The End Of The World

[SemmelweisReflex]

Skeptics of the Bible often indicate that, according to the Bible, the end would come within the lifetime of Jesus' listeners. I will demonstrate why this is not the case by explaining the verses they use to conclude this. They mistake the transfiguration, the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus being at the right hand of power, and John's Revelation at Patmos for applying to an end of the world.

Matthew 16:28 (KJV) - Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Also see Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27)

The Interpreter's Bible says: "The prediction was not fulfilled, and later Christians found it necessary to explain that it was metaphorical."

What believers and skeptics alike seem to have glossed over is the fact that in the very next verse Matthew reveals that just 6 days later this prophecy was fulfilled. Peter, James and John witnessed the transfiguration. (Matthew 17:1-2; Mark 9:1-8; Luke 9:27-36; 2 Peter 1:16-18)

Mathew 23:36 (KJV) - Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. (Also see Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32)

All of the above verses differ from Matthew 16:28. British scholar G. R. Beasley-Murray: "The phrase 'this generation' should cause no difficulty for interpreters. While admittedly genea in earlier Greek meant birth, progeny, and so race, . . . in the [Greek Septuagint] it most frequently translated the Hebrew term dor, meaning age, age of humankind, or generation in the sense of contemporaries. . . . In sayings attributed to Jesus the term appears to have a twofold connotation: on the one hand it always signifies his contemporaries, and on the other hand it always carries an implicit criticism."

So Jesus could have been directing that statement to the Jewish opposition there around him at that time, who, within a generation would see the destruction of Jerusalem in 66 - 70 C.E. by Titus, the son of Emperor Vespasian where 1,100,000 Jews died and 97,000 were taken captive, most of whom died horrible deaths and the Christians who knew it would come were saved. (Matthew 24:16, 22) And Jesus may have been applying the same to those in opposition in the future as well.

Matthew 26:64 and Mark 14:62 are parallel accounts to one another and you won't have to wait or look far to see them fulfilled. Acts 7:55-56: "But he, being full of holy spirit gazed into heaven and caught sight of God's glory and of Jesus standing at God's right hand, and he said: "Look! I behold the heavens opened up and the Son of man standing at God's right hand." Also see Psalm 110:1; Luke 22:69; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1.

John 21:20-23 is somewhat interesting. Jesus may have been telling Peter that John would live longer than him, and in fact John would live 70 years, but also he might have been referring to the prophetic vision that John was given at the end of his life while in exile on the island of Patmos. As recorded in the book of Revelation John was transported to "the Lords day." (Revelation 1:1, 10; 22:20)

Will the end will come within the lifetime of the New Testament authors?

Jesus taught his followers that no one, not even Jesus himself, knew the time of the end of the world. (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7)

Also at this point some clarification should be made as to what exactly is the "end of the world." The Bible says that Earth was given to man for him to fill and subdue it, that the meek will inherit the earth and live forever upon it, and that it will last forever. (Genesis 1:28; Psalm 37:29; Psalm 115:16; Ecclesiastes 1:4) The end of the world is the end of the present system of things and all that involves. Of Satan's influence and sin, which, when concluding brings much destruction, but when ended, allows peace.

1 Corinthians 1:7-8; 7:29; Philippians 1:10 all convey the importance of the missionary work in the early stages of Christianity. They all had important work to do before the end of their lives. Nowhere in any of these passages is it conveyed that they expected the end of the system of things to occur during that time.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 is often used to support the rapture, but actually it is referring to some who were mourning the death of their fellow Christians. Paul was reminding them as well as faithful Christians in the future of the resurrection hope, some to heaven immediately upon death and some to paradise earth upon resurrection.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 refers to the presence of Jesus Christ. The Greek noun parousia is used. It means "being alongside." In his work on The Parousia, Israel P. Warren, D.D., wrote: "Had our translators done with this technical word 'parousia' as they did with 'baptisma,' - transferring it unchanged, - or if translated using its exact etymological equivalent, presence, and had it been well understood, as it then would have been, that there is no such thing as a 'Second Presence,' I believe that the entire doctrine would have been different from what it now is. The phrases, 'second advent,' and 'second coming,' would never have been heard of. The church would have been taught to speak of The Presence Of The Lord, as that from which its hopes were to be realized, whether in the near future or at the remotest period, - that under which the world was to be made new, a resurrection both spiritual and corporeal should be attained, and justice and everlasting awards administered."

The word occurs 24 times in the Christian Greek scripture: Matthew 24:3, 27, 37, 39; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 16:17; 2 Corinthians 7:6, 7; 10:10; Philippians 1:26; 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8, 9; James 5:7, 8; 2 Peter 1:16; 3:4, 12; 1 John 2:28.

