Monday, March 5, 2012

Mark 13

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple


One of the disciples pointed out that the temple is great and Jesus said it will be completely destroyed.

Signs of the Close of the Age


A few disciples ask Jesus when the destruction will come to pass. He says many will pretend to be him to lead people astray, there will be earthquakes and wars and famines. People will try to get you to turn on each other, don't do it. You will be hated for my namesake.

A lot of doom and gloom here.


The Abomination of Desolation


When the abonimation of desolation comes, do not be fooled. When he arrives he will cause much hardship. There will be many false christs and false prophets, don't follow them. They will perform many signs and wonders to lead people astray, don't listen to them.

I'm not totally sure what the Abomination of Desolation is supposed to be. It sounds like it is a guy, maybe the antichrist or something? Seems that he brings bad times along with him. Are we fulfilling a prophecy here or something? I'm a bit confused.


I do wonder though, if false christs and prophets are there to lead people astray, and they do the same things as Jesus, how are we supposed to tell the difference? If I follow a fake christ who performs the same miracles as the real christ and says a lot of the same things, it doesn't seem fair that I go to hell.

The Coming of the Son of Man


After that tribulation, the sun will darken, the moon will not give light, and the stars will fall from heaven. The son of man will come down on a cloud with angels to gather his followers.

Sounds epic


The Lesson of the Fig Tree


When the fig tree puts on its leaves you know summer is near. In the same way, when you see this stuff you know that he is near. "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place."

In Mark 8, I was talking about how some of Jesus' words might fall flat after 2000 years and it was pointed out to me that I may have been misunderstanding some things. This time I feel like that is not the case. Jesus said that before that generation dies some pretty incredible stuff would happen that clearly did not happen.


"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away"

This is confusing to me as well, if heaven and earth pass away, what place is left for his word to not pass away in? I feel like I am understanding things and then I read this and I just feel like I am missing something really important.


No One Knows That Day or Hour


No one knows when this will all happen, stay alert for it always.

2 comments:

  1. In verse 24, I wonder what the original really says. In my copy it reads “...The sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.” I think we both know that the moon doesn’t give light, but rather reflects it. I can see how one could get around this by saying that since the sun is darkened, the moon won't be bright.

    For a while, I was avoiding pointing out contradictions in stuff we haven't read yet, but I started to think that it might be good reference for someone stumbling across this blog.

    Verse 26 says, “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ” In John 14:19 “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ” It sounds like a contradiction, but I could be wrong. Does this mean that only his followers will see him and he'll be invisible to everyone else?

    An interesting look at how the different things the bible says about the end of the world. In these verses, it sounds like the world will last forever: (I threw the verses together for easy reference)
    http://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/passage.aspx?q=deuteronomy+4:40;psalm+37:29;psalm+78:69;psalm+104:5;ecclesiastes+1:4

    These verses seem to say differently (like verse 31): http://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/passage.aspx?q=psalm+102:25-26;isaiah+65:17;matthew+5:18;matthew+24:35;mark+13:31;luke+21:33;hebrews+1:10-11;2+peter+3:10;2+peter+3:13;revelation+21:1

    The part about not knowing the day or hour seems to be what my parents told me about. I can't remember the context, but I remember a sitcom or movie or something where a mother/grandmother makes a reference to a boy about masturbation saying something like “Is that how you want to be found when Jesus comes back?”

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  2. I have no problem with the sun and moon thing. Suppose you are god trying to explain to primitive people that the sun will go dark and the moon will not reflect it's light. Seems like being technically correct is less important and just saying the moon also doesn't give it's light works just as well. The far more damning thing to me is verse 30 where he says this stuff would happen soon. It clearly did not.

    That biblestudytools site you linked to is pretty cool. You posted some good examples of contradictions in the bible. I like that it is not just one verse, but there are a number spread out through the bible saying each of the contradictory things. Seems like it would be hard to refute to me.

    As for the "no one will know the day or hour". I remember when I was growing there was a sermon to not worry about any end of days predictions because of this verse. In fact, I remember the preacher saying that the day that is predicted is one day that we can be certain it won't happen. I say a lot of negative things about my church on this blog, but I have to give them credit here. They did tell everyone not to buy into that garbage.

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