41% evangelicals/32% catholics expect Jesus w/in 40 yrs

[BwhoUR]

(AP) A new survey finds that Americans are divided over whether they believe Jesus Christ will return by the year 2050.

Among respondents to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and Smithsonian Magazine, 41 percent said they expect Jesus' Second Coming in the next 40 years, while 46 percent said it probably or definitely won't happen.

The poll suggests that 58 percent of white evangelicals believe Jesus will return by 2050 compared to only 32 percent of Catholics, and respondents with no college education were three times as likely as those with college degrees to expect Christ's Second Coming in the next 40 years.

A majority of all respondents, meanwhile, say they expect there to be nuclear terrorism against the U.S. or another world war by 2050. (bold/underline emphasis mine)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/ ... 8867.shtml

Why do so many white evangelicals, catholics and those lacking in college degrees believe that Jesus will return by 2050? What is this belief based upon? What is the correlation between those that believe Jesus will arrive within 40 years and those that believe nuclear terrorism against the U.S. will also occur within 40 years? Is the "Jesus is Coming" belief based on fear of nuclear war?

[McCulloch]

Suppose, dressed in a business suit, Jesus walked into a room full of people with college degrees. What would be an acceptable way of identifying himself?

Coming in through the wall rather than the door or perhaps descending on a cloud from the sky. How about feeding Ethiopia on two loaves and three fish? Present a cure for cancer? Turning the office coffee into the finest single malt whiskey.

[Pigsaw]

And that is one of the reasons why i do not understand why 90+% of americans
are patriotic persons who think that their country is the best (oh, i forgot, they believe that Jesus is coming in next 40 years)

[olddocbenway]

]
As a Catholic, I believe in the Second Coming of Christ. But I have no idea if that's in my lifetime, the near future or a thousand (or more) years from now. I'm a little surprised at that statistic of "32 percent of Catholics" thinking the Second Coming will be by 2050. It's not really on our radar -- meaning, it isn't something we normally concern ourselves with because it isn't for us to KNOW.

Wow, you believe in the second coming but it's not something you concern yourself with... It's Jesus mate! Surely that's important? And if it's tomorrow - which I assume you think is as much a possibility as 1,000 years off - wouldn't you want to be ready/know?

[olddocbenway]

Suppose, dressed in a business suit, Jesus walked into a room full of people with college degrees. What would be an acceptible way of identifying himself?

I recently read something about this in another post: Christians saying that atheists would never be convinced even if Jesus/God did show up.

As an atheist I would say that I would take a small amount of convincing, after all it will be pretty easy for the omnipotent creator God to prove it, if only by Jedi mind trick and not making me fly or making an amputees limb come back.

[sarabellum]

If we live past 2012....

[Flail]

(AP) A new survey finds that Americans are divided over whether they believe Jesus Christ will return by the year 2050.

Among respondents to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and Smithsonian Magazine, 41 percent said they expect Jesus' Second Coming in the next 40 years, while 46 percent said it probably or definitely won't happen.

The poll suggests that 58 percent of white evangelicals believe Jesus will return by 2050 compared to only 32 percent of Catholics, and respondents with no college education were three times as likely as those with college degrees to expect Christ's Second Coming in the next 40 years.

A majority of all respondents, meanwhile, say they expect there to be nuclear terrorism against the U.S. or another world war by 2050. (bold/underline emphasis mine)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/ ... 8867.shtml

Why do so many white evangelicals, catholics and those lacking in college degrees believe that Jesus will return by 2050? What is this belief based upon? What is the correlation between those that believe Jesus will arrive within 40 years and those that believe nuclear terrorism against the U.S. will also occur within 40 years? Is the "Jesus is Coming" belief based on fear of nuclear war?

Such beliefs, as with all particular beliefs in the supernatural, are based upon credulity and indoctrination.

[QuietMan1980]

We Christians believe that certain phenomena and events need to take place before Christ's return. Contrary to what some have maintained at other points in history, many of the events and circumstances preceding Christ's return have either not happened or not been possible until this point in history.

