Amaleq13

You certainly have not established this to be the case.

Jesus specifically responds to a question from his disciples to his disciples and refers to "this generation" when he does so. Only your imagination allows you to pretend it isn't obvious that Jesus was referring to the generation of the people to whom he was speaking.

sugarhitman

That would mean that Jesus knew when He would return....which throughout the Gospels He says He does not...the Apostles in their letters also say the same thing. Jesus only knew that when the signs appeared that would be the generation....If you cannot even understand this simple scripture indeed what ignorance is in you concerning the Bible. May I make a suggestion? Find something better to do with your time...because you have no idea of what you are criticising.

Sugarhitman

arnoldo

I find it insightful that the OT/NT is probably the most attacked religous text on the planet. On the other hand I would be more concerned if the OT/NT was not thought worth being attacked and simply ignored.

arnoldo

Right.... do a simple google search on jewish bridgroom customs, Rosh HasShanah and maybe some messianic judaism sites. According to jewish custom the bridgroom prepared the bridal chamber however only the Father could say when it was complete and when the bridegroom (His Son) could go for his bride(the church).

DrewDiggler

Outstanding issues from this thread:-

John Kesler's point referring to Matthew 10:5-8, 23 has not been successfully refuted
Casper's analysis of the original Greek has not been refuted
Al Fresco's quotations clearly undermine the OP
The theists have been shown to refer to prophecies referring to Israel rather than to the Messiah by Jayrok and Al Fresco
Decypher has pointed out that
- the literal meaning in Mark is consistent within the Olivet Discourse across the Synoptic Gospels (see)
- Jesus was addressing a crowd not just the disciples (see)
Sheshong has demolished the "generation" period length apology
Commencing with Jaymack2 and including posts by Decypher, mountainman and Sheshbazzar and others a good explaination is outlined for an evolutionary interpretation based upon the literal comprehension of the dialog as recorded.
Of all the prophecy watchers why should SHM be the one where they are fullfilled (see Sheshbazzar's post)?

Thanks to all for your contributions.

Johnny Skeptic

Revelation 1:1 says "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John." At the very least, that Scripture is needlessly confusing.

If a God wanted people to believe that he exists, it is reasonable to assume that he would telepathically or verbally communicate the same messages to everyone in the world, thereby tending to discourage doubt and confusion instead of needlessly encouraging doubt and confusion. If all religions that have books are false, that explains why they are spread exclusively by word of mouth, and never directly by any of their Gods. False religions that have books must by necessity start in one place. A true religion could easily start in many places at one time since a God would not have the limitations that humans do. It is reasonable to assume that a true religion would start in many places at one time if the goal of God was to communicate with humans in ways that would tend to discourage doubt and confusion instead of needlessly encouraging doubt and confusion. A loving God could not possibly have anything to gain by inspiring a confusing book like the Bible, nor could anyone else.

gregor

Kind of odd behavior for someone omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent, don't ya think?

Amaleq13

That is what this passage suggests.

That uncertainty is placed in his mouth elsewhere and by another author does nothing to change what he says here.

I certainly do. I'm criticizing a clearly faith-based and untenable "interpretation" of the Gospels.

John Kesler

You may enjoy this post, in which I show that Matthew 10 also conflicts with other passages in Matthew.

DrewDiggler

Wow ! The Bible sure has painted the theists into a corner.
What can they do ?
a) admit Jesus had it wrong ?
a) admit Jesus deliberately misled the disciples/crowd ?
b) say Jesus was misquoted ?
c) try and recontextualize the event again ?
d) bury their heads in the sand of faith repeating an "I believe" mantra ?