Pareimi is a related verb with the similar meaning of being present. It also occurs 24 times in the Christian Greek scripture: Matthew 26:50; Luke 13:1; John 7:6; 11:28; Acts 10:21, 33; 12:20; 17:6; 24:19; 1 Corinthians 5:3, 3; 2 Corinthians 10:2, 11; 11:9; 13:2, 10; Galatians 4:18, 20; Colossians 1:6; Hebrews 12:11; 13:5; 2 Peter 1:9, 12; Revelation 17:8.

The Greek word, eleusis (Latin adventu), which conveys the physical act of coming is different and only occurs once in the Christian Greek scripture, at Acts 7:52. Paul was encouraging those with a heavenly hope to remain blameless until their death, or the conclusion of the system of things and the presence, not the physical presence, of Jesus Christ.

In discussing Hebrews 1:2; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20; 4:7 it is somewhat difficult to stay on topic of the so called end of the world because the last days that Paul was referring to were not the last days of the present system of things, but rather the last days of the Jewish system of things. Jehovah had given the prophecy of those days 850 years earlier. (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21; Hebrews 1:1-2) It was the end of God's favor upon the Jewish congregation and the beginning of his favor for the new Christian congregation.

1 John 2:18 refers to the end of the apostolic period. The work mentioned as important in the scriptures at the beginning of this article were near completion and would conclude upon the death of John shortly after he completed the writing of Revelation.

Will the end will come soon. (Within a couple thousand years or so)

It is interesting that, as with the case of Philippians 4:5, the Lord that is being referred to isn't Jesus Christ but rather, Jehovah. Codex Sinaiticus, Greek, fourth century C.E., Codex Alexandrinus, Greek, fifth century C.E., Vatican ms 1209, Greek, fourth century C.E., Christian Greek Scriptures in 12 languages, including Hebrew, by Elias Hutter, Nuremberg, 1599, Christian Greek Scriptures, Hebrew, by William Robertson, London, 1661, and the Latin Vulgate, by Jerome, c. 400 C.E. (Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem) all read Jehovah.

James 5:7-8 is talking about the presence (parousia) mentioned earlier in this article.

At Hebrews 10:37 Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:2-3 from the Greek Septuagint, which reads "And the Lord answered [me] and said: Write a vision; write it distinctly in a book that the reader may trace these things [may run]; for the vision is for a time yet to come. But it will spring up at last and will not be vain. Though he may tarry, wait for him; for he will assuredly come and will not fail [and will not tarry]."

Revelation 1:1, 3; 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20 may undoubtedly amuse the skeptic, who, of course, is familiar with the Biblical fact that a thousand years are as a watch in the night to God (Psalm 90:4), but to the writers of the Bible, especially John when writing Revelation and who would die shortly afterward, the resurrection hope would follow sleep in death which would seem, upon that resurrection, as the same day as they died, though it actually had been thousands of years.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

 

[midniterider]

The bible has zero authority.

[sdelsolray]

This one appears to be dumping drafts of his website content here.  How clever.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

31 minutes ago, sdelsolray said:

This one appears to be dumping drafts of his website content here.  How clever.

I bet you're right.  Using us as a springboard to polish off his articles before posting them.

[SemmelweisReflex]

1 hour ago, sdelsolray said:

This one appears to be dumping drafts of his website content here.  How clever.

 

One doesn't compete with one's own SEO. If I did what you suggest I would be competing with myself. People would come here instead of there. I don't want people to come here. Of course, I don't want them to come there either. The possible feedback here is more important to me than creating a website right now. Just can't get into it. 

[SemmelweisReflex]

 

[TheRedneckProfessor]

10 minutes ago, SemmelweisReflex said:

How do you embed a video?

 

[youtube]9GFI6Rf-IkI[/youtube]

 

 

Like that. 

[SemmelweisReflex]

3 minutes ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

Like that. 

 

So do I but it wasn't the one I meant to put up. That's why I changed it to the one I wanted. I like the REM one as well. In the video I changed it to, the one I wanted, it has the line "I never really hated the one true god But the god of the people I hated."

[TheRedneckProfessor]

1 minute ago, SemmelweisReflex said:

 

So do I but it wasn't the one I meant to put up. That's why I changed it to the one I wanted. I like the REM one as well. In the video I changed it to, the one I wanted, it has the line "I never really hated the one true god But the god of the people I hated."

