Who is it that believes only 166,000 people will get into heaven?
OK, this makes me the theology equivalent of a Grammar Nazi, but it's 144,000, and it comes from this passage in Revelation:
[link]
Like most of Revelation, it's subject to multiple interpretations, ranging from the Jehovah's Witnesses saying it's the 144,000 who make it into heaven to the subset of dispensationalist evangelical/fundamentalist Christians who think it's 144,000 literal Jews, 12,000 each from the literal 12 Tribes, who become Christians after the current Christians are all raptured prior to the great tribulation. (Dispensationalism is complex and IMHO wacky, but think the Left Behind series.)
Oh, and I've met many a hardcore, predestination-embracing Calvinist in my personal journey through a good chunk of Protestantism. (I was raised Southern Baptist and am now Episcopalian, with several stops in between.) Neo-Calvinism is something of a trend in conservative evangelicalism these days. Mark Driscoll is Calvinist, as are quite a few of the prominent Quiverfull types.
As for me, these days I think of myself as an agnostic who practices Christianity. I hope there's a God and an afterlife, but I certainly don't KNOW those things. I don't go to church week in and week out the way I used to, but the Episcopalian liturgy is soul-restoring for me. Unlike my evangelical days, I don't have to try to manufacture the right beliefs and feelings. The liturgy is there to catch me, wherever I am that Sunday--the Word and the prayers, the bread and the wine that somehow tie together the mortal and the eternal. I try to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly (though I've always sucked at the humility part), and to use my abilities and enthusiasms to their fullest extent.
OK, this makes me the theology equivalent of a Grammar Nazi, but it's 144,000, and it comes from this passage in Revelation:
My FAC believed they would be the 144,000, but also that it was just kind of the advance guard. Also, they wouldn't be going to heaven; they would be assisting Christ after he established a 1,000 year kingdom on earth. During this time, just about everyone else who'd ever lived would be resurrected and given their opportunity to be saved. (In quite favourbale circumstances, as there really wouldn't be any question as to God's existence, and the FAC was of the opinion that a benevolent government headed by God himself would prove to be a decent selling point.)
Another fun theological rabbit hole to go down is the Preterist belief that the prophecies of Revelations have already happened, ie, the Romans burning the Temple, and the Tribulation being the persecution of the Christians by Rome. It's always fascinating to see how people rectify "The End Times are here!" with "Oh, the sun came up and none of us have been taken into heaven. Huh."
Preterism: [link]
One of the assistant rectors at my church wrote this, which I really love, in our monthly bulletin:
"An essential part of what it means to be made in the image of God is that we are creative beings. We are clever and quirky and unique - each one of us. We can create great, stunning, so-amazing-there-are-no-words beauty, and say things so funny that people accidentally spit their iced lattes out on their laptops. There are people here who have gone to the MacGiver School of Ministry and created amazing things using nothing but a paperclip, chewing gum, and a roll of duck tape. There are authors and movie makers, songwriters and storytellers. There are cartoonists and ministers, and cartoonist-ministers. It is beautiful and energizing and exhausting. It is a glimpse - just the tiniest glimpse - of what it looks like when you unleash the creative identity of people to do the work of God - to tell the stories of God, to share the love of God, to prick the conscience of God's people through music or words or pictures."
I heard a story about Tom Brady on NPR this morning, and all I could think was how grateful I am that the Starlord - Captain America children's hospital visits aren't tainted by all that nonsense.
Oh, goddamnit, I have to talk to Comcast.
Sorry to hear that, but it reminds me that I have to talk to Verizon, so thanks.
"Oh, yes, I see you do have a $70 charge for a trouble call that should not be on there. I can offer you $35 and premium channels."
"WE DON'T HAVE CABLE THROUGH YOU PEOPLE ARGH HULK SMAAAASH."
Wow! Wegman's is big time now. Of course in Rochester, they have pulled out of every city location leaving us non-suburbian people in a food desert.
