What if Jesus doesn't come back for another 100,000 years?

The other day I started thinking about what an extraordinary length of time that people have been patiently waiting for their respective gods to make an(other) appearance on Earth. When I was in India, my English-speaking tour guide told me that Hindus were waiting for the final incarnation of Brahma (who, interestingly enough, is supposed to come back on a white horse.) He said that faithful Hindus had been waiting for 1,500 years, that the last incarnation had been Buddha. The length of time didn't bother him at all. The sacred writings of the Hindus speak of epochs of time consisting of millions of years of human experience.

The other major world religions have been waiting as well for their god or prophet's promised appearance. Now, being highly ignorant of other religions besides Christianity, I can only discuss this phenomenon from that perspective, but it would be interesting to hear about Mohammed (pbuh) and other awaited holy figures.

Christians have been waiting two thousand years for the return of Christ. Two thousand. I know that doesn't mean much to God, because to Him, a thousand years is like a day. (2 Peter 3:8) To us, that is an impossible length of time. Most Christians take solace in the idea that we are living in the Last Days, and that His return is immanent. We base this on three ideas:

1.) The Gospel is being preached in all nations, so Jesus will come back after that. (Matthew 24:14)

2.) Israel has become a nation again, in fulfillment of prophecy. (Matthew 24:32)

3.) With nukes, we now possess the ability to destroy the world by fire, and God said it would be destroyed by fire. (2 Peter 3:10)

But what if these three things are not true?

1.) The word "nations" in the aforementioned Scripture is "ethnos," which means racial groups. Estimates vary, but some people state that over 40% of ethnic groups have not heard the Gospel, representing nearly half the world's population. This is after 2,000 years of propagation! We have not been able to keep up with the exploding population. And once mankind heads to the stars, forget it.

2.) Nowhere in Scripture is Israel referred to as a fig tree. Israel becoming recognized by most of the world as a political entity and having the Jews return to it may be an important piece of the puzzle, but it's not what's alluded to in this Scripture. In fact, some people speculate that the prophecies of Matthew 24 simply referred to the generation following the resurrection of Christ right up until the destruction of the Temple, which signaled the end of the age in AD 70. See here and here.

3.) I could point out that most of the deaths from a nuclear war would not be from "fire" but from radiation, starvation, disease, and social unrest, but that is a minor issue. The main point is that we think that WW3=Armageddon, and this is not necessarily so. Let's say we had a nuclear war and three billion people died. Would Jesus be obligated to show up just because of that? Really? Why? He didn't make an appearance during the Black Plague or any other grim time in humanity's history. We could have WW3 and keep rolling on as a species. The Jews could be scattered again. We could lose the ability to read and write and have to start all over again. Why do we think that we are special?

What if Jesus doesn't come back for another 2,000 years? Or 5,000. Or 10,000. How about one hundred thousand years. How would Christianity change in that time? How would we keep the faith? I'm interested in all responses.

In the western countries it's easy to predict-It dies out. It's dying out in Europe and will die out in the U.S. over time. Church attendance is going down all the time. It's only a matter of time before most of the western world abandons religion altogether.

Originally posted by antonia
In the western countries it's easy to predict-It dies out. It's dying out in Europe and will die out in the U.S. over time. Church attendance is going down all the time. It's only a matter of time before most of the western world abandons religion altogether.

Then a new religion will take over. Mankind is inherently religious. We'll start worshiping ourselves or aliens or something.

What if Jesus doesn't come back for another 2,000 years?
There is no telling how Christianity would change. I honestly don't think humanity will last another 2000 years though.

How would Christianity change in that time?
IMO, Christianity would begin to dissappear as time progresses.

How would we keep the faith?
Spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's about all we can do.

Religion is an artefact of past societies. We're moving towards a class 1 civilisation (globalization) where logic and reason are essential requirements to survive. Chances are that religion will not survive the move.

Originally posted by Snsoc

Originally posted by antonia
In the western countries it's easy to predict-It dies out. It's dying out in Europe and will die out in the U.S. over time. Church attendance is going down all the time. It's only a matter of time before most of the western world abandons religion altogether.

Then a new religion will take over. Mankind is inherently religious. We'll start worshiping ourselves or aliens or something.

That something being Earth and the Universe I hope, if anything...........

Originally posted by Killcomic
Religion is an artefact of past societies. We're moving towards a class 1 civilisation (globalization) where logic and reason are essential requirements to survive. Chances are that religion will not survive the move.

