[soc.religion.christian] Immediate 2nd Advent?

crowe@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Daniel Crowe) (08/19/89)

In article <Aug.17.05.13.46.1989.15285@athos.rutgers.edu> clh writes:
>One can argue that most of the NT was written from a perspective in
>which the Final Judgement was expected almost immediately, so
>redisigning the society simply wouldn't have made sense to them.

I have heard the theory of immediate expectancy of the Second Advent
before, but have never seen a thorough exposition of it.  I would be
interested in seeing one that can explain Paul's statements in
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, especially verse 3 which states:

     "Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for {that day
      will not come} until the rebellion occurs and the man of 
      lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction."
                               (2 Thessalonians 2:3, NIV)

note: {that day will not come} = words implied but not explicit
                                 in the original Greek.

-- 
Daniel (God is my judge) * "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to
physics graduate student *    speak and slow to become angry, for man's
City College of New York *     anger does not bring about the righteous
crowe@sci.ccny.cuny.edu  *      life that God desires." (James 1:19-20)

[I don't claim to know exactly how long in the future Paul expected
the Second Coming to be.  I agree that 2 Thes suggests some time in
the future.  On the other hand, 1 Thes 4 suggests that people expected
it soon enough that the fact that Christians were dying presented a
problem to them.  Note particularly the wording of 1 Thes 4:17: "we
who are alive, who are left".  This seems to imply that Paul expected
to be alive at the Second Coming.  Consider also Jesus' statement that
the current generation would still be alive (e.g. Luke 21:32: "This
generation will not pass away till all this has taken place.")
However the perspective I was talking about isn't really a matter of
specific time expectations.  Jesus' parables make it clear that we
should live as if he was going to come tomorrow.  That isn't actually
inconsistent with the fact that he hasn't come after 2000 years.  On
the other hand, it seems clear that in practice after 2000 years some
of the urgency we see in the NT may have died down.  This isn't
necessarily a good thing, but it is the difference in perspective I
was talking about.  --clh]