Most evangelical Christians think that we live in the end times, that Jesus will soon be coming back to rapture up all the true believers etc etc...
However, Jesus seems to disagree.
From Matthew Chapter 24:
The words "this generation" clearly refer to the current or present generation of Jesus' day. It's not "that generation" or "a distant generation" its "this generation."
There are other instances where "this generation" is also used.
From Matthew Chapter 23
Once again Jesus refers to his generation, clearly using "this generation."
Unless we think Jesus measures generations in lengths of 2,000 years, there is an apparent problem here.
Last I checked, Judgement Day didn't happen 2,000 years ago, yet Jesus seems to think it would happen within his generation.
Perhaps the perfect Jesus was mistaken?
Of course if Jesus is mistaken on something rather important like the timing of Judgement Day, then how can we trust that he was accurate elsewhere?
Throughout the New Testament, Jesus constantly gives warnings like this about how the end is near. He tells people to abandon everything and prepare for God's return. Why? Unless he thought that Judgement Day was going to happen soon.
As a side note the Perfect Jesus apparently misquotes the Torah here.
He calls Zacharias the son of Barachias.
Well this is a problem because down below in 2 Chronicles.
Zacharias (Zechariah and Zarcharias are variant spellings of the same name, much like Johnathan and Jonathan) was the son of Jehoiada, but Jesus said he was the son of Barachias. It seems like Jesus was referring to the Zechariah mentioned in 2 Chronicles because Jesus mentions that he was "slew between the temple and the altar." In 2 Chronicles Zechariah was stoned in the "court of the house of the LORD" I.E Temple. Plus in the context of what Jesus was saying, he was referring to the Jews in general. He was accusing them of killing Zechariah. Zechariah accused the people of sinning against God, so he got stoned to death.
See a connection?
I realize that this could perhaps be nothing more than a small typo or error in translation in an apparently inerrant book, but I still felt it was relevant.
Suffice to say, my question is this. Was Jesus mistaken? It certainly seems so.
Note: All theses passages were taken from the Old King James version.
Last edited by Lucius on Oct 23rd, 2009 at 07:48 PM
i can not comment on the zecharias thing but i am pretty sure jesus was not referring to a literal generation. i am also pretty sure that the bible says that no one can know when judgment day will begin except for him so jesus using a literal measurement of time to reveal gods judgment day would be pointless. i think he was speaking metaphorically with "this generation" referring to mans time on earth period.
I'm making a joke, so don't take it so personally, but it really isn't hard to go through a book and find parts that aren't congruent.
People have combed the bible to death looking for such instances. I get it, and I get your point, but like, that record is so old, all I'm hearing is hisses and pops, dig?
I just posted this since I'm currently taking Philo of Religion so its been on my mind a lot lately.
This is an argument based on semantics, changing the definition of generation to rationalize what Jesus said.
Plus if speculating on when Judgement Day will come is pointless, then why would Jesus, a perfect being with all the knowledge of God not realize that constantly making statements about "this generation" would cause considerable confusion?
im not changing the definition of anything. im pointing out that its very possible that hes speaking metaphorically and that would actually make sense considering the context and considering that jesus is known for speaking metaphorically. why are you so sure that hes speaking literally there?
i dont understand how those statements cause confusion... im not confused when i read them. i dont speak for everyone obviously but... i dont see the problem that you see apprently.
In terms of generation, I go with the typical model of about thirty years. When you say Jesus' definition of a generation could refer to all of humanity, you are using a different definition of what a generation is. There are of course multiple definitions and it is my fault for no specifying what definition I was using or believed Jesus was using.
However, why I think Jesus was speaking literally is based on the context of what Jesus said. Abandoning material lives and material values is a common theme in what Jesus said. Considering that it seems clear he felt that Judgement Day would happen in his generation, it makes sense to me, that Jesus would be speaking literally. To turn this around, I could ask you why you think Jesus was speaking metaphorically.
The confusion arises from the problems of taking what Jesus said literally. If Judgement Day was supposed to happen in Jesus' generation (it clearly didn't), then each subsequent generation has to wonder if Jesus was mistaken. If Jesus is mistaken, then he is not a perfect being and its entirely possible he could be mistaken elsewhere. Jesus said that the end would happen and yet it hasn't happened yet. There is a contradiction between what Jesus said and what actually happened. This to me, is valid cause for confusion.
The first one can be read as "the generation will last until this happens" but that's probably due to how flowery the King James translation is.
As for the "literal vs metaphorical" debate, that strikes me as unresolveable. We don't know what the popular conciousness was like at the time each book was written and Jesus spends more than half his page time speaking in blatant metaphors/parables. Not to mention the problems of translating between both languages and cultures at the same time. I'd suggest watching the Star Trek episode "Darmok" to demonstrate what I'm talking about but that would be a very nerdy reference.
And again, this isn't any sort of wonderous new revelation.
__________________
Graffiti outside Latin class.
Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
A juvenal prank.
Last edited by Symmetric Chaos on Oct 23rd, 2009 at 09:31 PM
KMC Community Forums
Oct 23rd, 2009 07:42 PM
