Rational Agnostic
Well-Known Member
The central teaching of Christianity is that of the return of Jesus and final judgment, when Jesus will supposedly return, riding on the clouds of Heaven, to gather his so-called "elect" and carry them to heaven while raining fiery judgment upon all of the non-believers, while they tremble in fear of the "son of man" along with his "heavenly father." However, the Bible itself indicates that this will never occur, since this prophecy had a very specific time-frame on it. According to the bible, Jesus was supposed to return within the lifetimes' of the people who lived at the time Jesus lived on earth. There are many passages in the new testament that explicitly predict that the final judgment, return of Christ, rapture of believers and damnation of non-believers, was going to occur within the first century. Well, it never happened. And, guess what. It's never going to happen. Here is a selection of false prophecies from the bible concerning the return of Jesus. *Note:* Some Christian apologists make the mistaken argument that Matthew 10:23 is somehow not referring to Jesus' second coming. However, I included CONTEXT of all of these passages to emphasize that Matthew 10:21 contains the same words as Mark 13:12, a passage which is clearly referring to the final judgment, indicating that Matthew 10:23 clearly does in fact refer to the final judgment. The exact symmetry of these passages is emphasized by my underlining in the passages below, indicating that they are clearly referring to the same event.
Furthermore, some Christian apologists also mistakenly argue that the "this generation" referred to in Mark 13 is not a reference to a literal generation. However, given that Matthew 10 describes the same Armageddon events alluded to in Mark 13, and given that Matthew 10 predicts that these events will occur within the disciples' lifetimes, indeed, before they finish going through the towns of Israel we can be sure that the generation referred to in Mark 13 is the generation alive at Jesus' time. In this way, when taken in context these two Scriptures clearly confirm each other to be false. But since this obviously erroneous prophecy is repeated so many times in the New Testament, I included two other occurences as well.
Matthew 16:27-28:
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Matthew 10:21-23:
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Matthew 13:12-30:
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
“When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
“If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
“But in those days, following that distress,
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’"
At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
.
Matthew 26:63-64:
But Jesus remained silent.
The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
So, after our analysis, it is clear that the second coming of Jesus and final judgment were erroneously predicted by the bible to occur within the lifetimes of the people who lived at the time of Jesus. Thus, there is no reason to believe that they will ever occur.
Furthermore, some Christian apologists also mistakenly argue that the "this generation" referred to in Mark 13 is not a reference to a literal generation. However, given that Matthew 10 describes the same Armageddon events alluded to in Mark 13, and given that Matthew 10 predicts that these events will occur within the disciples' lifetimes, indeed, before they finish going through the towns of Israel we can be sure that the generation referred to in Mark 13 is the generation alive at Jesus' time. In this way, when taken in context these two Scriptures clearly confirm each other to be false. But since this obviously erroneous prophecy is repeated so many times in the New Testament, I included two other occurences as well.
Matthew 16:27-28:
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Matthew 10:21-23:
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Matthew 13:12-30:
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
“When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
“If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
“But in those days, following that distress,
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’"
At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
.
Matthew 26:63-64:
But Jesus remained silent.
The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
So, after our analysis, it is clear that the second coming of Jesus and final judgment were erroneously predicted by the bible to occur within the lifetimes of the people who lived at the time of Jesus. Thus, there is no reason to believe that they will ever occur.