In the book of that title (Herald Press, Waterloo, Ont, 1999, 288 pp.), Walter Klaassen contrasts the Biblical interpretation of the End of Time by fundamentalist Christian writers and TV forecasters and Klaassen’s own interpretation. The details of the story told need not concern us, but the sharply contrasting views of God and of Jesus are remarkable.

The fundamentalists see God and Jesus as vengeful toward all unbelievers, destroying them several times in cruel battles and castings them into the eternal lake of fire. Only then can the faithful live a happy life in the New Jerusalem. Klaassen sees God and Jesus as loving and merciful, preaching peace and nonviolence to the world. Both views are claimed to be based on the Bible, but Klaassen shows over and over again how the fundamentalists distort the message, quoting sources out of context, etc. I am not a biblical scholar to judge how faithful to the text Klaassen’s interpretations are.

These two views of God correspond to, and vividly illustrate, the rightwing and leftwing ideologies concerning the nature of reality and the principles of good and evil. The God of wrath is not at all the same God as the God of Love.

By rightwing and leftwing I mean something similar to Eckhardt’s categories (derived from analysis of attitude questionnaires) of compulsion and compassion. These are not the same as “conservative-radical”, although Eckhardt would regard it as such, but I have a different view. The Conservative-Radical scale to me is something inherent in nature, and existing in a delicate balance; “conservative” denoting homeostasis, like preserving the integrity of the genes that have proved their value in evolution; while “radical” means the flexibility that allows for adaptation to new conditions. Both are necessary, both are good.

But the fundamentalists (though sometimes called “neo-conservatives”) do not “conserve” anything useful; e.g. they are not “conservationists” in the ecological sense. The contrast between fundamentalists and true Christians like Klaassen is a genuine contrast between Evil and Good. But to prove my goodwill, I would not condemn even the fundamentalists to the Lake of Fire.