Question about The 2nd Coming

[Tex]

I was reading the early chapters of 3 Nephi last week, and then last night I caught part of a Star Trek episode where a promised Klingon messiah returns, only to have it be discovered that he is a clone created from DNA by a few Klingon priests. His "return" and subsequent fraud creates a crises of faith for some of the Klingon faithful. At the end, the messiah character says, "As long as we follow his (the real messiah's) teachings, what does it matter if he returns?"

It got me to thinking (insert Trekkie joke here) to ask y'all a couple of honest questions. No really, I'm genuinely curious.

1. Do you believe in a literal Second Coming of Christ?

2a. If you believe in it, but not a literal coming, how do you picture it taking place? And on what do you base this interpretation?

2b. If you do believe in a literal coming, now that we're nearly 180 years past the Restoration, how much time would have to pass before your faith would falter?

Be as vague or specific as you like. I'm curious to see what you think.

[BYU71]

Originally Posted by Tex

I was reading the early chapters of 3 Nephi last week, and then last night I caught part of a Star Trek episode where a promised Klingon messiah returns, only to have it be discovered that he is a clone created from DNA by a few Klingon priests. His "return" and subsequent fraud creates a crises of faith for some of the Klingon faithful.

It got me to thinking (insert Trekkie joke here) to ask y'all a couple of honest questions. No really, I'm genuinely curious.

1. Do you believe in a literal Second Coming of Christ?

2a. If you believe in it, but not a literal coming, how do you picture it taking place? And on what do you base this interpretation?

2b. If you do believe in a literal coming, now that we're nearly 180 years past the Restoration, how much time would have to pass before your faith would falter?

Be as vague or specific as you like. I'm curious to see what you think.

I am not trying to be glib here, but I don't think about it nor do I want to. I think he is coming, but beyond that I don't care how or when.

[il Padrino Ute]

I believe in a literal 2nd Coming.

I'll accept what I've always heard: That only God the Father knows when it will be.

I'm not too concerned with when it happens, because I've got enough of my own issues to deal with before it happens.

[jay santos]

Originally Posted by Tex

I was reading the early chapters of 3 Nephi last week, and then last night I caught part of a Star Trek episode where a promised Klingon messiah returns, only to have it be discovered that he is a clone created from DNA by a few Klingon priests. His "return" and subsequent fraud creates a crises of faith for some of the Klingon faithful. At the end, the messiah character says, "As long as we follow his (the real messiah's) teachings, what does it matter if he returns?"

It got me to thinking (insert Trekkie joke here) to ask y'all a couple of honest questions. No really, I'm genuinely curious.

1. Do you believe in a literal Second Coming of Christ?

2a. If you believe in it, but not a literal coming, how do you picture it taking place? And on what do you base this interpretation?

2b. If you do believe in a literal coming, now that we're nearly 180 years past the Restoration, how much time would have to pass before your faith would falter?

Be as vague or specific as you like. I'm curious to see what you think.

1. literal, I'd be curious to know how someone could reconcile LDS/christian doctrine any other way.

2b. I'm not expecting it in my lifetime, so obviously there is no faith crisis for me on the timing of 2nd coming.

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by Tex

I was reading the early chapters of 3 Nephi last week, and then last night I caught part of a Star Trek episode where a promised Klingon messiah returns, only to have it be discovered that he is a clone created from DNA by a few Klingon priests. His "return" and subsequent fraud creates a crises of faith for some of the Klingon faithful. At the end, the messiah character says, "As long as we follow his (the real messiah's) teachings, what does it matter if he returns?"

It got me to thinking (insert Trekkie joke here) to ask y'all a couple of honest questions. No really, I'm genuinely curious.

1. Do you believe in a literal Second Coming of Christ?

2a. If you believe in it, but not a literal coming, how do you picture it taking place? And on what do you base this interpretation?

2b. If you do believe in a literal coming, now that we're nearly 180 years past the Restoration, how much time would have to pass before your faith would falter?

Be as vague or specific as you like. I'm curious to see what you think.

I believe BYU hoops must go to a final 4 before "He comes again and herald angels sing..." So methinks we got some time.

I believe in a literal 2nd Coming.

I also believe Boobs are in!

[Indy Coug]

I believe his future physical return literal. I don't know when and don't necessarily expect it to be when I'm still alive.

I'm of the mind that time isn't quite as constant (i.e. 1 day = 1,000 years, Adam = 4000 BC thus 6 days = AD 2000) as some might think and that Adam may well predate 4000 BC and Noah predates 2200 BC or whatever it is.

Of course, I guess that's for another future thread.

[SteelBlue]

I believe it's literal. I also would like it to be well beyond my lifetime. I just want to live out my days and spend my 401K.

[Solon]

Originally Posted by Tex

1. Do you believe in a literal Second Coming of Christ?

2a. If you believe in it, but not a literal coming, how do you picture it taking place? And on what do you base this interpretation?

2b. If you do believe in a literal coming, now that we're nearly 180 years past the Restoration, how much time would have to pass before your faith would falter?

1. No.
2. I think western religion is a cycle of "restoration" and "apostasy" periods. There's always a group that claims to be reverting "back" to original truth. Moses reinforced the covenant after exile; Josiah read the scroll; the Greek mystery religions offered a ticket to a happy afterlife with time-tested rituals. Augustus restored the Pax Deorum; John the Baptist and the Essenes sought solitary meditative truth; Jesus claimed to both fulfill the law and to expand it - while righting the sinking ship . . . etc.

Everyone thinks that they're "the ones" to witness the culmination of human existence. The prophecies of Isaiah are not about the "Latter days" as the LDS headings indicate. They're about Isaiah's time - but they've been re-applied both to the time of Christ and to the present (latter) day to describe the coming of a Messiah. Nobody is comfortable with their own version of the religion going apostate, but they're fired up to be part of the purifying, back-to-the-basics process. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes said it best: there's nothing new under the sun.

I anticipate continued "apostasy - restoration" cycles for thousands of years to come. (sort of like the Matrix III)

[UtahDan]

I also believe in a literal second coming. I don't think any passage of time (though obviously I will live only so long) would effect that. The fact is that the disciples of Christ were expecting a second coming very soon, Christians living around 1000 AD were expecting the second coming, the early LDS seemed to believe that an apocalypse was imminent. They all turned out to be wrong. I don't feel as though anyone has promised me it would be soon. If they did, I didn't believe it.

[Indy Coug]

In fact, I've gotten the distinct impression that President Hinckley has tried to downplay the notion that it's going to happen anytime soon.