Danmark wrote:
I've explained this to you twice. I'll try again.
I wrote:
"we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17) contradicts not only the notion that we do not know the time [Matthew 24:36], but contradicts the idea that 2000 years should pass before the 2d coming, since Paul claimed it would happen while he was still alive ['We who are still alive.']
Jesus supposedly said you cannot tell the time, yet Paul clearly says the 2d coming will be when he is still alive: "we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds...."
That is a contradiction. Some Christian scholars claim Paul was merely making a hypothetical. But your response is simply to deny a contradiction, and you did so without analysis. You plead for explanations, then when you receive them you pretend the explanation does not exist or you claim you are being condescended to.
Respond to the contradiction without personal remarks or withdraw your claim.
Finally!
The WE WHO ARE STILL ALIVE Paul uses in 1 Thess 4:15-17 refers to the entire Body Of Christ or the Church, not just him or his followers. I am part of the WE that Paul refers to here. He wasn't talking personally, he was speaking collectively. There will obviously be many members of the Body of Christ who are alive when Christ returns. The problem with "cherry picking" verses, which is what you have done here, is that the Bible interprets itself with ALL it has to say about ANY subject. Paul had a sense of immanency just as John did when he wrote Revelation, as well as many other writers of the NT.
Of course your complaint is NOT new. People of Paul's time were doing the same thing. They were complaining about when Jesus would return and losing hope or faith. Peter addressed this issue in 2 Peter 3:8-9, where he wrote;
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Paul wasn't saying WHEN Jesus would return, just that He would. He also wrote in 1 Cor 15:50-58 about this subject and depicts the second coming of Jesus particularly in v51-52;
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Knowing that God WILL do something is not the same as knowing when, and Jesus made it very clear that ONLY the Father knows when, despite what ANY may say or feel.
Paul knew he would be martyred, as he wrote in Phil 1:20-21;
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
So your understanding of scripture and your false perception of contradictions therein has been refuted.
As far as personal remarks are concerned, you made the first volley in post 34, and it wasn't even directed at you, unless you consider yourself a Christian? I suggest you keep your condescending remarks to yourself in future and NOT try to incite people then report them to the moderators.
I won't be addressing anymore of your posts. YOU have been properly instructed.
