How does the Catholic church deal with claims regarding the second coming of Christ?

[HJ3822]

How does the Catholic church deal with claims regarding the second coming of Christ? Perhaps, the church compares the claims with its own theology regarding the matter and see if it holds true? Is claiming to be the second coming of Christ even part of Catholic theology in the first place?

It appears that me that some people believe that the second coming of Christ is Christ in his physical form appearing on earth for the second time. What does the Catholic church have to say about the physical apparition of Christ?

 

[chimo]

How does the Catholic church deal with claims regarding the second coming of Christ? Perhaps, the church compares the claims with its own theology regarding the matter and see if it holds true? Is claiming to be the second coming of Christ even part of Catholic theology in the first place?

It appears that me that some people believe that the second coming of Christ is Christ in his physical form appearing on earth for the second time. What does the Catholic church have to say about the physical apparition of Christ?

The Second Coming of Christ deals with the end of the history of this planet. However the Lord Jesus has said that no one will know when He will come. Since the Lord Jesus is not telling us and in fact for some reason only the Eternal Father knows than it is very suspicious if someone else knows. For some reason the Lord Jesus has specifically said in the Gospels that even He does not know. Probably Jesus had chosen not to know since He had stated this in the Gospels. Since He or the Eternal Father is not telling us I do not think anyone else will know. Any claims are just made up or they can come from the devil. However this does not mean that God will not try to awaken Faith in us. In fact the conditions for the Second Coming may have been prevented many times in the past because of timely apparitions or saints who have put us back in the right direction. The Second Coming is only a conditional coming meaning certain conditions must be in place if Jesus is to come. Because it is a conditional coming it can always be averted.

Christ can come to us in many ways now and in truth we will all meet Him when we die. The general Second Coming will only occur when there is not enough grace and mercy of God to turn the tide of evil that is in the world. If God foresees that His grace and mercy cannot turn the people back to Him in the way to continue the world the Lord has to make the decision to end it if evil has this upper hand. God the Father will not send His Son at the worse time but prior to it. Since the Lord is in the saving business He will not permit evil to have this upper hand for too long. When Jesus does come, He will come in His Resurrected body as He comes in Glory with all to see as He resurrects all peoples both living and dead into their resurrected bodies. Yes Jesus will come physically at the End but it will be His Glorious state that all will see something like the Transfiguration state as it is mentioned in the Gospels.

 

[DavidFilmer]

What does the Catholic church have to say about the physical apparition of Christ?

Practically nothing. With all of the attention that eschatology enjoys within protestant Christianity, many suppose that the Catholic Church has taught about this topic at length. But they would be wrong. Really wrong.

According to this Catholic Answers tract:

In the 1940s the Holy Office judged that premillennialism “cannot safely be taught”

The source is not cited (and the author is not credited). Not even the date is cited - only the decade (uncommonly sloppy scholarship for Catholic Answers, even in a tract). Which “Holy Office?” There are many. There is no such thing as THE Holy Office apart from the Pope himself (more uncommonly sloppy scholarship, unless the tract actually means to suggest that this was taught by a Pope). Something can be taught by the Holy See, or the Vatican, but THE Holy Office belongs to the successor of St. Peter alone - it is the Office of the Bishop of Rome.

I thus believe that it came from a minor Vatican Office that most people (and even Google, AFAICT) have never heard of. To my knowledge, this comprises the ENTIRE body of official Church teaching on the whole pre/mid/post trib, pre/post/amil topics. The Church simply has simply not taught about these things (probably because they aren’t part of the Deposit of Faith, which is the ONLY thing the Church can officially define). I have made this assertion in several previous threads, and nobody has offered any more definitive teaching.

Most Catholics that I know have absolutely no interest in end-times theology. It bores me to my core, but that’s probably because I don’t think that humanity has come even close to fulfilling God’s calling - I think we have THOUSANDS of years left, and it interests me about as much as the sun eventually dying - it will happen (and whatever is alive on earth will die), but it is irrelevant to me. If it was to happen tomorrow, it would matter A LOT, but if it happens a hundred-thousand years from now, I can’t get really excited.

FWIW, I am opening a new thread to discuss the tract I mentioned. I will probably not have the opportunity to link to it before my opportunity to modify my post here expires, but you can easily search for it.

 

[DavidFilmer]

FWIW, I am opening a new thread to discuss the tract I mentioned. I will probably not have the opportunity to link to it before my opportunity to modify my post here expires, but you can easily search for it.

I have opened this thread here.

 

[NotAllHere]

You can put one off guard by having them read the last chapter of the Didache.

 

[TimothyH]

The Catholic Church does not have “it’s own” theology about the second coming of Jesus. The Church has only what God has revealed to us about it. That’s all there is.

Christ has dies. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.

We say that in the Mass. Jesus will come again in the flesh at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. It’s that simple.

-Tim-

 

[mikekle]

While Jesus said NO ONE can know the exact day or hour of his second coming, he DID give us many many things to watch out for, so we can know when he is at the door, luckily Im not the only one who can clearly see many of these (if not all of them) have already taken or place or in the process.

