The End of Time

[Dimmesdale]

How do you envision the End of Time? This doesn't have to be limited to the Christian religion, though I would like the input of Christians.

Personally, I find it illogical to believe that King Jesus will simply appear in the clouds and judge everyone and inaugurate his great eternal kingdom, the "new heavens and new earth." This to me smacks of a gross form of utopianism, as it were setting everything in a perfect political context like we have here only eliminating and hence "weeding out" all the inconsistent elements in a "new order."

On the other hand, the infinitely more pessimistic stance that the sun will simply explode and engulf our earth and the entire universe will die off due to the inevitable energetic decay of the universe, also strikes me as "off" in the extreme.

How is the "end" envisaged by you, personally?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 10 by 7homas]

Okay well I think that is nonsense and certainly nothing that the bible presents or implies.

Scriptures speak of God destroying the wicked not destroying EVERYTHING and everyone which he would need to do to destroy "time".


JW

[Dimmesdale]

[Replying to post 10 by 7homas]

Okay well I think that is nonsense and certainly nothing that the bible presents or implies.

Scriptures speak of God destroying the wicked not destroying EVERYTHING and everyone which he would need to do to destroy "time".

JW

Interesting. May I ask, why would God need to destroy everything to destroy or end time?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 10 by 7homas]

Okay well I think that is nonsense and certainly nothing that the bible presents or implies.

Scriptures speak of God destroying the wicked not destroying EVERYTHING and everyone which he would need to do to destroy "time".

JW

Interesting. May I ask, why would God need to destroy everything to destroy or end time?

Because whether we define time as the distance between consecutive points in existance or a unit of measure between consecutive events, time essentially requires existance for the concept to have any meaning.


JW



Further reading
https://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2 ... d-end-time

[2timothy316]

From what I have gleaned from the Bible, the end of this world as we know it will be a progressive unraveling of man-made systems, both governments and religions. This part will be the Great Tribulation.

That this will eventually grow to happen is my assessment as well, sadly.

This will be the time where what is in a person's heart will be exposed. Everyone will show what type of person they are because according to the Bible it's not called the 'Great' Tribulation for nothing. What actions a person takes in that time period will reveal their true nature.

Why should it be only at this time that such a thing begins? People reveal their true selves all the time. What makes this age so transparent?

The Great Tribulation is a global ordeal. Think the aftermath of the American Great Depression only on a global scale. What people do when in a crisis is what will reveal a person. The Bible says of the Great Tribulation that if it was not stopped by God then no human would survive. That's how severe it will be. Think of yourself. If there were no food in your area. What would you do to get food? If your whole neighborhood was without food, would you all come together to help each other? Or would you all turn on each other? If you'd like see a glimpse of what might happen look up information on hurricane Katrina. There were some that came together to helped their neighbor but there were some that turned to violence on their neighbor.

The word 'tribulation' is defined as 'a cause of great trouble or suffering'. This suffering will be world wide and this is how people's true nature will be exposed.

At the end of that Great Tribulation, things will come to a point where the wicked will seek to kill off all of the righteous. When that is attempted is when Armageddon begins.

Again, how or why does it "come to a point" like this? Why should it be any different from the rest of human history, which ebbs and flows? I do believe governments, all governments, eventually crumble, but how would this settled attitude of the wicked to kill the righteous come to pass? Most wicked people are out for themselves and are not so much interested in the affairs of Christians. But there are some, I'll grant you, definitely.

Matthew 24:21 says of the Great Tribulation it's something that "has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again." The GT will be like nothing the world has ever seen.

Jesus at the direction of his Father Jehovah will stop the slaughter before it begins. The Bible describes those under attack as peaceful and will have no way to defend themselves. Yet these have put their salvation in the only true God. So really they are not defenseless.

It certainly will be something to see how it all plays out but as JW said, exactly how, the Bible is silent. We are only told to keep on watch and when the righteous see their enemies coming for them, they are to look up, rejoice, stand in place and let their God fight for them. By the end of the Great Tribulation all people will have chosen their side. The Bible says that 'men must know' and 'Will know' who God is and they will either be for Him or against Him.

Well, I am certainly interested in how the End Times will play out, though I am not a Christian.

Biblically speaking, it will not matter if a person is a Christian or not. All will feel the effects of the GT. The Bible only gives us the starting gun, so to speak of the GT. That is found in 1 Thess 5:3. When all world leaders are in unison saying that there is 'peace and security'. So keep an eye out for that.

[Dimmesdale]

[Replying to post 10 by 7homas]

Okay well I think that is nonsense and certainly nothing that the bible presents or implies.

Scriptures speak of God destroying the wicked not destroying EVERYTHING and everyone which he would need to do to destroy "time".

JW

Interesting. May I ask, why would God need to destroy everything to destroy or end time?

Because whether we define time as the distance between consecutive points in existance or a unit of measure between consecutive events, time essentially requires existance for the concept to have any meaning.


JW

I'll grant you time requires the universe for it to have meaning. But does the universe require time to exist? I would say it is possible that the temporal sphere may be transposed into the atemporal, or eternal, way of being.

[2timothy316]

I'll grant you time requires the universe for it to have meaning. But does the universe require time to exist? I would say it is possible that the temporal sphere may be transposed into the atemporal, or eternal, way of being.

Are you familiar with the term space-time?
https://www.britannica.com/science/space-time

According to the space time physics, yes the universe needs time to exist. Space and time are one in the same. They can't exist independently.

[Dimmesdale]

I'll grant you time requires the universe for it to have meaning. But does the universe require time to exist? I would say it is possible that the temporal sphere may be transposed into the atemporal, or eternal, way of being.

Are you familiar with the term space-time?
https://www.britannica.com/science/space-time

According to the space time physics, yes the universe needs time to exist. Space and time are one in the same. They can't exist independently.

Of course, if we regard time as the "dimension" along which things exist, such as pearls on a string, then time does seem to be inseparable from the world. The question is, will time exist in the sense of moving from moment to moment piecemeal or will it eventually cease to exist in that it will be replaced by a "simultaneous" "happening" in which all moments occur at once?

[2timothy316]

I'll grant you time requires the universe for it to have meaning. But does the universe require time to exist? I would say it is possible that the temporal sphere may be transposed into the atemporal, or eternal, way of being.

Are you familiar with the term space-time?
https://www.britannica.com/science/space-time

According to the space time physics, yes the universe needs time to exist. Space and time are one in the same. They can't exist independently.

Of course, if we regard time as the "dimension" along which things exist, such as pearls on a string, then time does seem to be inseparable from the world. The question is, will time exist in the sense of moving from moment to moment piecemeal or will it eventually cease to exist in that it will be replaced by a "simultaneous" "happening" in which all moments occur at once?

Reminds me of a Dr Who episode called the the Wedding of River Song.

[Dimmesdale]

[Replying to 2timothy316]

The idea of time moving "simultaneously" is also prevalent in near-death experiences. I think the notion should be taken seriously and not confined to science fiction.

[JehovahsWitness]

the infinitely more pessimistic stance that the sun will simply explode and engulf our earth and the entire universe will die off

The bible does not indicates God will destroy the entire physical universe; God is repeatedly spoken of as one that preserves (not deliberately kills) his loyal servants. Total destruction of this his planet earth, all the animals, even the stars and the planets (that have done nothing wrong) would be an act of total defeat on God's part, something that biblically speaking, cannot be.

JEHOVAHS WITNESS