Nihil,
In agreement: the simple fact remains, and it is a perpetual embarrassment to the Christian faith, that the gospels and the book of Acts record Jesus as saying that he would return to earth within one generation following his death/resurrection, and that accompanying his return would be signs of the end of the cosmos as we know it. That was nearly 2000 years ago, and many generations ago, and so either Jesus was mistaken, or lying, or more likely, the early church overly literalized one of his more metaphorical teachings about his "continued presence" among believers.
As for the Johannine literature and the Book of Revelations, they are all surely 2nd century works written by a circle of 2nd and 3rd generation disciples of the apostle's. And all bear strong anti-Semitic remarks, indicating an escalating tension between the early Jesus movement and the jews of Palestine.
TC. |
