[soc.religion.christian] 3rd Temple = 2nd Coming?

watson@uunet.uu.net (Steve Watson) (10/19/90)

Let me begin by making my bias clear:
I am a Christian.  I used to be a fundamentalist, but am now a moderate
(from what little theology I know, I believe 'neo-orthodox' is the closest
term for my approach to Scripture).

I DO NOT believe that Biblical prophecy can be used in the way many
fundamentalists try to use it: to predict Christ's Second Coming, to
read divine purpose into newspaper headlines, etc. (BTW, I believe some OTHER
fundamentalists would agree with me on that).  The time of the end is a
mystery known only to God: it could be RIGHT NOW; or not for another 2000
years.  I find that it adds NOTHING to my faith to be expecting the imminent
Rapture every time there's another Middle-East crisis: my duty to live a moral
life, to share the love of Jesus in word and deed, remains unchanged.  (And
yes, I HAVE read Hal Lindsey, and I used to believe it too :-(   ).
And I think I can support my position from Scripture.

It would be nice if this sort of eschatology was just the harmless
eccentricity of a few American fundies.  Unfortunately, the tragedy
of last Monday (Oct 8) at Temple Mount shows that it could have serious
consequences.  In case you haven't heard, some Muslims at the mosques on
Temple Mount, hearing a rumour that fanatical Jews were planning to come
on to the Mount to lay the cornerstone for the 3rd Temple, started to throw
rocks at Jews praying at the Western Wall (last remnant of the 2nd Temple).
In the ensuing riot 21 Palestinians were killed by Israeli police.

The causes of this particular incident are unclear: the Israeli
government claims the rumour was planted by a pro-Iraqi Muslim to
cause trouble for Israel and possibly fracture the anti-Iraq alliance.
The (some?) Muslims have claimed that it was started because of a demonstration
by the Temple Mount Faithful (a group of Jews who really DO want to establish
a Jewish presence on Temple Mount) on Monday morning.  Whatever the cause,
the main lesson is that the whole situation is so volatile that anyone
with any influence had better be VERY careful what they do.

Now I have heard that the 3rd-temple movement in Israel is being encouraged
and even funded by some American fundamentalist groups (because of the
belief that the 3rd temple is a necessary pre-condition to the 2nd Coming).
This illustrates something that I have said before in this space: that
this kind of eschatology attempts to pave over the real issues in the
Middle-East, and make the whole thing into a sort of 'eschatology game' in
which the people there have no importance in themselves, only as players in
one's pet scheme of prophecy.

If it could be shown that Christian support for the 3rd temple contributed
to Monday's tragedy (or to some future incident of the same kind), then
IMO the Christians in question have blood on their hands, and need to
seriously examine their beliefs and actions before God.


-- 
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"Blame me, not the Company I keep..." - Steve Watson
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ldh@bessel.eedsp.gatech.edu (Lonnie D Harvel) (10/22/90)

I find it interesting that many people spend hours trying to
figure out when Christ will return.  I thought the scriptures
were very clear that He would come like a "theif in the night"
and that none would know the hour of his coming.

There are many tasks which God has set for us to do.  And the
effort to second guess the return of his Son is not one of them.


Lonnie

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Lonnie D. Harvel                 |  ldh@bessel.eedsp.gatech.edu
School of Electrical Engineering |  
Georgia Institue of Technology   |  "quisque suis patimur manis" 
Atlanta, GA  30332-0250          |  Virgil