Say what you like, we shall be told, the apocalyptic
beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be
false. It is clear from the New Testament that they
all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime.
And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which
you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had
told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their
delusion. He said in so many words, 'This generation
shall not pass till all these things be done'. And he
was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the
end of the world than anyone else.
It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.
Yet how teasing, also, that within fourteen words of it
should come the statement, 'But of that day and that hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,
neither the Son, but the Father'. The one exhibition
of error and the one confession of ignorance grow
side by side.
To this, the skeptic may reply, If Jesus incorrectly
predicted His return within the contemporaneous
generation, but actually did not know that He was
going to return within that time frame, then why
did He so confidently assert that all of the words
He had just spoken would come to pass in
Matthew 24:35? He said, 'Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away'.
--
"Wasn't there a time when the brightest minds in
the world believed that the world was flat? And
up until like what, 50 years ago, you all thought
the atom was the smallest thing, until you split
it open and this like, whole mess of crap came out.
Now, are you telling me that you are so unbelievably
arrogant that you can't admit that there's a teeny
tiny possibility that you could be wrong about this?"
- Phoebe from Friends, regarding evolution
.
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