I think the CC fears what may happen if they come right out and say they also believe the second coming is close, I think this type of announcement would cause alot of public panic, leading to many other problems…after all its pretty strange for all the signs God told us to watch for to being fulfilled and yet the CC remains silent on this…I mean, are they not paying attention or what?

 

[Usagi]

While Jesus said NO ONE can know the exact day or hour of his second coming, he DID give us many many things to watch out for, so we can know when he is at the door, luckily Im not the only one who can clearly see many of these (if not all of them) have already taken or place or in the process.

I think the CC fears what may happen if they come right out and say they also believe the second coming is close, I think this type of announcement would cause alot of public panic, leading to many other problems…after all its pretty strange for all the signs God told us to watch for to being fulfilled and yet the CC remains silent on this…I mean, are they not paying attention or what?

Thing is, people have been recognizing the signs as being fulfilled since the first century. Even within my own lifetime, there have been several folks insisting that the 70s, 80s, and 90s were all “clearly” the last decade of the earth. I knew a guy in high school who wasn’t concerned about his future at all because he was sure Jesus would be coming within the next little bit. I do hope he eventually found a career while still keeping the Blessed Hope alive.

Claiming that the Second Coming is near has a long history – St. Paul himself seems to have believed he would be one of the “we who are alive” in his preaching about it – but so far such speculations have been wrong every time, even coming from an Apostle. The Church isn’t going to whip up a frenzy in the 2010s only to still be around and waiting for Him in the 4010s.

Usagi

 

[mikekle]

Thing is, people have been recognizing the signs as being fulfilled since the first century. Even within my own lifetime, there have been several folks insisting that the 70s, 80s, and 90s were all “clearly” the last decade of the earth. I knew a guy in high school who wasn’t concerned about his future at all because he was sure Jesus would be coming within the next little bit. I do hope he eventually found a career while still keeping the Blessed Hope alive.

Claiming that the Second Coming is near has a long history – St. Paul himself seems to have believed he would be one of the “we who are alive” in his preaching about it – but so far such speculations have been wrong every time, even coming from an Apostle. The Church isn’t going to whip up a frenzy in the 2010s only to still be around and waiting for Him in the 4010s.

Usagi

well, if it can be proven that ALL the things Jesus told us to watch out for, has happened or taken place, and still no second coming…maybe we have not interpreted the bible correctly, or…???

Ive often wondered if that was not true, and what if we are SOOO off about everything we think we know about the bible and God.

 

[DanielJT]

well, if it can be proven that ALL the things Jesus told us to watch out for, has happened or taken place, and still no second coming…maybe we have not interpreted the bible correctly, or…???

Ive often wondered if that was not true, and what if we are SOOO off about everything we think we know about the bible and God.

This is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Paragraph 676

“676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. the Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism,576 especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.577”

By claiming that one “knows” or “sees” or “understands” the signs that are to bring on the second coming is a dangerous road to go down.

Also, saying that, because we do not understand the signs of the second coming this must mean we do not understand a lot about the faith is a false conclusion. It is true that there is much about the Faith and God’s nature that we do not understand, but looking at the creed of the Church, there is much that we do understand.

The paragraph before the one quoted above speaks of a tribulation that the Church will go thought where many believers’ faith will be shaken and brought into apostasy.

We do not know the end times and will not understand the signs in history until after the end.

 

[God_I_Love]

My thought on when year wise He will come and be ready to reap the harvest of the Church will be about the year 3000… (precise year I would say 3033)… Now it could be tomorrow or whenever I don’t know. But why I say that I will explain. Firstly many believe that the history of the Church is a Parallel to Christ’s ministry and life. So when Christ comes it will be like He is dead ‘‘they will be eating and drinking… like a thief in the night… etc’’ and then triumphantly returns. So on to why I make the above claim. I look at these words as prophecy both immediate to His life and His life as the Church. ‘‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’’ Now remember God defines what a day is like to Him. Peter references Ps 90:4 when he says to NOT be ignorant of this in 2 Pet 3:8 “But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” So I think that an even deeper understanding can be gained as you view the time (3000 years) as the days Christ was ‘‘dead’’, we too are dead in Him until He comes triumphant. In his death he ‘‘descended into hell’’ and in those days he was ‘‘dead’’ but not really as He was/is alive in us NOW conquering through His Church. Perhaps that’s a little difficult to grasp… Anyways that’s my inspiration regarding this.

 

[ericc]

well, if it can be proven that ALL the things Jesus told us to watch out for, has happened or taken place, and still no second coming…maybe we have not interpreted the bible correctly, or…???

Ive often wondered if that was not true, and what if we are SOOO off about everything we think we know about the bible and God.

Even if all the signs have happened, there is no revelation how many X years will pass for the 2nd coming. It could be in days or thousands of years later. Hence the Church has wisely told us not to waste time on our calculators/abacus on this. As one snippet I read once upon a time ago, " when he comes, I want him to see me working and not lazying about".

 

[Ignatius]

How does the Catholic church deal with claims regarding the second coming of Christ?

We believe what Jesus said:
mk 13:31-37

31"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 32But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

It just so happens that this was the Gospel for last Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent.