Help with the Church’s position of amillenialism?

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hmikell7

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I’m coming into the Church from an Evangelical Protestant background and thus have always been taught pre-tribulational premillennialism (dispensationalism). Until around half an hour ago, I just assumed that this was the viewpoint that all Christians took when it came to end-times eschatology, only to find out that the Catholic Church teaches something called amillenialism.

I’ve read the Wikipedia page and an article on Catholic Answers, but I’m still having some trouble wrapping my head around the whole thing. So we’re presently living the 1000 year reign (which is a symbolic millennium that actually lasts until the final judgment?)? So God is reigning now? Meaning that the 1000 year reign isn’t actually this period of peace and Christian unity on earth that I’ve always been told it would be?

Does the 7 year tribulation still happen before the final judgment? Is pre-judgment Christian persecution still a thing?

What I’d really appreciate is someone laying out what Catholics believe the end-times timeline is supposed to look like? Up until now I’ve been told that it would look something like this:

Worldwide Christian persecution en masse ————> Rapture —————> 7 year tribulation ——————> 1000 years of TOTAL peace on earth, with no evil going on at all —————> Final judgment —————-> New heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem descend/ are created
 
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A word of warning. There is no field in religion, Catholic, Protestant or otherwise, that attracts swarms of cranks, loonies, frauds, hucksters, weirdos, nutters and blithering idiots of all stripes like moths to a flame like prophesies, private revelation and eschatology in general. 99.999% you will find on the internet about Catholic eschatology is worthless or worse.

Stick to official Church documents, officially approved published books, and scholarly treatises.

If you want to explore this area of Catholicism, best to do so under the guidance of a spiritual advisor with hefty credentials, preferably a Jesuit or Dominican.
 
Everything Catholics believe about the final judgment is in the Catechism here where the final judgment is discussed:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c2a7.htm

We do not believe or even discuss a lot of the stuff you posted about. Your average Catholic wouldn’t know “pretribulational premillennialism (dispensationalism)” from his left right shoe. And we don’t believe in the Rapture. (As the page (name removed by moderator) posted says, we believe that people will be gathered together to be judged by God, but we don’t use the word “rapture”, don’t believe that a bunch of people will vanish to go with God and the ones left behind get some tribulation, blahblah…God just judges everybody and sends them to heaven or hell, the end.)

We don’t have an “end times timeline” like what you laid out. Read the Catechism page I posted…what’s on it is what we believe. Period.

If you’re coming from a church that dwells on all this end times stuff, this will probably be very different for you.
 
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We do not believe or even discuss a lot of the stuff you posted about. Your average Catholic wouldn’t know “pretribulational premillennialism (dispensationalism)” from his left right shoe. And we don’t believe in the Rapture. (As the page (name removed by moderator) posted says, we believe that people will be gathered together to be judged by God, but we don’t use the word “rapture”, don’t believe that a bunch of people will vanish to go with God and the ones left behind get some tribulation, blahblah…God just judges everybody and sends them to heaven or hell, the end.)
We don’t have an “end times timeline” like what you laid out. Read the Catechism page I posted…what’s on it is what we believe. Period.
If you’re coming from a church that dwells on all this end times stuff, this will probably be very different for you.
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The church I’m coming from did focus on this quite a lot, which is one of the many reasons why I left and became atheist for several years. I’ve never seen anything create so much fear and hostility between people the way that eschatology can, so much so that I couldn’t believe that any of it could possibly be of God. I’m honestly glad that the Catholic Church doesn’t focus on it all that much (it’s a nice break from all the doom and gloom I grew up with), I’m just struggling to wrap my head around what she does teach about it.

I’ve been reading in the Catechism, and looked at some of the relevant Bible verses, and I think that I’m beginning to get a clearer picture of what’s going on. And if I’m understanding it correctly, it makes a lot more sense to me than what I grew up with.
 
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I would recommend if you have further questions beyond what’s in the Catechism, you ask a priest. Some Catholics tend to believe additionally in things they got from private revelations (such as a saint receiving messages from Jesus or Mary, etc). Private revelation is not part of the official teaching of the Church.
 
The priest at my parish is a Jesuit (I think, though I could be wrong) so I’m going to try and talk to him about it the next time I get the chance. I think I’ve got a clearer picture of it now after reading the Catechism, but better to be safe and double check
 
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In the Catholic view, there’s no rapture. The 7 year length of time for the tribulation is debatable. There is no 1000 years of zero evil and perfect peace.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I would recommend if you have further questions beyond what’s in the Catechism, you ask a priest.
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I would qualify that by saying that any priest you ask should be someone has spent years studying and writing on this topic. preferably a Jesuit or Dominican. Most average diocesan priests do not have expertise in this area.
hmikell7 said:
The priest at my parish is a Jesuit so I’m going to try and talk to him about it the next time I get the chance.
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You’re lucky to have someone like that available. Take advantage of it.
 
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