| Author |
Message |
Lindylou
Registered user
Username: Lindylou
Post Number: 114
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 9:51 pm: |     |
I have to be honest and say that any urgent talk of the 2nd Coming makes me cringe and roll my eyes. I've tried to analyze why - and have a few ideas as to the reasons. This topic (which is thrown in my face weekly by my endtime fanatic relatives) has lead me to ponder this:
Instead of asking folks: "How would you live your life if you knew that Jesus was coming tomorrow?" .............. As a believer,
how would you answer this question:?
"How would you live your life if you knew that Jesus would not be coming again for another 300 years?"
Any one care to give a brief gut reaction answer to that question? I am curious... I'd like to see if my answer matches anyone elses out there - or if I'm just a quacko!!  |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 3287
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 10:53 pm: | |
Hi, Lindylou--actually, I can't think of anything I'd do differently. It seems our calling is to give ourselves as living sacrifices regardless of the timing of the second coming.
Colleen |
Belvalew
Registered user
Username: Belvalew
Post Number: 901
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 11:07 pm: | |
I'm not sure I would do anything differently than I am now. I still live in a state of gratitude. My whole aim is to remain hooked into the vine. The believer's tension has always been "it could be today." Then again, we have been counseled to live our lives, do our jobs, care for our kids and look out for the widows and orphans. And most importantly we are to share the gospel with others. |
Jwd
Registered user
Username: Jwd
Post Number: 170
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 9:55 am: | |
If the attitude would be, a sigh and the thought, "Good. Now I can raise all the hell I want without this 'fear' of the Parousia hanging over my head," . . this would only prove that we were never truly united to the Vine in the first place. And all we offered was an impressive profession.
It's in the secret closet of our individual lives that the real spiritual battle rages. Respectibility and a smile and a beautiful profession of one's faith along with possible impressive theological thoughts and intelectual arguments to wow the crowd can cover lust, greed, love of the world, adultery, lying,jealousy, envy and an uncontrolled anger and more. Dishes washed sparkling clean on the outside, but inside full of dead-man's bones.
Do we sing Christ's praises but refuse to follow Him where he leads? I speak to myself.
JWD |
Windmotion
Registered user
Username: Windmotion
Post Number: 261
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 11:35 am: | |
My husband was quite floored about a month ago with this very thought. He was like, "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" He said it completely changed his whole mindset, thinking about the role of the church in the world, taking care of the environment, his legacy, etc. Keep in mind he comes from a family that says after each presidential election "Just think this could be the last president we will ever elect!"
Futuristically,
Hannah |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 3291
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 12:02 pm: | |
Good to see you again, Jess! We've missed you. How interesting, Hannah--your husband's family's attitude is typical Adventism. I remember those comments after the elections...fear and uncertaintyóand never permission to live in the NOW.
I have often pondered the fact that one of the greatest gifts the Holy Spirit gave me when I discovered the gospel was the ability to live NOW without feeling guilt and anxiety over the past and worry and anxiety over the unknown future. I actually can live NOW without waiting for the other shoe to drop.
God is in control! Praise God for His blessings.
Colleen |
Lindylou
Registered user
Username: Lindylou
Post Number: 116
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 2:04 pm: | |
Thanks for responding - I agree with all of you! My response would be that I would continue living each day to the fullest - taking care of my environment, working on leaving a legacy for my kids, helping make the world a better place today!
The original question of: "How would you live if you knew Jesus was coming tomorrow?" is really a question not worth asking. And yet how many times has that been the approach people have taken to try and get the attention of folks and promote the SDA belief of the 2nd coming?!
Having grown up in a church where the main focus has been preparation for the 2nd coming - I find myself wanting to avoid that subject almost altogether! I want to live in today! It is such a blessing to put all that 2nd coming fear behind me.
