NONSENSE FROM THE BIBLE (2 page)

1Thessalonians 4:15-18 

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that 
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 trump 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.
 Wherefore comfort one another with these words

And again –
that the day of Christ is at hand

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by letter as from us, 
as that the day of Christ is at hand. 

The Apostle Peter believed he was living in the  last days as he wrote an Epistle to Christians living in his time - 
In these last times
 - and again - 
But the end of all things is at hand.

1 Peter 1:20

Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest 
in these last times for you,

1 Peter 4:7  
But the end of all things is at hand
: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

Another excuse offered by Christians is that time as far as God is concerned can mean that a day could be a thousand years.

2 Peter 3:3-10 

Knowing this first, 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. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men. 
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
 
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise
, as some count slackness; but is  longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in 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 therin shall be burned up.
 

Peter was warning the Christians about ‘scoffers’ who would question why Jesus had not returned so far and gave them this line to use as their excuse. We should also remember that he had already told them that Jesus was virtually about to arrive. The idea that a thousand years could represent one day could not possibly suggest that this was a short time – remember these people living 2,000 years ago believed the world was only 4,000 years old at that time. Additionally, if we are to assume that in God’s time 1 x 24 hour day = 1,000 years - to which passages of scripture do these criteria apply? Should we therefore assume that the nine hours of Jesus’ crucifixion were really 375 years? Were God’s six days for the creation actually a metaphor for 6,000 years? Jesus actually confirmed that a day (or daytime) is 12 hours:

John 11:9

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?
If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world

James wrote to the Twelve Tribes of Israel encouraging them to be patient and wait for the coming of the Lord. He was not giving these instructions to us who are living 2,000+ years later. -
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

James 1:1

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

James 5:6-9 

Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: 
for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh
. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

Surely, on the evidence of the writers of the New Testament, it should be obvious to everyone that Jesus said he would return in the lifetime of those who were with him at the time! His disciples all believed that Jesus would return SOON and before they had died. I believe we should therefore conclude that there is absolutely no justification for Christians to apply his promise to return to a future generation some 2,000 or more years later.

So – was Jesus playing games with his followers or deliberately deceiving them? I am convinced that if the words of Jesus as reported in the Bible were true, then he said those things sincerely believing them to be true and that he absolutely believed that he was the ‘Son of God’ and would return to earth in glory at some future date but within the lifetime of those who were with him at the time.

This brings me to the conclusion that he was simply just one of hundreds of similar so-called prophets who were also convinced or deluded in thinking they were the Son of God, God, Messiah, angel, guru, divine being or whatever.

Why do present-day Christians still believe that the second coming of Jesus and that the end of the world will take place sometime soon?  At no time did Jesus say or suggest that these events would happen at any time other than within the lives of the generation who were living on the earth at that time.

The answer may be found within the words Jesus is supposed to have said according to:

Matthew 24:15-16

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,
(whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

These words again were directed entirely at the people of that generation and in particular those living in Judea. Later, as Christians discovered that Jesus did not return during the lifetime of that generation, rather than admit that Jesus was in fact a false prophet they looked for other explanations.

Possibly, they thought, Jesus had left them with an escape route should he fail to turn up at that time as he had said. Maybe, they surmised that Daniel’s prophecy was for some future time long after Jesus had been crucified and after that generation had all died? This then provided those early Christians the means to explain and to continue with the faith rather than admit that they had been deceived.

The Apostle John wrote a ‘prophesy’ to the seven churches in Asia – this manuscript being known as Revelation – it is also the last book in the New Testament. Here again, those early Christians may have seen that John’s prophecy also provided some suggestion that the return of Jesus and the end time events could be sometime in the future. BUT– how long in the future? 2,000+ years?

I will not bore you with a commentary on the entire book of Revelation or attempt to explain it as there are numerous and varied explanations or theories available in books and websites. Basically, there are four interpretations of the Revelation - (1) Historicist, which sees in Revelation a broad view of history (2) Preterist,  in which Revelation mostly refers to the events of the apostolic era  (1st century); (3) Futurist, which holds that Revelation describes future events; and (4) Idealist or Symbolic, which holds that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events, but is an allergory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil.

As you can see – you can take your pick and explain the Revelation according to your personal views or pre-conceived beliefs or previously indoctrinated thoughts and opinions about the book.

Other notable critics of Revelation include: Thomas Jefferson
*2
who omitted it, along with most of the Biblical canon, from the ‘Jefferson Bible’ and wrote that at one time he considered it: 
as merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams.

The Nineteenth-century agnostic Robert G.Ingersoll
*3
called Revelation -
the insanest of all books
. Friedrich Engels claimed that the Book of Revelation was primarily a political and anti-Roman work, while, George Bernard Shaw described it as - 
a peculiar record of the visions of a drug addict.

Martin Luther
*4
changed his perspective on Revelation over time. In the preface to the German translation of Revelation that he composed in 1522, he said that he did not consider the book prophetic or apostolic, since Christ is neither taught nor known in it. But in the completely new preface he composed in 1530, he reversed his position and concluded that Christ was central to the book. He concluded;
As we see here in this book, that through and beyond all plagues, beasts, and evil angels, Christ is nonetheless with the saints and wins the final victory.

Perhaps the best explanation of the book of Revelation and other so-called prophecies or revelations is that they are most likely to be the result of hallucinations, imaginations, so-called visions or night visions or at best a series of dreams or nightmares! Unfortunately they are readily accepted by believers to be genuine prophecies of the events of the end times, especially as there is a clear link between the prophecies of Daniel Chapter Seven and Matthew Chapter Twenty Four and the book of Revelation. The three accounts all include similar descriptions of the time of tribulation, the appearance of the ‘Beast’ – the Anti Christ - and finally the return of Jesus or
the son of man.
 Other parts of the Revelation are borrowed from Old Testament Prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel and Ezra

The Book of Revelation, that last book in the New Testament, includes a vivid and terrifying account of the final conflict between God and
the beast
during the time of tribulation. Most Christians believe they will escape this as they will be ‘raptured’ – taken up to meet Jesus in the sky prior to the time of desolation. Finally Jesus and his angels and Christians will return to earth for him to reign as the ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords!’ But was it in fact simply a message of a warning and reassurance for the seven churches of Asia? If so, then again this Revelation is not for some remote future period of time.

During a discussion about Revelation on August 23rd 2006, Pope Benedict XV1 remarked: 

The seer of Patmos, identified with the apostle, is granted a series of visions meant to reassure the Christians of Asia amid the persecutions and trials of the end of the first century.

Revelation 1:1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass
; and he sent and signified [it] by his angel unto his servant John.

Revelation 1:4

John 
to the seven churches which are in Asia
: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 

Now if we consider this prophecy exactly as it was directed  ‘To the Seven Churches of Asia’ namely: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, this was, in fact, a strong admonishment to each of those churches as they had departed from the faith in some form or another and were in great sin. There are grave warnings for each, with the opportunity for repentance. Under this interpretation, assertions that the time is near were to be taken literally by those communities. Then, as we have already noted, the rest of the Revelation is primarily a warning and assurance of the survival of the churches during the time of great persecution and tribulation which they were experiencing or was to come to those Christians at that time.

Revelation 2:

5
 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works;
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

16 
Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight them with the sword of my mouth.

Revelation 3:3

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast,
and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.