Sheshbazzar

There would have been nothing to gain by changing it, and to do so would amount to an admission by the church that the prophecy had failed, making the church's mission redundant. No, it was much easier to just soldier on generation after generation.
So the -understanding- of the saying was altered so that it became like the apple on a stick that is dangled before the donkey, they keep on plodding ahead with their "eyes on the prize", and that "apple" has always remained just out of reach.
The "leaders" may, or may not, have been "convinced" of his coming soon. Certainly there would be a few who were naive enough to believe it for a time, and those who were so caught up in the glory of the cult that they were inclined to cling to their dogmatic mantras regardless.
But for the more pragmatic Leaders, it soon became a matter of power over the flocks, and there were a lot of sheep yet to be fleeced.

Private conversations with christian preachers can be quite revealing, as most educated christian ministers nowadays will admit in private at least, that they do not believe the stories in Genesis are real actual history. Even the Pope himself for that matter, has publicly made this admission.
Scratch through that "public image" worn by educated christian preachers and you will find individuals who personally do not believe everything in their Bible. Most are there for social causes, and are laboring for (what in their eyes is) the betterment of the human condition.
But that doesn't matter to the flocks, they want a leader, and they want something to believe in, to give them a sense of belonging, and of self worth, even a sense of superiority over others.
And of course some are so utterly miserable in their lives, that their only hope is that when they die, things will finally get better.
Sad.

Fundamentalist preachers are perhaps the saddest cases of all, with their very livelihood dangling upon a thin line, as they are bought and paid to preach only, and exactly, what their congregation wants to hear.
And never but never publicly admit that the Bible is less than 100% accurate and infallible (even if they know better)
Here in the Southern U.S. it is "the Rapture" that puts the bread on the table, clothes on the kids, and gas in the tank, so a preacher who wants to be successful will try work that phrase in just as often as he possibly can.

Wrote this better the first time around, but the 'net ate my homework.
:Cheeky:

Decypher

I'm sure Sanders will be happy to know that your willing to be friends.

xaxxat

Hmmm... 84 generations of preachers making a living convincing their folks they're the special ones. A good con never wears out...

sugarhitman

Which is irrelevent to this topic. Jesus was reffering to the generation that the signs occur in would be the generation that "will not pass away until all is fulfilled" that is until it is finished. Jesus also said that these signs would be like birth pains which gets worse and worse.

sugarhitman

And neither shall the Truth.

Johnny Skeptic

It doesn't matter. If the Bible had lots of indisputable prophecies instead of all disputable prophecies, and if the New Testament had been written much more clearly than it was written, there would be little need to debate anything except for the character of God.

What you lack is reasonable motives for why God does what he does. No rational God would cause unnecessary doubt and confusion when he could easily prevent doubt and confusion.

DrewDiggler

But surely it must be confronting for you (given Corinthians 1:26+) when you walk amongst your brethren to notice that either
- they don’t believe the time is near or
- they disregard Paul's advice
by their actions ?
When is the last time you advised a brother not to get married because “this is the generation”?

Amaleq13

Yes and that was clearly the generation of the disciples to whom he was speaking. They asked the question and he told them what they would see.

mountainman

Yes, they have gotten worse by at least 84 separate increments. There was certainly something born at the council of Nicaea, but I for one do not subscribe to the theory that it was the god of the observable universe (inside the Hubble Limit). I rather think it was the supreme imperial decree of a malevolent despot to publish a book by which he would bind the common people of the empire (who could not read greek to save their lives) to his own personal political agenda. The army marches better with one song.

Every generation born after Nicaea has been told with great authority the true and blessed history of the flaming book. Every generation since Nicaea has been hounded by sticks and straps and beatings and recriminations over their slave-like adherance to this flaming Constantinian book. The birth pains are certainly worse and worse each generation, as history clearly discloses, since the modern christian-in-name-regimes destroy and plunder the planet as they will, by planting flags on this soil or that.

At some stage, and hopefully the 21st century mirrors maturity, this god damned flaming Book of Constantine will be revealed to be the fraud and fiction that it is. At that stage, people might begin taking responsibility for their own actions, and not looking outside of themselves for justification in their political leaders and religious leaders, who incessantly and zombie-like chant and quote from the one flaming Book of Constantine - the "Bible".

Best wishes,


Pete Brown

xaxxat

That "truth" being that there's a new crop of sheep ready for the shearing every generation... It's really a great scheme - convince people they're fucked up from the get-go and offer them a solution. For a fee, of course. And if the solution doesn't work, it's their fault. What a really neat double-bind...