Should we believe these people? On a probability basis the answer must be resoundingly negative. Christian have been assailed for two thousand centuries by people who claimed that the end is imminent.
They were all wrong! Even so outstanding a disciple as Paul of Tarsus was wrong. Look at (probably) the very first letter he wrote (or at least, the first letter of his of which we have a copy, the First Letter to the Thessalonians, commonly dated to AD 50). This reflects his current view that the Second Coming would probably happen before tea-time! But it did not.
Clearly someone, somewhere, sometime is going to be right. Eventually. But in the meantime...?
Which begs the question as to how long the meantime will be, and that simply puts the original question in a different form.
So what grounds are there for believing that people today know better that Paul did in his day - Paul who was so very, very near to God? Does someone, anyone have the answer?
Who Has The Answer?
Well, Jesus told us who has the answer. Not himself, in his humanity, walking the earth: "No-one knows that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Matthew 24:36)
If Jesus himself did not know, and if he has told us quite clearly that no one else knows either, why do we become so preoccupied in trying to predict the Second Coming? In trying to do something which he has implied is both impossible for us and is not our concern? If it was our
concern the Father would not have hidden it and kept it from us
Our Legitimate Preoccupations
Are we so preoccupied with this question because the version of Christianity which we have is so insufficiently exciting that we need to continually embellish it? hype it up (because we do live in an age and culture of hype)? give it a bit more spin (because we seem to have
more spin in our culture than we have simple truth)?
Some may quote Jesus that we should know the signs of the time: "You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." (Matthew 16. 3). But Matthew 24. 36 clearly over-rides this. Indeed, Jesus immediately went on to warn that
"A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." And, it says, Jesus then left them and went away.
