In Matthew 24, events leading to the end of the world are given by Jesus. Do YOU

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   TerryK81posted 11 years ago

   In Matthew 24, events leading to the end of the world are given by Jesus. Do YOU believe? Why?
   
   In Matthew 24, written are many things going on today and it continues to escalate. Do you believe in, and accept, Jesus as YOUR Saviour?

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   cam8510posted 11 years ago

   You have asked three questions, so I will try to answer all three.  In Mt 24, Jesus does mention many things leading up to the end.  All except two are very general and don't really help in understanding how close the world might be to its end.  Rumors of wars, earthquakes etc have always and will always occur.  The only two things which are predicted are the successful proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom throughout the whole world and the "Abomination of desolations."  But how can men decide when the Gospel of the Kingdom has been adequately spread to meet the qualification?  We can't.  What is the Abomination of desolations?  This has been debated for centuries with many saying it has already occurred and others saying it is yet future. 
   
   To answer the questions, I suppose I do believe that there will be wars and earthquakes till the end.  I do believe that Christianity will not stop their missionary thrust until every unreached people group has had the message of salvation through Jesus Christ preached to them.  I have no idea what the Abomination of Desolations is or whether it has already happened or not.  People get very dogmatic about things like the Abomination of Desolations, as if they know exactly what it is and when it will occur. 
   
   Jesus is my savior in the sense that he has saved me from a living a life without guiding principles.  But he is no more of a savior in that regard than many others who have discerned clearly and spoken clearly about living a meaningful life.
   
   What is the "end" about which Jesus spoke?  It is the day the Son of Man appears in the sky, traveling from the east to the west so that every eye will see him.  At that time he is to gather the "Elect" to himself.  That is the end of the story. 
   
   He ends with by using a fig tree as an illustration.  The main point is given afterward.  He says that "This generation" will not pass away until all these things have happened.  Which generation?  Some say it is the generation that sees the fig tree put forth its leaves as if the illustration were actually a prophecy of some kind.  Others say he spoke of the generation that existed around him at that time.  If we don't know what or when he was talking about, how can we truly believe anything that he said? 
   
   I for one will let history run its course.  In the meantime, I will live a life of honesty, unselfishness, purity and love to the best of my very human ability.

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      TerryK81posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The signs He gave us are not only happening, but will happen in more frequent and greater succession in "various" or unlikely places. The abomination is the AD 70 destruction of the Temple in jerusalem by Titus, roman general.

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   Old Empresarioposted 11 years ago

   I don't believe and here are my reasons why: In Matthew 24:2, Jesus commented that the Temple of Jerusalem, and indeed Jerusalem itself, would be destroyed. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple occured in 68 AD--a little over 30 years after the crucifixion. So Jesus was correct in his prediction (but then, the gospel of Matthew was actually written a few years after the Temple of Jerusalem and the city were both destroyed by the Romans, but we'll set that aside). Jesus spoke at length about false messiahs. Many of those messiahs also came and went in the days leading up to the fall of Jerusalem. He alludes to wars, earthquakes, famines, and the persecution of Christians. All of those things happened within the Roman Empire leading up to and after the Jewish revolt and the fall of Jerusalem. The only unanswered question is the cryptic references presumably made to the end of mankind. The writers of Matthew obviously thought that the end would come in their lifetime. Since that time, every disappointed generation of Christians thought their generation would be the one that would see the end of the world. Certainly the systematic Roman persecution of Christians in the 280s and early 300s AD led Christians to think that the end was indeed near. The Roman Empire had all but fallen apart and there were famines, wars, and plague in the 50 years leading up to those persecutions. But by the 310s, Christianity was legalized and the Christians have triumphed ever since. They destroyed the Library of Alexandria and all of the pagan temples throughout the Greek world. They began persecuting Jews and even "heretical" Christians. In the 600s AD, the new religion (Moslems) conquered the Christian city of Jerusalem and much of the Roman and Persian Empires. Surely those Christians thought the end was near? In 1100, Jersusalem was captured and destroyed by French crusaders who all prepared the way for the end of days. Jerusalem was lost to them after a few decades. In the 1300s, there was war, famine, and Bubonic plague that killed one-quarter of Europe. Everyone thought the end was near at that time. Since the 1400s, we have seen a slow debunking of theological superstition with the re-emergence of philosophy and scientific discovery. The grip of monotheism is only strong today in either failed states, like those in the Middle East, or backwater poorly-educated military republics like the US.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Very good historical insights.  Thank you.

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      TerryK81posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      True, Matthew WAS written afterwards, but the events nonetheless occured at correct times. Constantine issued the sunday law in 321 AD. Heretics are those who defy CHURCH authority and not God's, hence the Protestant Reformation.

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   irenedesposted 11 years ago

   Yes, I do believe and Jesus is my savior.  Here is something different I found on the end of the world.   http://www.thetruejesus.org/december.html

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