As we reviewed the Four Horsemen, it was asked whether Hades (Rev. 6:8) was synonymous with Purgatory.

The study leader at this C&MA church looked steadily in my direction as she answered, "Well, I was about to say that Purgatory is an invention of the Roman Catholic Church, but let me rather say simply that Hades is not to be identified with Purgatory, and leave it at that."

Someone wondered whether the oil in Rev. 6:6 was, in fact, petroleum. Well, my goodness, it never occurred to me to consider petroleum in any biblical mention of "oil"! Yet, I suppose petroleum fits the context of today's dispensational interpretation of the Apocalypse.

The answer came that oil very probably refers to olive oil. And I repeated that the oil and wine in Rev 6:6 remind me of the Good Samaritan's treatment of the victim under his care in Luke 10:34.

An inconsistency was then cited from the sacred text:

"If the grass is all burned up in Rev. 8:7, then why are the locusts told not to harm it in Rev. 9:4?" Locusts are known for destroying grass.

Our faithful study leader answered that the grass had grown back in the time between the first and fifth trumpets. "We don't know how much time has passed," she said, "and you know how fast grass grows, especially weeds. Think of the recent forest fires out west. That stuff will grow back."

My answer would have been more abstract: if a literal reading doesn't fit, then the author likely intended a reading other than literal. Therefore, try another reading.

It's amusing how often Christians who hold strictly to biblical inerrancy come across inconsistencies during Bible study. This happened this past summer.

I don't participate at these studies for the sake of pointing out the inconsistencies to them ... they find them themselves! And my answer would be the same. I would not even be so bold as to suggest that they abandon biblical fundamentalism altogether, although that would be ideal. The realization has to be more gradual and can't be forced upon them or else they may fall into one of two devastations: they dig in their heels and resist or they reject the Bible completely as untrustworthy. Oftentimes, then, the very worst thing to do to a biblical fundamentalist is to show them all the errors in the Bible. I don't know why it has to be all or nothing.

Towards the end of the discussion, then, the dilemma arose of how to reconcile the suddenness of Christ's Second Coming with the observable events that must precede it. The Rapture was introduced to preserve the imminence of Christ's return and keep us focused on Him rather than reading the newspapers. And I thought to myself, "Well, that's a little like Purgatory, isn't it? The development of a rational solution to a reasonable problem." I'm sure they wouldn't see it that way.