Hey there Timmy,
I'm glad you brought that up. The fact that John the Baptist was the "Elijah to come" is central to the NT declaration that Jesus was Messiah. There is no predicted "second coming of Elijah." That's all made up by Futurists and it has absolutely no foundation in Scripture whatsoever.
You didn't miss the "second coming." You missed the "coming of the son of man in power" when he judged Jerusalem just like he said he would. There is no prediction of a "second coming" in the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24, Mark 13, Luke 21).
As for a "second coming" - there are some Scriptures that seem not to have been fulilled when Christ came in judgment. So either Jesus and the apostles were wrong, or we are misunderstanding something. Preterists assume the latter. Futurists are forced to assert (bny implication) the former because the must deny many Scritpures and invent doctrines that are not found in Scripture (like the imaginary magical stretchy 2000+ year gap in Daniel 9:26-27, the re-built Temple that will be re-desolated by the re-vived Roman empire, etc.).
Who could disagree with that?
But then again, the fact that no one has a "corner on the truth" does not mean that no one is right and no one is wrong.
If that is true, then the prophecy tells us nothing because they asked "when would these things happen."
Man, I know all about that eraser! Mine was a mile long, and now it's worn down to a nub. I just erased huge chunks of things I held as true for the last two decades. You can read about it in my two threads
Why I Quit Christianity and
An Evolutionary Explanation of the Bible Wheel.
Those were always favorite passages of mine.
But if you cannot trust your reasoning, why do you trust the reasoning the led to that conclusion?
People have falsely reasoned that it was the "end times" during every generation for the last two thousand years. Why do you think you finally got it right? Please remember that any answer you give could also have been given anytime during the last 63 since the foundation of the modern secular state of Israel.
The Bible says the "end times" happened in the first century. It repeats this fact over and over and over again. John said it is - in the first century - the last hour. Hebrews says Christ spoke "in these last days" and that he was crucified "in the end of the age." Paul said the "ends of the ages" had come upon first century Christians, and Jesus said that the destruction of the Temple (which happened in 70 AD) would mark the end of the age.
The raving lunatic Harold Camping used Daniel to "prove" that new knowledge about the Bible would be given in the "end times" and he claimed to be the one who got that knowledge which is how he "knew" that the rapture would happen on May 21, 2011 to be followed by the annihilation of the entire universe on October 21, 2011. He said that the only way he could be wrong was if the Bible was wrong. Christians gave him 80 million dollars in the short span from 2005 - 2009. What are we supposed to believe - the hundreds of thousands of people who followed his false teachings were not "really" Christians? Or that they were Christians but the Holy Spirit somehow failed to inform them of the truth?
I think you are stretching the meaning of "many" way past its intended meaning. "Many" meant "more than a few" not a calculation based on the population of the globe 2000 years aft the prophecy! Christ explicitly spoke of the first century as "this generation" and locked it all down by specifying the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.
Where are you getting those ideas? The Bible makes no distinction between a "title" and a "name" and neither does the dictionary. The first definition of "title" is "name" - in many contexts they are synonyms.
ti·tle (t
t
l)n.
1. An identifying name given to a book, play, film, musical composition, or other work.
2. A general or descriptive heading, as of a book chapter.
3. a. Written material to be read by viewers that is included in a film or television show, typically presenting credits, narration, or dialogue. Often used in the plural.
b. A written piece of translated dialogue superimposed at the bottom of the frame during a film; a subtitle.
4. Law A heading that names a document, statute, or proceeding.
5. A division of a law book, declaration, or bill, generally larger than a section or article.
6. A written work that is published or about to be published: the titles in a press's fall catalog.
7. Law a. The coincidence of all the elements that constitute the fullest legal right to control and dispose of property or a claim.
b. The aggregate evidence that gives rise to a legal right of possession or control.
c. The instrument, such as a deed, that constitutes this evidence.
8. a. Something that provides a basis for or justifies a claim.
b. A legitimate or alleged right. See Synonyms at
claim.
9. A formal appellation attached to the name of a person or family by virtue of office, rank, hereditary privilege, noble birth, or attainment or used as a mark of respect.
10. A descriptive name; an epithet.
11. Sports A championship.
12. Ecclesiastical a. A source of income or area of work required of a candidate for ordination in the Church of England.
b. A Roman Catholic church in or near Rome having a cardinal for its nominal head.
Now I am guessing that you are trying to build off of definition #9 - that's OK, I guess, but to build a doctrine off that, and to quibble about the difference between a "title" vs. a "name" when the Bible makes no such distinction? That seems very foolish to me. The Bible has enough confusion, why add to it?
Where did you get the "Yeshua ben Yusef? I've heard others call him Yeshua ben Miriam, since Joseph was not his real father.
And why do you say we should not call him "Jesus Christ?" That's what the Bible calls him over and over and over again. Why are you making up these strange unbiblical doctrines?
Of course no person would say that. You missed my point. It would be extremely foolish for a fake Obama who is coming in the name "Obama" to then say "I'm coming in the name of Obama" when he is in fact pretending to BE Obama! That's why Jesus never said that the false Christs would be saying "I am coming in the name of Christ." He said that they actually would be coming in his name - that is, pretending to be him - by saying "I am the Christ."
Man! So much confusion over every word of the Bible! What good is that book? God obviously cannot be the author of such confusion.
You'll need to explain what you mean. How is it not "in compete syntax with what surrounds it?"
The "Greek rendition" of the NT?
Man, we've gotta talk that one through. Do you really believe that Paul wrote his letters in Hebrew?
If the entire NT was originally written in Hebrew (or Aramaic) then why has God failed to preserve any record of it? And if God failed to preserve it, what good is it? And why do you believe the "Greek rendition of the N. T. Bible" at all?
Understood. It takes a lot of time two write these posts.
I look forward to your response. You are presenting many interesting and curious ideas and interpretations.
All the best,
Richard
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