Will the Parousia occur during our lifetime?

[polonius]

Jesus prophecized that the second coming would occur while some of his generation were still alive, but it didn't.

There is some claim that really occurred in 1914. But it didn't. So, what's the claim now?

www.britannica.com/topic/Jehovahs-Witnesses

The Adventist movement emerged in the 1830s around the predictions of William Miller, who proclaimed that Jesus Christ would return in 1843 or 1844.

When Christ did not return as Miller prophecied, Adventists divided into a number of factions.

During the 1870s, Charles Taze Russell established himself as an independent and controversial Adventist teacher.

He rejected belief in hell as a place of eternal torment and adopted a non-Trinitarian theology that denied the divinity of Jesus. He also interpreted the Second Coming in accordance with the literal translation of the original Greek term, parousia (presence), suggesting that Christ would come as an invisible presence and that the Parousia, or Millennial Dawn, already had occurred, in 1874.

The coming of Christs invisible presence signaled the end of the current order of society and would be followed by his visible presence and the establishment of the millennial kingdom on earth in 1914.

Although the kingdom did not come, Russells teachings motivated a number of volunteers to circulate his many books and pamphlets and a periodical, The Watchtower, and to recalculate the time of the Parousia.

So when will Christ's visible presence and the establishment of the millennial kingdom on earth occur?

[Red Wolf]

Are you waiting for Jesus to return?

Jesus promised that he would return.
Many people have high hopes that Jesus will return because he promised.

But to understand Jesus' promise to return we have to evaluate his promise based on our understanding of other promises that Jesus made.

John 10:16 (New American Standard Bible)
"I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

Is the Christian Church one flock or is it a myriad of competing sects, cults, and denominations?


John 12:32 (New American Standard Bible)
"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

A billion Muslims testify that this did not happen.


Mark 10:29-30 (New American Standard Bible)
Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.

in the present age Houses? Farms? Is this true?


John 14:12 (New American Standard Bible)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

Can you walk on water, feed 5,000 with couple of fish and loaves, and raise the dead?

John 14:13-14 (New American Standard Bible)
"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
"If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

Really?

The point is that if we accept each of Jesus' above promises LITERALLY, we see that they did not come true. But if we metaphorically massage these promises, we can find a FIGURATIVE explanation to make each promise true.
That is how we must view Jesus' promise to return. He died, but metaphorically he returned to us through the written gospels as guides for our lives.
We have to view Jesus' track record on promises to understand that figuratively Jesus has returned, but never meant a literal physical return, and he influences our lives through the words of the new Testament.

[PinSeeker]

That is how we must view Jesus' promise to return.

LOL! You can "view" it however you want, my friend. I wouldn't recommend it, but you're your own person. Grace and peace to you.

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to post 157 by myth-one.com]

Checkpoint wrote:

There is no "millennial Sabbath" in Scripture.

myth-one wrote:

Where might the period of rest for the people of God be -- if not the millennium?

The "period of rest" starts when we are born again by resurrection, and has no end, just as eternal life does not.

Yes, the period of rest starts at our resurrection.

But it lasts for a measly thousand years!

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Thanks for that, myth-one.

You have caught yourself out.

By also saying this:

Following the judgment, we reign (work) over the earth forever with our Lord.

Where might the period of rest for the people of God be -- if not the millennium?

Your claim is that the millennium is a period of rest from work, a Sabbath.

The verse you quoted states we "shall reign" then.

You have specified that to reign is to work, not rest.

There is no "millennial Sabbath" in Scripture.

The rest that remains for the people of God starts at our resurrection and will never end; it is the period of time we call "forever more".

[Checkpoint]

There have been numerous claims that Jesus will soon return
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_d ... tic_events

He's never coming back...he's dead.

Not at all.

He will return.

He is not dead, but very much alive!

[Checkpoint]

. . . the period of rest starts at our resurrection.

This is a Biblical fact.

But it lasts for a measly thousand years!

...THIS is most assuredly not true. It lasts for eternity -- the eternal Sabbath.

No, it lasts for a thousand years according to the scriptures.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

As always, I'll have to side with the scriptures on this issue.

What you claim is impossible anyway.

A sabbath is a period of rest equal to the same time period of six previous periods of work.

For an eternal sabbath to exist, there would have to be six periods of eternal work preceding it.

And that's impossible.

If they are all eternal, they will all overlap eternally.

If only you would do just that, myth-one!

What you say is impossible is only so because you are citing, not just Scripture, but also your own misapplication of it.

This is coming from the assumed acceptance of the validity of your logical and mathematical skills.

On this issue, they have failed you.

It is, surely, time to move on.

[myth-one.com]

. . . the period of rest starts at our resurrection.

This is a Biblical fact.

But it lasts for a measly thousand years!

...THIS is most assuredly not true. It lasts for eternity -- the eternal Sabbath.

No, it lasts for a thousand years according to the scriptures.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

As always, I'll have to side with the scriptures on this issue.

What you claim is impossible anyway.

A sabbath is a period of rest equal to the same time period of six previous periods of work.

For an eternal sabbath to exist, there would have to be six periods of eternal work preceding it.

And that's impossible.

If they are all eternal, they will all overlap eternally.

If only you would do just that, myth-one!

If only I would do what?

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to post 174 by myth-one.com]

Checkpoint wrote:

If only you would do just that, myth-one!

myth-one asked:

If only I would do what?

This:

As always, I'll have to side with the scriptures on this issue.