Sojourner553

Please, please don't be sorry!

It is "I" who should apologize if I gave the impression that I took "offense":

You make me feel almost guilty you agree with me, if you think there is any anger involved!

Truly there is none. Indeed I applaud you for searching for the truth -- whether it is in agreement with me or not!

For myself, I do WISH the Jesus stories WERE true. But I had to make the decision whether I would pursue truth above all else -- ie, even if I did not like the answer about death.


I have never regretted the choice, and I think it has made me a better -- ie more compassionate person! I would recommend the following site on how nonbelievers have accepted their mortality. Whether of not this is the choice you want to take, it was interesting to me to read how others have faced this.

<a href="http://mac-2001.com/philo/crit/PHILOSO3.TXT" target="_blank">http://mac-2001.com/philo/crit/PHILOSO3.TXT</a>


Peace to you,
Sojourner

Orion

I think it's possible to make a distinction between what Jesus of Nazareth actually said as opposed to the words that his later followers put into his mouth. I think, further, that it's possible to make a distinction between Jesus the man as opposed to the god-man Christology that was developed by the early church in the third and fourth centuries.

As was pointed out by others here, the NT timeframe for any such second coming is long past. Except, of course, if you happen to be a conservative Christian, in which case, you look for and find 'signs' of Jesus' imminent second coming, any day now.

Sojourner553

This is no minor issue.

When my mother (now in her late 70's) was in her teens, my conservative evangelical grandfather fought with my grandmother that it was not necessary for her to go to college: Afterall, Jesus was returning and it was not going to be necessary. My grandmother, less than 5 feet and weighing some 90 pounds was made of pure steel: She refused to back down and my mother made it to college.

My grandfather belonged to some crazy adjuct sect of the Jehovah's Witnesses that counted the stones on the Great Pyramid to determine the "exact day". After going up on the mountain top, they would eventually give up and come back down, convinced they had somehow merely "miscounted" the number of stones.

My grandfather lived with my parents during his last months as he lay ill. He was very much unprepared that he would really die. My mother remembered very much the significance of when he announced, old and feeble, one day that he had accepted (peacefully) that he was ready to die.

He had spent a large part of his life steeped in superstition. Some would say his beliefs pacified and protected him from anxiety about his eventual death.

But I think it also prevented him from living a full complete life!

Sojourner