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Goodbye Jesus

Strong Faith Vs Stubbornness


R. S. Martin

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A major test of faith for Christians has been Christ's failure to return "in this generation" as he promised. The way I see it, this has led to a mentality that virtually cannot be disappointed. I've wished Christians could be disappointed that there is no afterlife. But their capacity to not be disappointed is so astounding among the living that one might as well quite wishing for the dead to have this ability. Two thousand years have passed since Jesus said he would return and they are not disappointed YET.

 

Sure, they were disappointed in Paul's time but he quickly and deftly reinterpreted things--and set the pattern for his followers to reinterpret indefinitely--so that never again need Christians be too seriously disappointed if their prophecies don't bear out. People whose concept of truth is so versatile, malleable, flexible, and adaptable can probably not be expected to understand what it's like to actually be convinced by something more than the word of authority. For them, you choose whom you're going to believe and then you stick to your guns. That is called strong faith. When people act like this in other areas of life they are usually labeled as stubborn. When it regards religion they call it a strong faith.

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A major test of faith for Christians has been Christ's failure to return "in this generation" as he promised. The way I see it, this has led to a mentality that virtually cannot be disappointed. I've wished Christians could be disappointed that there is no afterlife. But their capacity to not be disappointed is so astounding among the living that one might as well quite wishing for the dead to have this ability. Two thousand years have passed since Jesus said he would return and they are not disappointed YET.

 

Sure, they were disappointed in Paul's time but he quickly and deftly reinterpreted things--and set the pattern for his followers to reinterpret indefinitely--so that never again need Christians be too seriously disappointed if their prophecies don't bear out. People whose concept of truth is so versatile, malleable, flexible, and adaptable can probably not be expected to understand what it's like to actually be convinced by something more than the word of authority. For them, you choose whom you're going to believe and then you stick to your guns. That is called strong faith. When people act like this in other areas of life they are usually labeled as stubborn. When it regards religion they call it a strong faith.

Jesus was supposed to return within the lifetimes of believers living then. He didn't return and he never will because he's dead. End of story. Or at least it should be.

 

Brother Ed Babinski wrote a great article a while back that you might find interesting:

 

The Lowdown on God's Showdown

http://www.secweb.org/asset.asp?AssetID=86

 

Were you thinking of Peter rather than Paul?

 

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_...&version=31

 

Even though Peter didn't actually write the books attributed to him:

 

http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/authorpeter.html

 

Christians could whip out the following verse:

 

2 Tim. 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

 

If they researched "the one in whom they have believed" though, they would stop believing... and Paul also did not write that verse or that epistle:

 

http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/epistles.html

 

Strong faith, yes, but also large amounts of IGNORANCE, IMHO. The facts destroy any basis for belief.

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