With YouTube videos, if you just copy the link and paste it here it should automatically imbed.  If that doesn't work let me know and I'll see if I can sort it for you.

[SemmelweisReflex]

46 minutes ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

With YouTube videos, if you just copy the link and paste it here it should automatically imbed.  If that doesn't work let me know and I'll see if I can sort it for you.

 

Thanks. I tried it before and it just gave a link. I figured, since others had posted them, that it was a restriction released after certain number of posts. It works now though. 

[TheRedneckProfessor]

55 minutes ago, SemmelweisReflex said:

 

Thanks. I tried it before and it just gave a link. I figured, since others had posted them, that it was a restriction released after certain number of posts. It works now though. 

See?  The Prof thy Mod knows what you shall ask before you even pray to him.  Blessed be.

[SemmelweisReflex]

51 minutes ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

See?  The Prof thy Mod knows what you shall ask before you even pray to him.  Blessed be.

 

Uh . . . I would ask that we revert back to the old Matt Wright pearl scripts where you didn't need an email, didn't need to register, didn't need to vote, only needed a simple html code to provide image, video, link . . . no mods, no one was ever banned, no one ever provided links as answers, no one who didn't know what the fuck they were talking about could google their way out of an argument.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

8 minutes ago, SemmelweisReflex said:

 

Uh . . . I would ask that we revert back to the old Matt Wright pearl scripts where you didn't need an email, didn't need to register, didn't need to vote, only needed a simple html code to provide image, video, link . . . no mods, no one was ever banned, no one ever provided links as answers, no one who didn't know what the fuck they were talking about could google their way out of an argument.

I'd imagine that would be the only way you could last more than a week on a website.

[midniterider]

4 minutes ago, SemmelweisReflex said:

 

Uh . . . I would ask that we revert back to the old Matt Wright pearl scripts where you didn't need an email, didn't need to register, didn't need to vote, only needed a simple html code to provide image, video, link . . . no mods, no one was ever banned, no one ever provided links as answers, no one who didn't know what the fuck they were talking about could google their way out of an argument.

 

Looking up information: it's a terrible thing.

[midniterider]

The Internet, destroyer of Abrahamic belief bullshit.

[WalterP]

44 minutes ago, midniterider said:

The Internet, destroyer of Abrahamic belief bullshit.

 

Not when you interpret anything on the internet any way you want... and claim that everyone else does the same.

 

 

[SemmelweisReflex]

4 minutes ago, WalterP said:

 

Not when you interpret anything on the internet any way you want... and claim that everyone else does the same.

 

 

 

Y'all haven't gotten over your stint in false religion, have you? You still are defenders of the zealous pagan Christians, aren't you? Yes you are. 

[SemmelweisReflex]

55 minutes ago, midniterider said:

 

Looking up information: it's a terrible thing.

 

Regurgitating. Apes can read Erhman they just can't understand it. 

[SemmelweisReflex]

57 minutes ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

I'd imagine that would be the only way you could last more than a week on a website.

 

I was on the SAB in the 1990's and I was the last man standing just as I predicted I would be more than a decade before. It isn't like you can't see it coming if you have the ability to think for yourself. You wouldn't understand. 

[WalterP]

3 minutes ago, SemmelweisReflex said:

 

Y'all haven't gotten over your stint in false religion, have you? You still are defenders of the zealous pagan Christians, aren't you? Yes you are. 

 

I don't know what you mean by the term zealous pagan Christians, David.

 

Could you explain please?

[midniterider]

56 minutes ago, SemmelweisReflex said:

 

Regurgitating. Apes can read Erhman they just can't understand it. 

 

I love your faux authority and faux intellectualism. 

 

[SemmelweisReflex]

1 hour ago, WalterP said:

 

I don't know what you mean by the term zealous pagan Christians, David.

 

Could you explain please?

 

Modern day Christian teachings aren't Christian teachings. They were adopted from the pagans four hundred years later.

[WalterP]

4 minutes ago, SemmelweisReflex said:

 

Modern day Christian teachings aren't Christian teachings. They were adopted from the pagans four hundred years later.

 

As an atheist why would I be defending any religious teachings, as per your accusation?

[SemmelweisReflex]

25 minutes ago, midniterider said:

 

I love your faux authority and faux intellectualism. 

 

 

You don't have any idea how much that pleases me. Look. Could you do me a favor? Could you look over the responses to my End Of The World thread and tell me which of them is the best? I'm looking for good quality responses that include the scholarly referenced wisdom of the Ex Christians and apparently I'm incapable of doing that myself since my content is so simple and obtuse or whatever the hell they keep saying. 

 

Thanks.