Amber’s Question: Do you feel Christians are losing faith that Jesus will come again?
Kermit’s Answer: Yes and no. First, the yes. It has been nearly 2,000 years since Jesus lived, died, resurrected, and ascended to heaven. Many Christian scholars have interpreted several statements in the New Testament to mean that Jesus, his disciples, or both, believed that the risen and ascended Jesus would literally return from heaven to earth in the near future. I think these scholars have been mistaken about this concerning especially what Jesus believed, that he did not teach that he would return soon. But the many failed predictions by Christians of Jesus’ return in some particular year, or their belief that he would return soon, has caused Christian mainline denominations to be so ultra-cautious about this subject as to give the impression that they do not believe that Jesus will ever return.
Now, the no. The growth of Christianity in the past half century is attributed almost entirely to two movements: Evangelicals and Pentecostals/Charismatics. These people are almost entirely not in the mainstream church denominations. And these are the Christians who believe very strongly in the literal, bodily return of Jesus to the earth in great glory sometime in the future. It is a major element in their doctrine. Most people in these movements have believed, as many other Christians before them, that Jesus would return very soon, certainly no more than a generation from the time in which they were living. I think they have been quite mistaken about this, and this assertion brings ill-repute on the teaching of Jesus’ return. The Third Day Bible Code seeks to correct this error.
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