Some Americans Expect Jesus' Second Coming in 2007

[mwb970]

by Audrey Barrick (Christianpost.com, January 3, 2007)

One in four Americans anticipates the second coming of Christ in 2007. This is one several predictions made by Americans in a recent poll for the new year.

A poll by Ipsos, an international polling firm, found that 11 percent of respondents said it is "very likely" that Jesus will return to Earth this year and 14 percent said it was "somewhat likely."

Among white evangelical Christians, 46 percent said it's at least somewhat likely that Jesus will return in 2007 compared to 17 percent of Catholics and 10 percent of those with no religion.

Overall, 25 percent said it was "not too likely" that Jesus will make his second coming this year and 42 percent said it was "not at all likely."

More at...
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070103/24761.htm

This is so depressing to me. What is wrong with us? Are the 25% looking for Jesus to come this year (sigh) the same 25% that support the Commander Guy? And what's with the 10% of "those with no religion" who also think Jesus will return in 2007?

Hasn't Jesus been about to return pretty much continuously since his original Rapturing? It reminds me of the Iraq War, in which we are always just about to succeed, if only the antiwar troop-haters don't make us leave just before we achieve victory.

Here's an interesting take on this subject from Martin Gardner:

As the year 2000 approached, Protestant fundamentalists (I include members of Pentecostal churches and such fringe sects as Seventh-day Adventism and Jehovah's Witnesses) became more and more persuaded that the Lord's Second Coming was close at hand. Scores of strident books were published, and are still being published, showing how a correct interpretation of the books of Daniel and Revelation proves that the rapture of believers, the Battle of Armageddon, and the end of the world as we know it will be occurring very, very soon. The books range from the many by Hal Lindsey, which have sold by the millions, to obscure volumes which identify the Antichrist and reveal the meaning of 666, his number.

You would think that believers in the imminence of Christ's return would be bothered by the fact that, ever since the gospels were written, huge numbers of Christians have interpreted Biblical signs of the end as applying to their generation. The sad history of these failed prophecies makes no impression on the mind-sets of today's fundamentalists. Even Billy Graham, who should know better, has for decades preached and written about the impending return of Jesus. He grants that no one knows the exact year, but all signs indicate, he believes, that the great event is almost upon us.

(snip)

Jehovah's Witnesses have an even worse record of failed predictions than the Adventists. They teach that Jesus returned in 1914, but it was an invisible, spiritual return. However, they also once taught that 1914 would see the beginning of Armageddon, followed by the destruction of all nations and the establishment of God's Kingdom on Earth. When this didn't happen, the date was moved to 1915. After that year passed, the date was pushed ahead again to 1918. Unfazed by the 1918 failure, 1975 was the next selection.

As far as I know, since then the group has stopped proposing dates, although it still preaches that the end times are near and millions now living will never die. It's useless to bring all this up when a Witness knocks on your door because most Witnesses today are ignorant of their faith's bizarre history, or about the errors and sins of Charles Taze Russell, who founded their sect. A good reference on the history of Jehovah's Witnesses is an article in the Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions, and the Occult (1993), by George A. Mather and Larry A. Nichols, and the many references they cite.

(From Notes of a Fringe-Watcher: The Second Coming of Jesus by Martin Gardner)

More at...
http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-01/gardner.html

[notadmblnd]

1. Well I wish they'd put their tennis shoes on, take their medicine

and quietly wait for the mother ship to come for them.

[Hissyspit]

2. They're going to be disappointed.

Anyone ever in the history of who ever predicted the end of the whole world was wrong when that date got here.

[frogcycle]

4. well, that's a pretty much unassailable truth!

:rofl:

[frogcycle]

5. unless its over and we don't know it yet!

could we actually be in an alternative universe?

I did see the lights sort of dim for a second a month or so ago - maybe the good guys all left, and we are "left behind" with only their dopplegangers to keep us in line?

[frogcycle]

3. the 25%

are pretty much the same ones who still believe bush is not the devil incarnate

the 10% just have to be joking

I mean, if I were asked that question in a serious poll, I'd probably say "oh, he's already back; I saw him making sandwiches yesterday at a 7/11"

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Well, when you do psych evals of criminals for a living,

it's pretty common for them to tell you they found Jesus while in jail. The first time this happened, I asked the guy, "Oh? What was Jesus in for?"

[Davis_X_Machina]

10. Back in the 60's...

...there was an evangelical poster common in Liverpool that said "What will you do when Jesus comes again?", to which the Scousers fans added the graffitti "Move St. John to inside right."

[jody]

7. The Rapture Index is 159 (Rapture Index above 160: Fasten your seat belts)

Rapture Index

Rapture Index of 100 and Below: Slow prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 100 to 130: Moderate prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 130 to 160: Heavy prophetic activity
Rapture Index above 160: Fasten your seat belts

:shrug:

[madmom]

12. saw on a documentary that rapture is not mentioned anywhere in the bible.

[jody]

21. "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet

the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

That's probably as close as anyone can come to a source verse.

[momster]

22. Another 'Stop it or you'll go blind' warning

The whole 'Rapture' idea is a 19th century invention, based in part on some Scottish teenager's 'vision' (not unlike the hysterical fantasies that led to the Salem trials), conflated by a couple of second-rate preachers. They saw the wickedness and corruption of the world as too much for mortals to deal with so started threatening everyone with the imminent return of Big Scary Retribution Jesus. Though some fundies have tried to dig up early Church Father writings/teaching that seems to equate to the Rapture, none of the big names in Catholicism (just to name one group) ever mentions it, not even those who claimed to be in contact with God himself -- not Teresa of Avila, not Aquinas, not Augustine, not nobody.

