Response from a minister about jesus being 2000 years late.

[mark9950]

You probably all know all the verses that refer to jesus as being 2000 years late.

So I have a habit of asking a minister that question so he could give me a response.Out of curiousity.

Here it is,I would love any and all rebuttals

Thanks for the e-mail.

You are not the first to have this question. There are whole religions who believe that He somehow already returned, but does this belief fit with the facts...with logic. If He has already come back, why don't we have some history about His Worldwide 1,000-year reign? How did that slip by the History books? Where are the New Heavens and New Earth? Where is the New Jerusalem, which is 1,500 miles long, wide and high? Where they here for a while and all go away?

The Bible says...

Matt 24:22
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
KJV

He made this statement in answer to a question about what it would be like just prior to His return. If those days (of humans) were cut short, why are we still here, still committing murders, rapes, wars and torture? What was the point of His supposed return back then?

The Bible speaks to the fact that when He returns, the firstfruits will be changed to spirit beings. Where are they? Did they go away.

1 Cor 15:52-54
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
KJV

So, based on the idea He has already returned, where are these spirit beings.

We know from the Bible that the gospel will be preached and then shall the end come...

Matt 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
KJV

So, if He already came back and the gospel was preached into all the world back before that return, why is the gospel being preached today? Is He coming back again for another 1,000-year reign. Will He continue coming back every 2000 years or so.

REGARDING THE DISCIPLES THINKING HE WAS COMING BACK THEN...

Of course they thought that. God allowed them, to a point, to believe that for they needed to write with an urgency so that the text would make sense to those across the 2000 years since then. They believed He was coming within a few years of His death and resurrection. Even AFTER the resurrection, but before they had the Holy Spirit to fully understand, they said...

Acts 1:3-7
3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
KJV

Did you see that? They thought STILL thought He was coming back and ONLY to restore the Kingdom like it was under the reigns of David and Solomon. They were completely shortsighted. Read 1 Cor. 2:14 and you will read that without the Holy Spirit, spiritual things are foolishness and you are spiritually discerned (confused). They were. Now consider this: When were the gospel accounts and the letters of Paul written? Of course, they were written much later. They were written (inspired by God) after they had the Holy Spirit. They knew that Christ was not coming back anytime soon, but they still wrote that text with the thinking they had about His imminent return.

REGARDING THE STATEMENT ABOUT NOT TASTING DEATH UNTIL...

This was speaking to what is referred to as the Transfiguration...the vision SOME of them had. Notice your very quote of the scripture: It says "there will be SOME standing here which will not taste death. Those some were Peter, James and John (Matthew 17:1). Isn't it interesting that the verse you quoted was Matthew 16:28---THE VERY LAST VERSE OF CHAPTER 16. The very next chapter goes into the Transfiguration where they see a vision of Moses and Elijah. Make sense? When was this written.................later...right? The Transfiguration is also covered in Luke 22, Mark 14 and John 13 and you refer to them to in your e-mail. For Matthew 26:64, who is Jesus talking to there? Go read verses 57-64. As for 1 Cor 7:29, this is Paul writing with urgency. As for the writing in Phil 1:10: Think about it. I tell people all the time, in speaking about the Salvation Process, that they must remain in it until their death or the return of Christ. When you die, you are only dead for 1 second, as far as YOU are concerned. You die and whether you are in the grave for 6,000 years or 10 minutes, you are brought back to conciousness 1 second later, as far as you are concerned. Therefore what is the difference between dying 4,000 years prior to His return or standing there alive when He returns? Answer: 1 second. Therefore, you see the meaning of Phil 1:10. The Day of Christ comes to both the DEAD and the ALIVE. The verse says to be sincere and without offense UNTIL THE DAY OF CHRIST. Does it say that you will, of course, be alive till that day? Of course not. Paul wrote this book (letter) to the Philippians, didn't he? Well, he also wrote Hebrews and Hebrews 11. Notice what it says in the Faith chapter:

After speaking of all the faithful of God, he says:

Heb 11:39
39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
KJV

They died not receiving the return of Christ or eternal life. They will receive it at His return.

Now you are free to believe anything you wish. I have no idea what the hope is for someone who believes Christ already return and somehow left the area, apparently forever.

We have told you what we know and believe and what the Bible proves. Read Revelation 20 and 21 and tell me where in history all these things happened, assuming He has already returned.

Let me know if you have further questions.



Sincerely,

Chris Cumming, minister
Personal Correspondence

[sodium]

Originally posted by mark9950
If He has already come back, why don't we have some history about His Worldwide 1,000-year reign?

That's just an argument from silence. ;)

[fried beef sandwich]

I like the fact that he basically admits that God intentionally misled his own followers and believers by allowing them to believe that he was coming back soon so that they would write down everything quickly.

I guess the ends justifies the means, huh?

[MortalWombat]

Originally posted by fried beef sandwich
I like the fact that he basically admits that God intentionally misled his own followers and believers by allowing them to believe that he was coming back soon so that they would write down everything quickly.

I guess the ends justifies the means, huh? Jesus: the first weapon of mass destruction.

[mark9950]

I like the fact that he basically admits that God intentionally misled his own followers and believers by allowing them to believe that he was coming back soon so that they would write down everything quickly.

That God is satan the deceiver

[Kosh]

Originally posted by fried beef sandwich
I like the fact that he basically admits that God intentionally misled his own followers and believers by allowing them to believe that he was coming back soon so that they would write down everything quickly.

I guess the ends justifies the means, huh?

So like, why did it take them 40 years? ;)

[Godless Wonder]

I'm certainly no bible scholar, by any stretch, but I just don't buy this bit about referring to the transfiguration:

Notice the response doesn't quote this, in full:

Mark 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

It says quite plainly that some of them standing there won't die before kingdom come.

So, the "kingdom of god come with power" means what exactly? The transfiguration?

And I suppose when Yosemite Sam talks about blowing Bugs Bunny "to Kingdom Come", he's really talking about transfiguration, eh? Perhaps disfiguration.

This seems clearly a rationalization. If "kingdom" hasn't "come" (suddenly a couple other words ending in "ation" enter my mind) then those words must mean something else. But what? Latch onto the only thing around to latch onto.

[jayh]

They were. Now consider this: When were the gospel accounts and the letters of Paul written? Of course, they were written much later. They were written (inspired by God) after they had the Holy Spirit. They knew that Christ was not coming back anytime soon, but they still wrote that text with the thinking they had about His imminent return.

What you describing here is a change of interpretation, midstream when the original interpretation did not appear to work out. There is nothing in that change of heart that suggests any divine inspiration, all sorts of religious groups (as well as political and other groups) change their interpretation to match new realities. In no way does this make the second interpretation any more credible.



52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Irrelevant to the material at hand. If a person were to die and awaken, yes it would seem insantaneous, but we are discussing here what he told the LIVING disciples. [If you tell someone something with tricky wording, with the full knowledge that they are comletely misunderstanding you, that is LYING in both the legal and moral definitions.]

The highly stretched definitions to dance around this problem are essentially ad hoc explanations. The plain language interpretation doesn't work so the language is stretched until somehow it is forced to fit. There are problems with this:

1) there is NO additonal Biblical evidence to support these bizarre interpretations. If there were other scriptures which proposed these interpretations, at least there would be some justification, but apparently Yahweh left out that part.

2) Since we don't have any evidence for one stretch over another how do we know which is valid. Biblically speaking, with no explanatory scriptures, ANY interpretation of the language that covered the bases could be used. If other alternative explanations are just as credible scripturally, than the Bible has done a really poor job (left our important material) of explainging probably THE critical doctrine of Christianity.

jay

[Bernard Muller]

Now consider this: When were the gospel accounts and the letters of Paul written? Of course, they were written much later. They were written (inspired by God) after they had the Holy Spirit. They knew that Christ was not coming back anytime soon, but they still wrote that text with the thinking they had about His imminent return.
Who are they? Paul the apostles? Probably. If they knew Christ was not coming soon, why they still wrote about the imminent return. I call that lying. Or maybe I am missing something.

It says "there will be SOME standing here which will not taste death. Those some were Peter, James and John (Matthew 17:1)
Actually, the first sentence of the verse is 16:28a, not part of 17:1.
But "Those some were Peter, James and John" is not part of Mat17:1 (or 16:28), which read "And after six days Jesus takes with [him] Peter, and James, and John his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain apart."
That's a detail. Let's see what comes next:

Mat16:28, as a whole read as such:
Darby "Verily I say unto you [all his disciples!], There are some of those standing here that shall not taste of death at all until **they shall have seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom**."

And in GMark, that "Matthew" copied a lot and improved, we read:
Mk9:1 "And he said to them, Verily I say unto you, There are some of those standing here that shall not taste death until **they shall have seen the kingdom of God come in power**."

