From: Bjorn.B.Larsen@delab.sintef.no (Bjorn B. Larsen)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: There are two years left!
Date: 10 Sep 92 05:47:10 GMT
Reply-To: bjorn.b.larsen@delab.sintef.no
Organization: delab

In article <Sep.9.04.44.29.1992.22306@athos.rutgers.edu>
stovall@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Steven Stovall) writes:

 >mvp@netcom.com (Mike Van Pelt) writes:

  [ ... ]

 >>My biggest problem with the date-setting is the destruction of the
 >>faith of people who get caught up in it.  One January 1, 1995, what
 >>happens to the people, perhaps new Christians whose faith is none
 >>too solidly grounded?  Do they say "Gee, I've been stupid", and
 >>stomp off into the Darkness?

 >Well, Bro Camping is betting the farm that he is right. Either we're
 >outta here or his ministry is finished. But you're right the biggest
 >fallout of an error here is the disillusionment of thousands, if not
 >millions, of believers which we have had a lot of the last few years.
 >But what if he's right?

Then what? My Bible tells me to be prepared every day. "Live every day
as it was the last." (trans?)

What if I am run over by a car tonight, what benefit would I have from
knowing that Christ is supposed to return in a couple of years? (Or in
excactly two years.)

I feel that this is a ridicilous thread the way it has evolved. The
Bible clearly states that no man shall know the day or time of the
return of Jesus Christ.

On the other hand it also claims that people from "all nations" shall
hear the gospel before His return, and I know that there today is some
thousand nationalities (not countries, I do not have a better English
word for it.) that have still not heard the gospel. This number is
lowered every year by radio broadcasts and people like Wycliffe Bible
Translators and Youth With A Mission, and numerous other
organizations. This way these people do a great effort in making the
second coming of Christ possible. Unless somebody tell these people
the gospel, He can not return.

Rather than discussing wether the return will happen in '84, '88, '94,
2000, or 'XY, we should stay behind these organizations with prayer
and other support to help them reach "all the world." I am pretty sure
the the unreached nationalities play a key role in the timing of His
return.

If it gets accepted that Christ will return at a specific date, then
nobody would care to turn to Him and be saved until the day before, at
the earliest. You would of course also have the ones wanting to know
the exact second of the return, so they could live in sin and only
repent the last second.  Please do not flame me for this, as I would
never take this position, but I expect that those who do not know
Jesus, but know something about Him might come to this conclusion.

In the meantime I will stay tuned and be prepared. The life with the
Lord is too valuable to me, even without his promose to come for me,
that I would not waste it living another way.

This is longer than I had expected, but I just had to do something
after reading some of the contributions in this thread over the last
days.

In Him

Bj{\o}rn


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