Probably not, if I had to guess. It probably grew out of the revenge fantasies of persecuted early period Christians. Christ had redeemed everyone but had not wiped evil from the world, so there was still one last, and ultimate reckoning. It's also worth noting that there are echoes of a latent belief of an ultimate end as far back as the tale of Noah, when God makes a covenant with Noah and his sons that he will never again destroy the world with water. That with water clause seems really strange, unless he was keeping his options open.
But many scholars believe the Revelation According to John was a coded story about the fall of Rome, which was, at the time "the world". It seems reasonable to believe that the entire apocalypse is really a story of final justice against the oppressors.
That said, you do have an important point about the whole thing-- the return cannot be anticipated, so trying to spot the signs is futile. There was an amazing series of lectures about this on EWTN (the Catholic cable network). I think, however, that it's not so much that trying to predict it will keep Christ from returning. Instead, it is scriptural error to try and do it. It's not quite sin...kinda a procedural foul, if you get my drift...but it's still improper.
That said, you should check out dispensationalism, because I believe much of our religious doom watching derives from that.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-02-29 09:57 pm (UTC)But many scholars believe the Revelation According to John was a coded story about the fall of Rome, which was, at the time "the world". It seems reasonable to believe that the entire apocalypse is really a story of final justice against the oppressors.
That said, you do have an important point about the whole thing-- the return cannot be anticipated, so trying to spot the signs is futile. There was an amazing series of lectures about this on EWTN (the Catholic cable network). I think, however, that it's not so much that trying to predict it will keep Christ from returning. Instead, it is scriptural error to try and do it. It's not quite sin...kinda a procedural foul, if you get my drift...but it's still improper.
That said, you should check out dispensationalism, because I believe much of our religious doom watching derives from that.