Deep question here

[Ella]

OK going off on something deep here, but it bothers me.
I’ve never yet found an answer that fits. It’s something I’d love to have some help with.

Jesus is crucified and dies. He resurrects on the third day. He appears to His apostles several times, then ascends into Heaven. The apostles continue His church with Peter as the head.

And then… 2000 years go by. 2000 tumultuous, bloody, crazy, amazing years go by. And still go by.

Why wasn’t the end of the world when Jesus was resurrected? Why did He ascend and leave a Church to spread His word for 2000 years? The greatest thing that has ever happened happened when He died and was resurrected. And since then…

 

[kleary]

OK going off on something deep here, but it bothers me.
I’ve never yet found an answer that fits. It’s something I’d love to have some help with.

Jesus is crucified and dies. He resurrects on the third day. He appears to His apostles several times, then ascends into Heaven. The apostles continue His church with Peter as the head.

And then… 2000 years go by. 2000 tumultuous, bloody, crazy, amazing years go by. And still go by.

Why wasn’t the end of the world when Jesus was resurrected? Why did He ascend and leave a Church to spread His word for 2000 years? The greatest thing that has ever happened happened when He died and was resurrected. And since then…

And since then you were allowed to be created by God and given an opportunity to be together with Him forever in Heaven.

I believe that answers the question.

If the Jews had accepted Jesus as their Messiah the end of the world most certainly would have come.

It is all because they rejected Him as to why you were able to be born.

Ken

 

[JimG]

Doesn’t seem quite fair if Christ’s resurrection had immediately ushered in the end of the world. The rest of the world would have had no opportunity to be evangelized. He did, after all, instruct the apostles to preach the good news to the whole world.

 

[Hubriss]

Yeah, absolutely nothing’s happened since then.

Doesn’t seem quite fair if Christ’s resurrection had immediately ushered in the end of the world. The rest of the world would have had no opportunity to be evangelized.

-JimG

Who cares? It doesn’t matter whether they were evangelized or not. Supposedly the only purpose Jesus had was to provide a way out of original sin for everybody. So as Adam and Eve’s mistake damned everyone, Jesus’s sacrifice would have corrected it for everyone.

 

[JimG]

Who cares? It doesn’t matter whether they were evangelized or not. Supposedly the only purpose Jesus had was to provide a way out of original sin for everybody. So as Adam and Eve’s mistake damned everyone, Jesus’s sacrifice would have corrected it for everyone.

That’s even better than “faith alone.” You should start a denomination based on ‘don’t worry, you’re already saved.’ This could go far.

 

[asteroid]

That’s even better than “faith alone.” You should start a denomination based on ‘don’t worry, you’re already saved.’ This could go far.

Too late!

There are already churches that teach that since Jesus died ‘for all’ that means it doesn’t matter in the slightest what anyone does because salvation is assured for all.

Some churches say everyone goes straight to heaven when they die. Others say we get punished for a while first and only go there eventually - a sort of purgatory. For example:

lafn.org/~dave/uu/universalism/what_is_universalism.html

Looking online I find that John Paul II is accused of teaching universal salvation. This is the offending evidence apparently:

In article 16 of his Apostolic Letter Fidei Depositum of 11 October 1992, Pope John Paul II declared: “The Catholic Church teaches that through the graces Jesus won for humanity by sacrificing himself on the cross, salvation is possible even for those outside the visible boundaries of the Church. Christians and even non-Christians, if in life they respond positively to the grace and truth that God reveals to them through the mercy of Christ may be saved.”

Personally I can’t see universalism there but I can see the the word ‘non-Christians’ would be controversial.

 

[Ella]

And since then you were allowed to be created by God and given an opportunity to be together with Him forever in Heaven.

I believe that answers the question.

If the Jews had accepted Jesus as their Messiah the end of the world most certainly would have come.

It is all because they rejected Him as to why you were able to be born.

Ken

That doesn’t make sense to me. Since then it’s also allowed alot of horrible things to happen.

Is it Church teaching that if the Jews had accepted Jesus as their Messiah the end of the world would have come?

Doesn’t seem quite fair if Christ’s resurrection had immediately ushered in the end of the world. The rest of the world would have had no opportunity to be evangelized. He did, after all, instruct the apostles to preach the good news to the whole world JimG

Well, in 2000 years we’ve done a lousy job of evangelization since most of the world is not Christian.
I’m not trying to be aggrivating, guys. I really find this a stumbling block and want it gone. But it has to make sense to me for that to happen.

 

[Ella]

BTW I have to go out of town later this morning but will be back on Sunday. Thanks for your help!

 

[Nullasalus]

OK going off on something deep here, but it bothers me.
I’ve never yet found an answer that fits. It’s something I’d love to have some help with.

Jesus is crucified and dies. He resurrects on the third day. He appears to His apostles several times, then ascends into Heaven. The apostles continue His church with Peter as the head.

And then… 2000 years go by. 2000 tumultuous, bloody, crazy, amazing years go by. And still go by.

Why wasn’t the end of the world when Jesus was resurrected? Why did He ascend and leave a Church to spread His word for 2000 years? The greatest thing that has ever happened happened when He died and was resurrected. And since then…

Well, you could also ask why thousands of years passed before Christ was born to begin with. Why did His ministry bother to last years as well?

The point is that there is no ‘ideal timeline’ - no perfect amount of years between creation and Christ’s return. And those 2000 years haven’t just been bloody - there have amazing periods during it, a lot of good to go with that bad. And a lot of conversions as well; the whole world may not be Christian, but even the atheists today operate by ethics and morals that christians in particular helped evangelize and etch into the cultural fabric (Though, admittedly, that’s been slipping and fluxuating recently).

So, if the question is ‘Why hasn’t Christ come back yet?’, my response would be, ‘Why would He come now rather than later?’ Christ Himself said that we would always have the poor with us; that, to me, implies that it was assumed the ministry would be lasting quite awhile.

 

[Todd_Easton]

OK going off on something deep here, but it bothers me.
I’ve never yet found an answer that fits. It’s something I’d love to have some help with.

Jesus is crucified and dies. He resurrects on the third day. He appears to His apostles several times, then ascends into Heaven. The apostles continue His church with Peter as the head.

And then… 2000 years go by. 2000 tumultuous, bloody, crazy, amazing years go by. And still go by.

Why wasn’t the end of the world when Jesus was resurrected? Why did He ascend and leave a Church to spread His word for 2000 years? The greatest thing that has ever happened happened when He died and was resurrected. And since then…

2 Peter 3 seems to have been written with your question in mind. The answer given in verse 9 is:
9The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.