I think the whole modern movement is rooted in xenophobia -- hatred of 'the other,' the 'stranger'. But the believer doesn't have to act out against the stranger because God's going to do it for them. I have a dear friend who believes that God's coming soon...she doesn't believe that there's going to be a future for the earth so she's not doing a darn thing to prepare for her retirement or any of her future needs. That, to me, is scarier than the whole 'tribulation' crap.

[pokercat999]

32. Especially with dog food being unsafe to eat.

:shrug: Sorry I couldn't resist.

[momster]

33. Nah, she's a Cat Person

Nothing beats Fancy Feast for those 'special times'.

[BearSquirrel2]

17. What no christmas tree ...

Don't we get a color coded rapture alert system?

[jody]

20. ROFLMAO

:rofl:

[enid602]

8. faithful

Bush supporters know that the 2nd coming of Christ is the only thing that will keep Bushco from imploding completely.

[madrchsod]

9. oh ye of little faith

he`s already here..you`d think they would know that but i guess they do not understand he never went anywhere. they choose not to open their eyes to see him....

[mwb970]

19. That's probably the most insightful comment here. /nt

[soothsayer]

11. They probably all have ARMs that are about to go up!

[rurallib]

13. Jesus probably will come in 2007 and his most fervent followers

will have him arrested as a terrorist, ince he would have no identification. He will be put in Gitmo, where he will die. This death will not be mentioned anywhere. And life will go on, with Christian groups all over fervently waiting for his second coming.

[bread_and_roses]

27. Yup. Unless they burned him at the stake for a communist heretic

before he even made it to Gitmo.

[blueworld]

14. Will they welcome Him with flowers because they're liberated? nt

[tanyev]

15. They're like the police in Pirates of Penzance who keep singing about going after the pirates.

Away, away!
(Yes, yes, we go!)
These pirates slay!
( Tarantara! )
Then do not stay!
(Tarantara! )
Then why this delay!
(All right, we go! Yes forward
Yes, forward on the foe, on the foe, Yes, forward on the foe, )
Yes, but you don't go!
(They go, they go! We go, we go!
Yes forward Yes, forward on the foe, on the foe, Yes, forward on the foe, )
Yes, but you don't go!

[BearSquirrel2]

16. Fundies believe in the free market .. let's trade ...

I think that all the currency exchanges should have "rapture pits". These are places where the conservatives can put their money where their mouths are and I can become filthy rich by shortselling.

[camero]

18. About the 10% with no religion.

They probably just are not affiliated with any church, like myself. I know more and more who are doing just that. The rich have led the church into the gutter.

That said, this year is a very short-sighted interpretation.

[yellowcanine]

30. Maybe they hope to get the cars and houses of the Believers.

[Nimrod2005]

23. I hope their dreams come TRUE, immediately or sooner!!!

[MasonJar]

24. As my minister, a very wise man, told us a couple of years ago, "The

world will end when man quits caring about the earth." When one thinks in those terms, it is quite evident that the end of man, not the world, might indeed be imminent.

[mod mom]

25. Can someone explain why they don't perceive * as the anti-Christ?

He is/was a drunk, drug using frat boy who went AWOL and started an immoral war to protect rich oil barons. Why would they ever in a million year ever worship him? Anyone can say "they found Christ" but wouldn't actions speak louder than words?

[Hard_Work]

26. That's easy

'Cause * is Amurkin. The antichrist couldn't possibly be born in 'murika.

[LibertyorDeath]

28. "One in four Americans anticipates the second coming of Christ in 2007"

Does it get any more retarded than this.

Well does it...

Grown educated adults claiming someone who died thousands of years ago will

reanimate this year.

Their lucky it's a faith based fairy tale because if I were Christ and I

came back to find these fuck ups I'd be most pissed....

[ninkasi]

29. My grandmother told me

that when she was young, and she was born in the 1890s, a little girl who lived on the neighboring farm ran over, out of breath one evening, to get some milk, or eggs, or whatever, and when my grandmother asked what the hurry was, she explained that Jesus was coming ANY TIME NOW, and they wanted to eat supper first.

Nothing has changed in over the last hundred years, has it? Remember the Rapture Ready website? It was hysterical, and I don't remember what pushed them so close to the edge then. I guess the little girl grew up, and spent the rest of her life running.

[Twitch14]

31. Here's a great "failed Doomsday predictions" web site

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/9941/index.html

On edit: It hasn't been updated in a few years, but still good for a lot of laughs.

[Blue_Tires]

34. will that be before or after the Mets make it back to the fall classic?

And a message for those planning to get raptured up: Please send all cash, deeds, car titles, and other valuables my way since you won't need them in the next life...help your man out

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

35. When the Rapture Comes, Can I Have Your Fries?

A bumpersticker I saw.

[SharonAnn]

37. When the Rapture Comes, Can I Have Your Car?

[hatrack]

36. I don't know about y'all . . .

But eventually there comes a point when you stop waiting for your Extra Special Guest of Honor to show up on Saturday night for dinner. Maybe it's 8:00, maybe it's 10:00 - who knows?

But in this case, it's not JUST keeping the porch light on for 2,000 years - it's doing so in the expectation that you'll be vacuumed out of your clothes by the Holy Hoover when the Great Day arrives, which pretty much piles absurdity onto stupidity.

But hey, if there are news networks dedicated to making you feel good about ignoring reality, why shouldn't there be churches providing the same kinds of services?