I had a thought provoking 30 second conversation with a friend when I mentioned in passing, "What do you think about all the millennium stuff?"
I don't know what I expected they would say, but I got a slight shock when they responded that it sounded like a fairytale. That was the extent of the conversation, so I don't know if they thought every scenario was too fanciful, or just a particular view like post millenialism was too much to swallow.
Actually in America people seem to fall into 2 camps; eschatology preoccupies their brain, or they blow off the idea. But I didn't think an Asian would be so left- brained and concrete.
I guess with all the problems it does seem like there will never be a "happily ever after"for planet earth.
And yet, once upon a time there was no universe, and now there is. So why can't the same hand that made everything fix it up, correcting every mistake so that things are the way they are supposed to be. Our God is up to the task.
But that does not let us off the hook. If we get caught up in the idea only God can make a difference, then we will walk by a lot of problems that are right within our sphere of influence instead of reaching out a hand like the good Samaritan. Our good intentions might flop, but we are obligated to try.

Woody Allen said something like, “I don’t mind death it’s dieing I’m afraid of.” Dieing does sound scary. No wonder the rapture theory sounds so appealing; you can skip the dieing part.
Sometimes my brushes with death were frightening; other times it happened too fast to be scared. Once I was electrocuted when a live current went through a gate and I grabbled onto the gate handle; if no one rescued me, it would have been a terrible way to go. When I was in intensive care after my first baby was born; I suppose I could have died but it felt a lot better than being electrocuted. A robber tried to steal something belonging to my husband, and I chased him through the desert by myself on foot; I didn’t stop to think it might be dangerous, but later learned he shot a police officer through the kneecap. In Jakarta, our car was surrounded and rocked from side to side during a huge riot; people were dying around us. Then in Yellowstone, a mother grizzly reared up on her hind legs when my daughter and I accidentally came upon her with a cub- we did everything wrong; screamed and ran. Worst of all was when my kids all got cerebral malaria, the variety of malaria that is 100% fatal without treatment. The anopheles mosquito bit my kids while we camping on a remote beach; it skipped over me, but I could have lost all of my children at once because they were sick for a whole month before the doctors figured out what was the matter with them…
We can’t control how we end up dieing, only how we live. I guess that’s why the bible doesn’t say much about death; it is not our concern for the moment. I watched the 300, and when the Spartans wanted to curse someone they said, “May you live forever.” Christians consider death as an enemy, and yet Christians should have at least the same fearlessness about death as the Spartans- not because we want glory on the battlefield, but because Jesus is waiting for us on the other side.

I am doing research on death for my theology paper,and I think that I am sort of morbid for choosing that topic. From the time I had to bury my pet turtle at age five, I was sort of curious about death and wondered about it. Mostly I am a bit scared of death even though I was a hospice worker and know that sometimes death is God's cure for what someone is going through.

Having said all that, I am not convinced we should dwell on death too much. Maybe it is good to have some pat answers about death so we can put the topic on a shelf and just know God is taking care of us now and always. I think it is a dangerous topic because it nurishes suicidal tendencies that maybe should be starved out.

And I also know people who are involved in spiritualism which I think is like drawing blood, then jumping into a shark tank. They are out of their league, and I don't think we are meant to peer into "the other side". I think people are like fish. Saltwater fish can't live in fresh water, and fresh water fish can't live in saltwater. The dead can't be here and the living can't be there, and we need to be content with that arrangement.