I've been impressed by how many times Jesus says that the 'Kingdom of Heaven" HAS COME! I think that was a major focus of Christ's ministry - that we didn't have to wait for some future time to be united with Him. We could have Him in our hearts and minds NOW! We don't have to wait to travel 7 days through space and the eye of Orion to be with God for all eternity. What a message of peace and assurance!
|
Brian3
Registered user
Username: Brian3
Post Number: 31
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 3:49 pm: | |
I always had trouble coupling the "No one knows the day or hour of Christ's returning" with the SDA beliefs on revelation. I also have the same problems now with different views on "The Great Tribulation" and things that have to happen before "The Rapture". If certain things are supposed to happen before Christ returns and they didn't happen today then we know it can't be tomorrow therefore we would know when it's NOT going to happen. And yet "No one knows the day or Hour"
Confusedly, (Hannahism)
Brian
|
Javagirl
Registered user
Username: Javagirl
Post Number: 138
Registered: 6-2005
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 4:11 pm: | |
300 years....that would be my "great disappointment".
3 days...I'd be dancing, and making alot of phone calls.
Come Lord Jesus |
Thomas1
Registered user
Username: Thomas1
Post Number: 188
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 6:10 pm: | |
Whether it is three days or three centuries, our "job" as Christians is to introduce others to a saving relationship with Jesus. The fact is sure that for any of us, His coming could be as soon as our next breath (or the failure of it to be).
This has always been my problem with those who focus on the 'END TIMES". They focus on what they can never know and theories that are the inventions of men, and fail to do the one thing that we are directly commanded, as followers, to do. "As you are going, preach the Gospel." Make deciples, and baptise.
Can you imagine what an impact there would be if we spent the energy doing what He told us to do, instead of trying to determine what He said was really none of our business?
In His Grip!
<><
Thomas |
Flyinglady
Registered user
Username: Flyinglady
Post Number: 2239
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 6:33 pm: | |
God taught me, through my 12 step program, to live one day at a time. I canot relive yesterday and I surely cannot live tomorrow. All I have is today and I really appreciate that. Serving God today, one day at a time has been an adventure with Jesus Christ. I would not have it any other way. He is so awesome.
Diana |
Lynne
Registered user
Username: Lynne
Post Number: 240
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 3:01 pm: | |
Thomas,
I like that,
"Theories that are the inventions of men."
Even when I was Adventist, I always held onto the fact that the end could be any moment and I never believed in date setting. It blatantly contradicted the bible.
I didn't completely accept the IJ. How did I accept some of it? Theories that were inventions of men.
Too much time and focus on the wrong thing, the end times. Too much emphasis on biblical puzzles and mysteries.
Make sure it is in the bible before believing it.
More Jesus, more gospel.
Facts not fiction.
Lynne
|
Jeremy
Registered user
Username: Jeremy
Post Number: 1025
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 3:47 pm: | |
Lynne, isn't it funny that as Adventists we were against date-setting, when Adventism itself was founded on date-setting?
Jeremy |
Zjason
Registered user
Username: Zjason
Post Number: 17
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 4:44 pm: | |
Brian3, yah, I understand what you mean, in that in the preparations for the 2nd coming, it seems that adventists, as well as tribulationists, have everything charted down as to what has to happen before something else has to happen. Which would tend to leave a lot of people caught with their pants down when Jesus decides it's time to come, regardless of where we are in the charts of time.
my $0.02
Jason |
Belvalew
Registered user
Username: Belvalew
Post Number: 906
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 5:02 pm: | |
Jesus also said that for those who pay attention they will be able to know when the time is near, even at the door. Sometimes when I watch the news I swear I can hear Gabriel taking a big deep breath so that he start playing his trumpet. |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 3294
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 6:51 pm: | |
Great image, Belva! And Thomas, wonderful observations.
Colleen |
Lynne
Registered user
Username: Lynne
Post Number: 241
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 7:14 pm: | |
Jeremy - I understood the error, but I also thought of the IJ as a liberal argument within the church. Like wearing rings. I just didn't connect all of the dots. Old Testament vs. New Testament - Conflicting truths, but all in the bible. The Pastor tells us what is most important. I knew the IJ wasn't in the bible, so I didn't buy it.
I have a flyer somewhere buried in my home made by the Seventh-day Adventist church that I picked up in a 7-11 back in 1989 telling people what a Seventh-day Adventist was. It said "some" Seventh-day Adventists believed in something called the "Investigative Judgment". I thought the church was liberal and left that open for argument. I couldn't see how it all fit together with my belief in Jesus returning in the future. I didn't connect all of the dots.
I was never directly told I had to believe IJ and didn't know it was an absolute truth within the doctrine of the church. I remember being taught about it in a class with a Pastor, but thought it was his belief and I wasn't required to believe that. I accepted 1844 as presented as a warm and fuzzy disappointment. Poor people, and now lets move on to the unfolding, ongoing truth. Being healthy, eating certain ways, that Forth Commandment - Important things to God that the simples ignore. Less Jesus, more God...
I don't believe I would have continued going to the Seventh-day Adventist church in the beginning if the IJ had been presented to me sooner, up front. But it couldn't be. It has to be done in an abstract, brainwashing, slow, puzzling, personal, loving manner. It is like the man who lies while dating, to say anything to get the girl. Then after getting married, the girl learns he lied. But once he has her, does it matter? If she believed those lies, she will believe more.
I just couldn't see through it. Satan had a grip on me.
Belvalew - I think God's time is different than our time. 1 year may be like 1 day to God. Eternity is much greater than we can comprehend. These clearly are the end times in Revelation, so it is important that we focus on doing the will of God. We don't need to have all of the answers. We are not God.
Lynne
|
Melissa
Registered user
Username: Melissa
Post Number: 1260
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 9:19 pm: | |
I have always thought that "when" Jesus came had very little to do with how I lived each day...Each day I was at risk of entering eternity by the mishap of life on the highway. In that vein, I've tried to live every day without regret, but I plan like I'm going to live to be 100...even though I eat meat. |
Dt
Registered user
Username: Dt
Post Number: 83
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, January 29, 2006 - 12:21 pm: | |
Exactly, Melissa.
We are called by Jesus to be disciples, not fearmongers.
Many early Christians accepted Jesus knowing that they would probably be put to death for their faith. Still, they went forward, not jumping at shadows but proclaiming Jesus Christ and His holy truth to the world.
I just feel so much sadness for those SDA's I grew up with that are now dead that lived their whole lives in fear of the "End Times" rather than living a bold and fear-free live in Jesus. Rather than grabbing the clear promises of God in Scripture they cling to the fear-mongering of a demented plagiarist.
DT |
Brian4
Registered user
Username: Brian4
Post Number: 7
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 7:50 pm: | |
And The Bible Says:
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Acts 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Rev. 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
|
Lindylou
Registered user
Username: Lindylou
Post Number: 125
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 10:06 pm: | |
Yes, thank goodness that we have the hope of His return. I know that each of us long and "love" His appearing. And that in God's perspective, time is very quick, like the blink of an eye.
But one can hope and long and anticipate something in a balanced way. The most often quoted words spoken by either Jesus or an angel to man are exemplified in this exchange in Matt. 14:27 "It's all right," he said. "I am here! Don't be afraid!"
I love that: I AM HERE! DON'T BE AFRAID! The bottom line is that whatever comes our way, we can have peace and rest in the assurance of salvation in Jesus! And while we are not together bodily, we can be united with Him in Spirit right now!
|
Susan_2
Registered user
Username: Susan_2
Post Number: 2109
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 10:44 pm: | |
Every day I ask God to use me fror His glory as I know I am one day closer to my end time. |
Melissa
Registered user
Username: Melissa
Post Number: 1270
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 7:01 pm: | |
There is the old saying: Don't be so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good. There is a lot of truth in that. People so focused upon what heaven will be like and WHEN Jesus will come miss a lot of time Jesus has given us now. |
Dd
Registered user
Username: Dd
Post Number: 631
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 1:45 pm: | |
Yesterday on K-Love radio someone was speaking of Christians who see Jesus as their own little "Get Out of Hell Free" card (similar to Monopoly's "Get Out of Jail Free"). The point this guy was making is that so many Christians are so focused on Heaven and the eternity to come, they lose sight of Jesus' abudant life TODAY.
"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:38)
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteosness, for they shall be satisfied." (Matt. 5:6)
Give me Jesus today and everyday!
Denise |
Flyinglady
Registered user
Username: Flyinglady
Post Number: 2263
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 5:04 pm: | |
It is so freeing not to have to worry about what the future will bring and what heaven and eternity are like. It is so pleasant to live today and worship Jesus today.
Thank you God for today. You will take care of tomorrow. You are so awesome.
Diana |
