TOP:
I have to ask others. Do you feel a gathering happening? That maybe the second coming of Christ is close as described in Rev.?
To recalibrate so I’m on track in this thread, the short answer is yes, sometimes.
However, I maintain that nothing I’ve seen taught so far requires that this second “coming” is actually simultaneous, and therefore I harbor no preconceived notion that when Christ comes in “glory” that necessarily means we will all know at the same temporal moment.
Since God lives outside of time, why would we assume that coming “in glory” means it will be physically perceivable by everyone at once, as we might think a person might make a “glorious” entrance into a party-gone-bad, come in, take over decisively, and the like. It sounds dangerously close to the “rapture” or something.
These parts of my ideas I do not consider “personal revelation” in that I may have had some strange experiences leading me to formulate these ideas, but right now it’s one of the ways that I can simultaneously believe on an absolute basis the things Christ said. In three gospels, Christ said this “generation” will not pass away until these things have happened. If he was talking about “generation” in the conventional sense, then if His words speak to all in all times than one must adopt some notion that the times are continuously being made ready for Him. If He meant “generation” as in era or epoch or something then really the statement would have little meaning at all, and I would find it surprising to see the same thing show up in three gospels.
As for the Church’s teaching that Christ will come “in glory” does that necessarily mean it will be a big deal where everybody sees it at once? Before I can assent to such a spectacle, I have to consider how strongly the people were waiting for a king and what a contradiction it seemed when the “king” was a baby in humble circumstances. The birth of Christ seems “glorious” to me, but it was not the kind of glory we normally expect to see in this world.
The biggest question that this theory (and that’s what it is, a theory intended to explain what I’ve learned of the facts so far) about non-simultaneity offers is whether there are people right now, walking the earth, to whom Christ’s second coming has already occurred for them. Before one objects too strongly, consider that if we believe the second coming in faith, then we must believe it is already true in the spiritual realm. Therefore the inevitability of Christ’s return to judge us is itself evidence that in faith, it already has.
Turning this full circle, as far as whether I “feel” a coming together, I do. I also feel myself being drained of prideful attitudes almost as soon as I perceive them, and of the desire to put others down, and in essence to a constant, unstoppable leaning toward correction of my spiritual problems of which I am aware. If I were Shakespeare perhaps I could articulate this in a way that wouldn’t sound so clumsy and contrived, but as time goes on the overwhelming peace and ability to handle storms of life (particularly bad in the last five years) without negativity and fear – and all this completely revised.
In essence, is God working in our hearts, converting us in ways that we would not/could not have imagined, evidence that Christ has already begun doing the work of His second coming, or is this just a continuation of His previous work? I suggest they might be one in the same. Why would God delay doing such work, and why would not every generation see the same signs and those who recognize that these signs (of wars, etc) have been going on for years and will for years to come?
Maybe this is a stretch, but taken to its limit, why can’t the second coming (as measured by worldly, temporal clocks) can have already begun as soon as Christ broke His bread at the last supper? Could each Eucharistic celebration be a subtle (but glorious to those who perceive it) component of His second coming?
Perhaps I am too worldly to envision a big “blam!” where all of a sudden Christ is in charge and all the world is now full of peace and stuff, all at some instant that can be recorded and synchronized by Christian observation by all the world’s chronometers; I’m not saying God can’t work that way, but if He does then all the waiting around just seems like a cruel experiment. That may be what it sounds like from some readings, but it just doesn’t seem to work. Gosh, a “blam” for God (outside of time) could actually be implemented over thousands of years in our time, could it not?
Alan.
edit> I hope this is within the spirit and letter of the “no personal revelations” rule. If it isn’t, then I will excuse myself from this topic entirely because I sooo don’t feel like I’m explaining myself properly.
excuse my somewhat unorthodox phrases!
…I guess if we had been around at the time of the ‘big bang’ if one subscribes to such, it would have been quite a big ‘blam!’:whacky:
