An eco-spirituality writer who grew up on Second Coming theology, Brenda Peterson, has just published a book sparkling with humor about life and family in an autobiography, I Want to be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth.
Peterson says that as a child she knew that if there were not forests and wildlife in heaven, she did not want to go there. As an adult, she has found heavenly Spirit in exploring interspecies communication with gray whales. Renewing an eco-diverse Garden of Eden here on Earth is for her the way to live rapturously.
Jesus, whose native tongue was Aramaic , also spoke of heaven on Earth. In Luke, he said, “The kingdom of God is (Aramaic, legau) in, among, and around you.” Here, now, on Earth. In the gospel of Thomas he said, “The Father’s imperial rule is spread out upon Earth, and people don’t see it.”
We keep remembering Jesus, and that remembrance is his Second Coming. He’s a cheerleader for Peterson’s Earth-based agenda.
