The Second Coming already happened???

[Angrboda]

"Look, he is coming with the clouds,"

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

When I bring that up with fundamentalists, I get any number of justifications or interpretations.  The most common I get is, "It refers to a metaphorical death."

Yeah, you get that a lot (a really, really lot):  Things which don't make sense or which are contradictory, or which are flat-out balls wrong, are metaphors.  Or holy parables.  Or mysteries.  Never, 'Gosh, I don't know what that means' or 'Huh.  Never noticed that before.'

One explanation you'll never EVER get is, 'Gee, I must be wrong about this.  I'd better investigate more, or come up with a different reason why this is so.'  And therein lies the primary operational difference between science and religion.

Boru

[Minimalist]

The will latch on to any excuse to save their bullshit from the trash heap.  They are utterly shameless in that regard.

[Rhondazvous]

The Second Coming happens quite a bit, as long as I have a sandwich or a glass of juice after the first one.

Boru

That is blasphemy high and mightly

[vorlon13]

Hell if I could expect anyone in the Mormon orbit to come up with anything even remotely sensible about Jesus second coming (even by lax religious standards or even laxer Mormon standards) since Jesus is Adam (the Adam and Eve Adam) or Michael or God or something.

And appearing to Joe Smith, does that count as a return?? Even if Jesus is actually Michael??

(Even if Joe voiced and penned so many different accounts of that appearance and they aren't consistent or even agree if 'Jesus' was there or not)

[little_monkey]

In some parallel world, it has already happened. So there...

[Rhondazvous]

When I bring that up with fundamentalists, I get any number of justifications or interpretations.  The most common I get is, "It refers to a metaphorical death."

Yeah, you get that a lot (a really, really lot):  Things which don't make sense or which are contradictory, or which are flat-out balls wrong, are metaphors.  Or holy parables.  Or mysteries.  Never, 'Gosh, I don't know what that means' or 'Huh.  Never noticed that before.'

One explanation you'll never EVER get is, 'Gee, I must be wrong about this.  I'd better investigate more, or come up with a different reason why this is so.'  And therein lies the primary operational difference between science and religion.

Boru

That's the beauty of it. Because the bible is so open to interpretation, there's room for infinite explanations so they never have to admit to being wrong when they can just reach for another straw.

[Rhondazvous]

What's really hilarious is the passage in Matthew 24 where Jesus describes the tribulation, the rapture and his second coming and tells his audience that that generation would not pass away until all those things had happened.

No room for metaphysical nothing.

So fast forward to the 13th century when lo and behold they start a story about the Wondering Jew, some sorry sap who Jesus cursed to stay alive until he returned.

One rep and $1000 to anyone who runs into the Wondering Jew. We're still here so he's still here. Find him and win!

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Erm...'Wandering Jew', not 'Wondering Jew'. Makes me think of poor old Sadie Abromowitz trying to come up with a 5-letter word for 'parsimonious'.

Boru

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Erm...'Wandering Jew', not 'Wondering Jew'.  Makes me think of poor old Sadie Abromowitz trying to come up with a 5-letter word for 'parsimonious'.

Boru

There's a Wandering Jew and the Wondering Jew of Matthew 25:38.