ishalon

Jesus said...

• Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. - King James Version
• I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. - New International Version
• Truly I say to you, (1) this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. - New American Standard Bible
• Truly I tell you, this generation (the whole multitude of people living at the same time, in a definite, given period) will not pass away till all these things taken together take place. - Amplified Bible
• Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. - New King James Version
• Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. - American Standard Version

- Matthew 24:34.
Now how do you explain away THAT?

CX

What do you mean? AMt thought the end was near and put those words in Jesus' mouth. What's to explain? It would seem most early Xians thought the parousia was imminent. Paul certainly did.

braces_for_impact

The apology I heard for this one was that it wasn't Jesus' "earthly" kindom being referred to, but his "heavenly" kingdom you see. It was the the early start of the church that this would-be messiah was talking about! I've reached the conclusion that no matter how many contradictions, errors, and outright obsurdities you give a fundie, it all amounts to nothing. many christians are taught that faith is paramount. You have to hold onto your faith, regardless of lack of evidence, or evidence contrary to your beliefs. The devil is out to trick you! And nonbelievers are his tools. It's our job to seed doubt. We are unwilling, unconscious slaves of the dark one. Get used to it.

Boro Nut

The New All Singing All Dancing Apologist Lawyers Translation.

Boro Nut

smugg

I've been told that in this context (which I've become convinced is a Christian code-word for 'God must have meant something else') the Greek work genea, here translated (correctly) as _generation_, actually means _race_.

[ June 24, 2002: Message edited by: smugg ]</p>

Boro Nut

Yes, but the same source suggests that crucifixion was actually a form of unsweetened rice pudding, which sort of spoils the ending a bit for me.

Boro Nut

[ June 24, 2002: Message edited by: Boro Nut ]</p>

Pantera

My opinion - what CX said.

C.S. Lewis' opinion - "The answer of the theologians is that the God-Man was omniscient as God, and ignorant as Man. This, no doubt, is true, though it cannot be imagined. Nor indeed can the unconsciousness of Christ in sleep be imagined, not the twilight of reason in his infancy; still less his merely organic life in his mother's womb." (Cited <a href="http://www.secweb.org/asset.asp?AssetID=86" target="_blank">here</a>) There is some Biblical support for this view: "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Mk.13:32, Mt.24:36

Standard Evangelical apologist's opinion: Jesus wasn't referring to his own generation, but a later one - the one which comes after the fig tree (ie Jerusalem) is restored.

Take your pick.

Jayman

"This generation" refers to the generation when the signs of the end of the age occur and not the generation that Jesus is speaking to.

Skeptical

And your evidence as to why your intepretation is more accurate than simply reading the passage in context would be? Let me guess, it _must_ be the correct interpretation otherwise Jesus would have been incorrect, and he of course cannot be incorrect (if he even said something like this) so we must interpet it this way.

Try this on for size. How do you think the people he was speaking to would have interpreted this? Do you think _they_ would have thought, "oh, well even though he said this generation and he was looking right at me, what he really meant was some far flung future generation 2000 years from now". Hardly. They would have understood it just as it is written. Jesus would certainly have known this. Given your interpretation, Jesus explicitly deceived them.

No matter how you slice it, Jesus was either a liar, he was wrong or he never said anything like this and the later writers of the Gospel accounts inserted it. Take your pick.

ishalon

yeah this was one of the footnotes of a version, but i didn't add it because it didnt make sense...

what would Jesus be trying to prove by saying "These things will happen before humans become extinct"?