Logic and reason was more prevelant in past societies than society today.

reply to post by Snsoc


I think humans turn to religion for stability and answers when there are none, but to say humans are inherently religious is a mistake. Some people simply cannot be convinced and they were that way from childhood. When science provides all the hard evidence people need then there is no need for an outside explanation. Hence why countries which accept the theory of evolution in high numbers also tend to have lower levels of religious participation. I would argue western humans don't worship Jesus anyway and they haven't done so in the last 50 years. They worship money and whoever makes it.

Originally posted by antonia
reply to post by Snsoc

 

I think humans turn to religion for stability and answers when there are none, but to say humans are inherently religious is a mistake. Some people simply cannot be convinced and they were that way from childhood. When science provides all the hard evidence people need then there is no need for an outside explanation. Hence why countries which accept the theory of evolution in high numbers also tend to have lower levels of religious participation. I would argue western humans don't worship Jesus anyway and they haven't done so in the last 50 years. They worship money and whoever makes it.

I worship Jesus.

reply to post by Snsoc


As to your point #2, just because Zionist-Occupied Palestine calls itself "Israel" it does not mean that it is Israel. It would be Judah at the most, and to call itself Israel is an over-reach at best. Further, since most of the Jews in the country are descendants of Ashkenazic Jews who were descendants of Kazar Jews who were descendants of Japheth, they are not even Shemites, and that means they are not Hebrews, Israelites, or Judahites, and that means their going to Palestine does not fulfill Biblical prophecy.

He comes back when he comes back, why stress about it?

Maybe he comes back in two weeks, maybe 2,000 years -- what difference does it make? Either you're ready to be called task for your behaviours, or you are not.

reply to post by EmmortalKorrupta


Any evidence on that?

reply to post by Killcomic


How do you like Agenda 21 ? Or have you even read it . You must like being a slave without rights if you are looking for the Globalization of the earth . No cars , no air condition , no private property , no private homes , Communism and of course your looking forward to the population reduction of which you may be part of .
But what if Jesus returns pretty soon ? Have you thought about that?
The death of religion in Europe is the results of a plan to destroy religion for the Gentile . This is clearly laid out in the supposedly fraudulent Protocols of Zion . The verdict rendered some 100 years ago has been disproved by time it's self . Every facet of the plan has been fulfilled by the Zionist Jews . These are not to be confused with real Jews .The Zionist /Globalist Jews are Ashkenazi Jews some call Khazar's .

Originally posted by Killcomic
reply to post by EmmortalKorrupta

 

Any evidence on that?

I think that history speaks for itself.
Today, we use little to no logic. We have smart phones and the internet to do it for us.

reply to post by SimonPeter


Sounds like paranoid rubbish really.

reply to post by EmmortalKorrupta

Au contraire. You could argue that the fact we now understand cause and effect and not believing that things happen because of the will of some high and mighty being proves otherwise.

reply to post by Killcomic


I doubt you have any idea what you are talking about .You may want to take a good look before you make such a statement .

Originally posted by EmmortalKorrupta

Originally posted by Killcomic
Religion is an artefact of past societies. We're moving towards a class 1 civilisation (globalization) where logic and reason are essential requirements to survive. Chances are that religion will not survive the move.

Logic and reason was more prevelant in past societies than society today.

Yeah more logical ways of executing people guilty of crime is burning people, Crusifiction, Draw and quatering, beheading, left in the desert, starved, stonings, lynchings, firing squads, gas chambers, and many many more are way more logical than just lethal injection which ensures a quick and painless death.

Not to mention the reasons why people were executed in the past were more logical, right? RIGHT?

And that is just one corner of society's practices we are talking about.

Let's not even go into subjects of war, medicine, marriage, and especially economics!

So what about past societies was so more logically and reasonably maintained?

Originally posted by EmmortalKorrupta
I worship Jesus.

A man of immeasurably more worth could stand in front of you, telling you to be nice to people, not do bad things, share your things, and generally how it's pretty nice not to be a bad person, and you'd ignore him because he's someone you can argue with.

But jesus.. a fantasy written down on paper.. brings love and joy to your heart. Why? the romanticised nature of this entity is what you really worship.

I think it says more about the person than the gods they worship, when they base their entire life on an imagined and created concept of something.

God is so good, can perform any miracle, and is the creator of everything.
humans are so nasty and bad, god does nothing.

??? I worship the magic of reality... it is fleeting yet infinite. And in a mere split second of time, your god has been invented, caused billions of deaths, and left us sinners to struggle, waiting for his return.

lol

Originally posted by EmmortalKorrupta

Originally posted by Killcomic
reply to post by EmmortalKorrupta

 

Any evidence on that?

I think that history speaks for itself.
Today, we use little to no logic. We have smart phones and the internet to do it for us.

That is a very vague statement.

There are not apps or internet sights that make decisions for us.

Except for the whole automatic trading thing going on with the Stock Exchange, but humans made the choice to create that!