My biggest concern about eschatology

[DRDS]

Hey guys, this has to mainly do with this old thread that I do not too long ago.

http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... 22&t=38022

But I"m not even going to mention preterism, futurism and so on. I'm just going to cut to the heart of my concern. And it goes like this. Pretty much all my life and I'm hearing more of it now than ever for obvious reasons and I've heard it mostly I guess from atheist scientists who look at everything form a materialist perspective.

And that is that when they are asked about how the world or at least how humanity will die out whether it be a few years from now or millions or even billions of years from now they say things like "well we might all die out due to some kind of climate catastrophe like the sun exploding and frying all of us.

Or we might die out due to the lack of food and water due to drought.

Or we might all die from a meteor, comet, or some other kind of impact with space matter. Or we might die out due to a world wide plague like disease.

Now let's say for instance one of those scenarios really DOES happen. And it not only happens but it happens without biblical end time events like the resurrection of the dead, the rapture, the second coming of Christ, the arrival of the antichrist, the establishment of the one world government, the establishment of the mark of the beast, the battle of Armageddon and all the other events that haven't happened yet in the book of Revelations and in Daniel.

Now if such a scenario I just described were to happen, would it A: completely disprove Christianity (I mean would this be as bad as disproving the resurrection of Christ?) would it be B: not disprove Christianity but would put it on very shaky ground since it would completely disprove the parts of the Bible dealing with end times events, or would it be C: It would not disprove it nor would it even greatly harm Christianity or the reputation of the Bible as a trustworthy source.

Now if you say option C would be the way to go I urge you to please let me know what you think this.

This has been something that has been on my mind much more now since we could very easily get wiped off the earth due to any of these things maybe even within our own lifetimes. And It urges me to cross examine my beliefs and to make sure that what I believe has the evidence on my side or not.

So basically that's what is on my mind that's bothering me more about eschatology than anything else at the moment.

Please let me know what you all think about this issue. Thanks and GB.

[Furstentum Liechtenstein]

Now if such a scenario I just described were to happen, would it A: completely disprove Christianity (I mean would this be as bad as disproving the resurrection of Christ?) would it be B: not disprove Christianity but would put it on very shaky ground since it would completely disprove the parts of the Bible dealing with end times events, or would it be C: It would not disprove it nor would it even greatly harm Christianity or the reputation of the Bible as a trustworthy source.

Ain't gonna happen. Most of Daniel's prophecies have already come to pass. They were all prophetic to Daniel and his contemporaries; to us, they are history - fulfilled prophecy - with a bit of unfinished business still to come.

FL

[DRDS]

Oh ok, well that's a very good thing then. But still,for me it's the "business still to come" thing I'm somewhat worried about. I mean again, what happens if all these things do NOT go the way that we want them to go or think they will go. I'm not saying they will not, in fact, much evidence right now points to the fact that they will indeed go the way that you, I, and most believers think they will go, I'm just trying to cover all possible bases. I'm just trying to keep us from being in that uncomfortable place that to where we start to have major doubts about what we believe just because something or some things do not go the way we and most others were raised to believe that they would go. That's all I'm concerned about regarding eschatology.

[Furstentum Liechtenstein]

That's all I'm concerned about regarding eschatology.

Daniel's prophetic record is so rock-solid and on the nose that you are concerned for nothing. Jesus even testified to Daniel's accuracy in Matthew 24:15. What more do you want?

FL

[DRDS]

Well for instance, if next year if the earth were to be hit by a asteroid or a comet (scientists say we are going to have a close call from both of them next year) which if that's all it is, it's even more proof of us being in the end times because of the "signs in the heavens" prophecy, but what if one of them were to strike the earth and wipe everyone off the map before the 7 year tribulation, the arrival of the antichrist, battle of Armageddon, etc happened? Then what? That's all I'm asking about.

[digging]

Well......that could mean that what your creeds were expecting were in error.

Digging

[DRDS]

Why yes indeed it would disprove the popular forms of "futurism" that are held by most Christians but would it disprove ALL of Christianity? I personally don't think it would since to me again, Christianity is proved/disproven by whether or not Christ was raised from the dead.

But if the end times don't fall perfectly in line with what is in the Bible would that call into question the Bible's trusthworthiness? To give a good line from many young earth creationists I have encountered, if one part of the Bible is shown to be false, then what about the rest? Would it indeed start a "slippery slope" issue?

That's the thing that makes me nervous when I think about this.