Among the events and circumstances that would precede Christ's return would be:
- Unusually high incidences of natural disaster
- The return of the Jews to Israel
- Widespread war and violence (this one is, admittedly, not as new)
- Widespread unbelief and apostasy
- High incidence of people claiming to be Christ (cults, etc.)
- A resurgence of religious persecutions
- The Bible will have been made available to most of the world's people
- Alliances between Russia and Iran (God and Magog)

[Adstar]

(AP) A new survey finds that Americans are divided over whether they believe Jesus Christ will return by the year 2050.

Among respondents to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and Smithsonian Magazine, 41 percent said they expect Jesus' Second Coming in the next 40 years, while 46 percent said it probably or definitely won't happen.

The poll suggests that 58 percent of white evangelicals believe Jesus will return by 2050 compared to only 32 percent of Catholics, and respondents with no college education were three times as likely as those with college degrees to expect Christ's Second Coming in the next 40 years.

A majority of all respondents, meanwhile, say they expect there to be nuclear terrorism against the U.S. or another world war by 2050. (bold/underline emphasis mine)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/ ... 8867.shtml

Why do so many white evangelicals, catholics and those lacking in college degrees believe that Jesus will return by 2050? What is this belief based upon? What is the correlation between those that believe Jesus will arrive within 40 years and those that believe nuclear terrorism against the U.S. will also occur within 40 years? Is the "Jesus is Coming" belief based on fear of nuclear war?

Well included in the prophecy of the times of the return of the Messiah Jesus are associated prophecies about War, Plague, Famine and Pestilence. Where if i recall of the top of my head two thirds of mankind will die because of these things. So it is only logical that if someone believes that Jesus is returning in the next 40 years they would also believe they will face War on a major scale and war on a mayor scale includes in these modern times Nuclear weapons.

Now some interpret some of the signs revealed in the book of Revelation as the outcome of Nuclear War. Indeed in popular thinking Armageddon is linked to global nuclear warfare.

So it should be no surprise that some of the people who believe they are living in the times near to the return of the Messiah Jesus also assume they face the prospect of nuclear war.

I am not an american, but i do fall within your group in that i believe Jesus will return within the next 40 years. I do believe there will be wars and i guess some will include the detonation of Nuclear weapons. But i do not believe nuclear weapons will be the cause of the signs revealed in the book of Revelation. I see them being caused by a meteor impact on earth.



All Praise The Ancient Of Days

[lastcallhall]

Why do so many white evangelicals, catholics and those lacking in college degrees believe that Jesus will return by 2050?

Why do you think people without college would only believe this? Are they stupid or not able to think for themselves? I personally went to college and served in the military but I know MANY very intelligent people who chose not to go to college. My dad did not go to college yet he is one of the wisest people I know. Please don't make blanket statement about only the college "elite" can make a thoughtful decision.

What is this belief based upon?

It is based upon the Bible and the prophecies it has given.

Daniel 12:4 (New King James Version)
4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.�

This is speaking of our time. Knowledge was basically the same for thousands of years and we could not run "to and fro" like we can now. A car and an airplane can move much better than a hoarse which was the only means of transportation until the car, now we can fly to the moon. The last 100 years knowledge has exploded like no other time in history. This tells me we are close to the end.

Zechariah 14:12 (New King James Version)
12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:

Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet,
Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,
And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

This is the nuclear war people are talking about that could not have happened prior to the end. If you said Jesus was going to be here soon and it was 1798 the 2 verses I just gave show that you would have been incorrect. The above verse perfectly describes what happens after a nuke goes off.

Mark 13:28-37 (New King James Version)

The Parable of the Fig Tree

28 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it[a] is near—at the doors! 30 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
No One Knows the Day or Hour

32 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. 34 It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. 35 Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— 36 lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!�

Isaiah 66:8 (New King James Version)
8 Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.

The verse in Isaiah shows us Israel would be born in a day which happened May 14, 1948 and then Jesus said that when that happened that this generation would not pass away. I could go back from Adam but with the research I have done a generation in the Bible is 52 years and if you add 52 years from 1967 when the Jews took control of Jerusalem you get 2019. That tells me the Lord will return in the next 8 years. Nobody knows the exact time but we can know when it is soon.

There are more signs that point to the soon return of the Lord but these I think really show why we believe this.