Is it heretical not to believe that there will be an Antichrist in the Future?

[Athrunzala]

For me I believe that there is the possibility that the World can End even if the Antichrist has not yet come. There is too much requirement/emphasis that there should be an Antichrist before the World will end. But no I don’t believe in this stuff. So will I be a heretic then?

 

[HOMM]

The World can End even if the Antichrist has not yet come.

What makes you think the Antichrist has not come?

Who is the Antichrist?

St. John the Evangelist might hold the key:

1 John 2:18-27

18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number. 20 But you have the anointing that comes from the holy one, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth. 22 Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life. 26 I write you these things about those who would deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false; just as it taught you, remain in him.

 

[angel12]

There is too much requirement/emphasis that there should be an Antichrist before the World will end.

Well, this is taught in the Bible, by the Church Fathers, and by many saints. On what basis do you claim to know better than they do?

 

[TheLittleLady]

Actually, it makes you Catholic The whole Kirk Cameron version of a guy in a 5,000$ suit with an evil grin and hidden 666 tattoo behind his ear.

 

[tafan2]

John talks of many anti-christs. As to what the Church teaches before the end, it is the following:

• we are in the end-times/last days. We have been in them since the death of the last apostle
• Before the second coming of Christ, there are three things that will occur:

1. The gospel will have been preached to all nations
2. The Church will undergo a great persecution
3. The Jewish people will make a final decision for Christ

That has been the teaching of all Christianity until some protestants invented their own version of eschatology a couple of hundred years ago. The Church makes no claim as to which of the first two have and have not occurred. I believe many theologians have held that the third event could be concurrent with the Second Coming.

 

[HOMM]

Well, this is taught in the Bible, by the Church Fathers, and by many saints. On what basis do you claim to know better than they do?

Two points, with all due respect and charity.

The antichrist, as defined scripturally by John, has been here for a long, long, time…so, there is no need to look for the antichrist to set the timeline for the end times…we have been in the end times since the Fall of Man.

The saints, although wise and holy, are not infallible (except sainted Pope who made ex-cathedra statements on faith an morality while serving in that capacity), so its not a matter of one claiming to “know better than they do”.

Peace!

 

[undead_rat]

My opinion is that Adolf Hitler was the anti-Christ. Several websites support this idea.
From a Jewish perspective, the Messiah is the savior of the Jewish people, and, therefore, the anti-Messiah is the destroyer of the same. Obviously, Hitler was by far the greatest persecutor of Jews in history.

If that is true, then its later than we think, and we are approaching the End. My priest objects by saying that this End has been predicted to be imminent since the beginning of Christianity. But what the ancients overlooked was Genesis 8:21 where YHWH promises the He will never again destroy humanity. That verse stood in contradiction to the many prophecies of world-wide destruction until the 20th century. Now YHWH does not need to send an asteroid or flood or a comet to wipe us out. We can now accomplish a world wide disaster all by ourselves.