The very next chapter goes into the Transfiguration where they see a vision of Moses and Elijah. Make sense? When was this written.................later...right?
I heard that before! So that's it: an (alleged) private showing of Elijah & Moses to three disciples.
Alleluhiah! That's the realized Kingdom! That's:
"the Son of man coming in his kingdom" (GMatthew)
or
"the kingdom of God come in power" (GMark)
I wonder if our minister has been preaching that all that fuss about the Kingdom of God is only that alleged incident, and it happened already, around 28AD and for a few minutes! And all the other writings about the Kingdom to come after that, by Paul and others, are just either lies or unintentional misinformations!

The Transfiguration is also covered in Luke 22, Mark 14 and John 13
Nowhere in John13, or the whole of GJohn there is a transfiguration tale as in GMark or GLuke or GMatthew.

As for 1 Cor 7:29, this is Paul writing with urgency.
Ya, I guess so:
1 Corinthians 7 NASB
29 But this I say, brethren, **the time has been shortened**, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none;
30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess;
31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for **the form of this world is passing away**."

If the second coming, or the advent of the Kingdom, whatever, was thought by Paul to be thousands of years off, why would he advise his contemporary Christians not to have a normal conjugal life, even if they were already married?
Is that what is called urgency?

There are more "urgencies":

1Co15:51-52 "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We
[Paul and the recipients of the letter, his contemporaries]
` shall not all sleep [be dead], but we shall all be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

See also 'Romans':
Ro13:11-12a "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for **now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed**. **The night is far spent, the day is at hand**..."
Note: according to Tacitus, those Christians of Rome were destroyed by Nero less than seven years later! Likely not what Paul had in mind!

and from 'Hebrews':
Heb10:25 "... exhorting one another, and so much the more as **you [the recipients of the letter] see the Day approaching**."
Heb10:36-37 "For you [the recipients of the letter, again] have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: "For **yet a little while**, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.""

As I noted, these letters were meant for the contemporaries of Paul, many of those were not expected to die before the BIG event, AND not for Christians 2000 years later.

Best regards, Bernard

[fried beef sandwich]

Originally posted by Kosh
So like, why did it take them 40 years? ;) Because they were using QWERTY instead of Dvorak.

[Sojourner553]

Originally posted by mark9950
[B]You probably all know all the verses that refer to jesus as being 2000 years late.

So I have a habit of asking a minister that question so he could give me a response.Out of curiousity.

I think the gospel references to the "End" should also be looked at in chronological order with Paul's being the oldest references:


Early Christian Writings on the "IMMEDIACY" of Jesus' Return
References in the Epistles in the New Testament by St. Paul

In Paul's earliest letters, Paul writes how the Day of Judgment of the "Lord is at hand"! (Phil 4:5,1 Cor. 16:22). In Romans 13:9-11, Paul urged his congregation to obey the commandments, "...for now is our SALVATION nearer than when we believed."

Due to this belief, Paul even recommended that his community give up sexual activity, saying for example:

"The time we live in will not last long. While it lasts, married men
should be as if they had no wives;...For the whole frame of this world is passing away." (1 Cor. 7:29-31)

As for those Christians who had become sickly and even died, Paul at first declared that this might have been caused by those who were "unworthy" to participate in the powerful enactment of the Last Supper (Eucharist):

"For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For
this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (I Corinthians 11:27-32)

As more Christians began dying off, people began wondering whether or not their dead friends and family would be able to participate with the LIVING in the New Age to be initiated by Jesus' Second Coming. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian congregations on this issue, assuring them that the dead would
be resurrected during the Second Coming:

"we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:15)

It is interesting to note Paul's use of the word "we" in the passage above.--He obviously expected to be one of those who would still be alive when Jesus returned. The dead would be resurrected, and all Christian souls would be transfigured into immortal beings, and taken up into Heaven.

As to why there were NO signs that the Second Coming was about to be initiated, Paul explained to his congregation that instead the time would come upon them suddenly "like a thief in the night":

"About dates and times we need not write to you, for you know perfectly well that the day of the lord comes like a thief in the night. While they are talking of peace and security all at once calamity comes in upon them, sudden as the pangs that come upon a woman with child." (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)

Gospel Writers Insist the "End" Will be Presaged by Great "Signs"

Later, gospel writers such as Mark would write that great "signs"
would presage the Second Coming. For example, Mark 13:21 quotes Jesus as prophesizing terrible times and the coming of false messiahs and imposters. Another sign would be the "abomination of desolation".

Possibly one reason, why the gospel writers differed with Paul
on this issue, is that during the times that THEY wrote--they were seeing terrible signs (which they hoped meant the Second Coming was around the corner FOR THEM!) For during and after the Jewish Revolt of 66-70 C.E.--these were indeed terrible times! The Temple was profaned and destroyed, and Christians had recently gone through the terrible persecutions of Nero.
The gospel writers were relying on texts for the sayings of Jesus that probably came from the early Jewish Christian communities in Palestine--and therefore shared their fellow Jews views of worldly current events.

Later Christian Explanations for Jesus' Delayed Return

Paul died in Rome, possibly during the reign of the Emperor Nero. As even more time passed, and it became obvious that most of the first generation Christians were dying off--the early Church found itself in the uncomfortable position of trying to explain WHY the coming of Christ had been inexplicably postponed.

One prominent Christian leader wrote an epistle--known to us as the second epistle of St. Peter--to help maintain the faith of the flock. According to the author, Jesus and the apostles had been aware that the Coming would be delayed, and had even warned:

"... that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'

The author continued that "the Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, and that:

"the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up...Nevertheless, we according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

In one of the later gospel letters (which are believed to have been written after the death of Paul), we can see reference to where the author is urging calm, obviously from growing alarm that Jesus had not yet returned:

"Now brothers, about the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ and his gathering of us to himself, I beg you do not suddenly lose your heads and alarm yourselves ... [for] that day cannot come before the final rebellion against God, when wickedness will be revealed in human form, the man doomed to perdition. He is the enemy. He rises in his pride against every god so called, every object of men's worship and even takes his seat in the temple of God." (2 Thess. 2:1-4)

Although 2 Thessalonians is ascribed to Paul, many scholars believe that it was written around 70 C.E. by some other author who was anxious to correct some of the "misconceptions" caused by the first letter to the Thessalonians.

That is, unlike other letters of Paul that stressed the immediacy of the Second Coming--this author states that the delay in Jesus' return can be explained by the dualistic forces of good and evil in the world. Or, in other words, "the final rebellion against God" must first take place before Judgment Day can come. (Note: Regarding his references to the "enemy" who would "take[] his seat in the temple of God", some scholars believe this passage could possibly have been describing the Roman emperor Vespasian (Nero's successor). Vespasian became emperor in 69 C.E. following the Roman victory over the Jewish Revolt. He re-instituted the cult of worshipping the emperors (including
himself), as gods!)

Gospel Predictions of the Second Coming

A literal reading of the gospel stories clearly shows that Jesus predicted he would return to end the present world order WITHIN THE LIFETIMES OF HIS current generation:

"...Take heed behold I have told you all things. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven ...

"Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." (Mark 13:23-30. See also Matthew 24:34, and Luke 21:32)

That Jesus would return during the current generation is also written down in Matthew 16:27-28:

"For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his
Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

During Jesus' questioning by the high priest (just prior to being turned over to the Romans and crucified), the following interchange is recorded by Mark between the high priest and Jesus:

"...Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? and Jesus said, I am: and ye
shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and
coming in the clouds of heaven."

If Jesus had stated that the high priest would "see" him on the right hand of God, we could surmise that Jesus was referring to that time after the high priest had died--when his spirit was facing "Judgment". However because of the action implied in the scene (ie the high priest was to "see" Jesus "coming in the clouds of heaven") this makes it sound as if it is again a reference to a physical "End" of the World.

Why was the Second Coming Postponed?

Christians, both then and now, have naturally been puzzled as to why Jesus decided to "postpone" the Coming of God during the lifetimes of his contemporaries. Indeed, the fact that Jesus appeared to have promised to return during his generation, is probably one of the most powerful arguments made by skeptics in their refutation of the authority of the gospels.

Obviously theologians and biblical scholars have been aware of these passages. The following examines some popular responses.

Was Jesus Referring to a SPIRITUAL (As opposed to Physical) Kingdom?

One possibility, (hinted at by Luke), is that Jesus was speaking of a SPIRITUAL kingdom of God, as opposed to a PHYSICAL End of the World: According to Luke 17:20-21:

" The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU." (emphasis mine on words "within you").

There is another verse, where Luke quotes Jesus as describing the Kingdom of Heaven along seemingly SPIRITUAL terms:

"Repent, for the Kingdom of God is AMONG you." [emphasis mine]

The advantage of this view is that because NO apocalypse is involved, this could explain why Jesus has not returned in roughly two thousand years! (Remember the earth was believed to be roughly four thousand years old, so by biblical standards another two thousand years represents a HUGE passage of time).

Still, there are problems with this view. For in other passages in
Luke, Jesus is shown urging his followers to go out and proclaim a kingdom of God on EARTH--and quickly, for there was NO time to loose. That is, in other verses, Luke's meaning seems clear that Jesus and his disciples WERE EXPECTING THE WORLD TO END SOON!

For example, note the following verses--also taken from the gospel of Luke:

* "And he [Jesus] said to all, 'If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it...truly, there are some standing here who will not taste of death before they see the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:23-4,27)

* As they were going down the road, Jesus approached one man, saying: 'Follow me.' But he said to him, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' But he said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' Another said, 'I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.; Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:59-62)

* "If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple...whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 15:26,33)

* "Nevertheless, when the Son of man COMES, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8) (emphasis mine).

* "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

"And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and treat glory. Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:25-8)

Other Gospel References to a PHYSICAL End of the World Scene

Matthew and Mark also directly quote Jesus as referring to WHEN the Day of Judgment will occur--therefore specifically referring to some future PHYSICAL event:

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36. See also Mark 8:11-12).

As we saw earlier, the gospels quote Jesus as depicting terrible events occurring (the light from the sun and the moon would darken, and the stars would fall from heaven, etc). This is clearly speaking of a real PHYSICAL event. And according to Matthew, Jesus appears to have emphasized that his words were to be taken literally and not figuratively:

*"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

* "May thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done... as in Heaven [so] also on earth".

Looking closely at the sayings of Jesus regarding the Kingdom of God--although Jesus seems to indicate that sometimes the Kingdom of God iswithin (ie possibly spiritual), at other times the references are clearly to some future PHYSICAL event, such as when Jesus is quoted as saying:

* "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1:15)

These terms "near" and "at hand" would clearly have been understood by Jesus' Jewish audience along the lines of Jewish apocalyptic traditions-- to be a belief in the inauguration of a new Jerusalem on earth!

If the End of the World is a PHYSICAL Event--Are There Other Reasons Why it Has Remained Unfulfilled for Roughly TWO THOUSAND YEARS?

If we come back to the view that the END OF THE WORLD is a real PHYSICAL EVENT as opposed to a spiritual state--the obvious question arises as to WHY it has taken so long to be fulfilled?

I. A famous passage in Matthew is often quoted in answer to this question:

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36 See also Mark 8:11-12). (Footnote: Sometimes 2 Peter 3:8 "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" is also quoted).

But of course, even if Jesus does not know the EXACT date and time of the Second Coming--doesn't it mean he was "mistaken" that the GENERAL timeframe was supposed to occur during his present generation? It is a fact that the early Christians would have been utterly shocked if they had known that the Second Coming would NOT have made an appearance after roughly TWO thousand years had elapsed.

Skeptics have responded that, since it is known that the gospels were written some thirty to eighty years AFTER the crucifixion of Jesus, that it would only have been natural for an apologetic reply to be "inserted" into the doctrine-- to explain why Jesus' return had not occurred as expected. (as noted in Section III, Chapter 2, it is a fact that verses in the New Testament HAVE been definitely tampered with.)

Religious scholars have brought up the excellent point though, that "IF" the gospel writers WERE written sometime AFTER the Jewish revolt--Why would the gospel writers also INCLUDE verses that clearly (and erroneously) state that Jesus would return during HIS current generation?' That is, surely--they would have just omitted these references!

There is, of course, one plausible answer to this. If the End of the World predictions were truly GENUINE sayings of Jesus--then they were probably KNOWN to the earliest Christian communities. And during the turbulent times while Christians were facing persecutions, no doubt these were some of the most popular and cherished sayings in the community-- giving hope to hang on during these dark periods. That is, the theme of the
world coming to an End was so ingrained within the hopes and aspirations of the community--that no one could change this, even if they wanted too--without great resistance by the current Christian community.

The hope for a new world appears in many ancient Christian writings. For example, a beautiful prayer appearing in the non canonical book TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES, concludes with the words:

'Let grace come and this world pass away.'

According to this theory, the verses regarding the imminent return of Jesus would be too important and well known to be left out of the gospels. So to explain the delay, other verses were "added" by the gospel writers, according to their own theological views. (Thus, Matthew and Mark softened this impact by adding the verse which stated that only the Father knows the exact day and hour.)

II. There is another famous passage that is sometimes given as to why the Second Coming has been delayed for so long. According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus declared that his disciples who are preaching the gospel in Israel and facing persecution for his name's sake will not:

"have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes." (Matthew 10:23)

It is based on this verse, that many Christian missions have been launched to mass convert the world. That is, if ALL the towns were converted, then this should "speed up" the arrival of Jesus' Second Coming.

Of course, based on this reasoning, it might take, say, another couple of thousand years, before the world is "ready" for the Second Coming...