world. If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn’t have been arrested by the Jewish leaders. My kingdom isn’t from here.”
³⁷ “So you are a king?” Pilate said.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.”
³⁸ “What is truth?” Pilate asked.

"I don't belong here."  From John 15:

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

I'm tied to the fact we have an answer to these questions. I read Revelation recently, oops. I left with a boatload of questions. I understand we can't answer every question. I have to remember to "lean not on your own understanding."  Additionally, "no one knows when the time will come."

We can't answer every one, but we are left with a sense of awe and wonder at what truly is to come. Only then will the crisis be resolved.  Of course, it's not a "crisis" as far as world definitions go, I'm not about to go all Harold Camping... or do anything extreme. But it's a calm but pressing sense of urgency to - quite frankly - reject the world and seek the truth.

Romans 8:
²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.