Thank you. Have you ever felt your faith challenged by the “delayed parousia”? It’s something I struggle with. It seems like the first Christians were somehow mislead. This came to mind to me today because of the daily reading at my Catholic Church- 1 Cor 7:29-31 … where Paul is advising people to sort of drop everything and accept that the end is now. I would love to hear how others have dealt with this issue. It’s amazing to me that the faith didn’t fizzle out after the first generation because of the confusion and failed expectations …
I doubt that the delayed expectations were as problematic for early Christians as we sometimes imagine. I dealt with this cursorily in my series on the Gospels, especially in one of the posts on John. Undoubtedly, there was some disquiet about it (see 2 Peter 3:8-10), but the fact that the faith didn't die out but increased tells us that early Christians adapted with minimal difficulty. Part of this is due to the fact that Christians also understood the Resurrection as an eschatological event. The seeds were already sown for "realized eschatology," in other words. Remember, Jesus himself is quoted as saying that he didn't know when the end would come. So, to answer your first question, I have no problem concerning the issue. We're exhorted merely to be prepared spiritually for the end, whether our own personally or the parousia.
Thank you. Have you ever felt your faith challenged by the “delayed parousia”? It’s something I struggle with. It seems like the first Christians were somehow mislead. This came to mind to me today because of the daily reading at my Catholic Church- 1 Cor 7:29-31 … where Paul is advising people to sort of drop everything and accept that the end is now. I would love to hear how others have dealt with this issue. It’s amazing to me that the faith didn’t fizzle out after the first generation because of the confusion and failed expectations …
I doubt that the delayed expectations were as problematic for early Christians as we sometimes imagine. I dealt with this cursorily in my series on the Gospels, especially in one of the posts on John. Undoubtedly, there was some disquiet about it (see 2 Peter 3:8-10), but the fact that the faith didn't die out but increased tells us that early Christians adapted with minimal difficulty. Part of this is due to the fact that Christians also understood the Resurrection as an eschatological event. The seeds were already sown for "realized eschatology," in other words. Remember, Jesus himself is quoted as saying that he didn't know when the end would come. So, to answer your first question, I have no problem concerning the issue. We're exhorted merely to be prepared spiritually for the end, whether our own personally or the parousia.
Looking forward to this! Thanks for sharing.
thanks ill have to check the out