When someone preaches a date for the end of the world with biblical references.......?

Question

.....and that date passes (again) without incident, are we justified in calling that person a liar, and everyone who believed that person deluded and the applicable religion flawed?

And how many more times do we have to listen to and read such obvious rubbish before they lose any credibility they might have had?

Answer 1

They're not a liar, they're just an idiot.

And I think twice ought to be the limit. We've had a couple hundred failed apocalypses since Christianity began.

Answer 2

No need to call them liars as they apparently do believe what they are preaching.
We can however call them deluded and gullible for believing it.
Opinions are like a-holes, everyone has one. I've lost count of how many "prophets" have predicted end of the world scenarios in the last few thousand years. It has been many thousands and of course all of them have been wrong.
Nostradamus you say? Not bloody likely, if he really would have known when things were going to happen like 9-11, then why was nothing done to prevent that foretold tragedy?
These predictions are always very general and easier to decipher afterwards as hindsight is 20/20.
The trouble with predicting the end of everything is that if you are wrong and everything doesn't end, then everything is still there every day to remind everyone that you were wrong.

Answer 3

Yep, they talk pure sh*t but the thing that gets me is there really can't be an end to the world can there? It's not going to drop out of orbit or anything. They usually just mean the end of humans living on earth. It's so big headed to think the world will end. It was here such a long time before us and it will be here a long time after we're all gone.

Answer 4

The main problem is in their understanding. Take for example Jesus preaching that the end would come before the passing of the next generation. Most people see the word end and asume it refers to the earth. The earth never ended but the life of most of the families he was speaking to did. You see he was not talking to the world, but was in fact only talking to the people in the region of Jeruselem. History proved him right as in 60 AD the romans laid waste to the entire area.
The book of Daniel places his prophacy to being fulfilled 2010 but it again does not speak of the whole world, but only a part of the middle east.
My conclusion is that we shouldn`t call these people liars, we should be a little kinder and call them mentally challenged.

Answer 5

The Bible shows no one really knows the exact time for the destruction of this wicked system, not even Jesus would know he said himself. What people can point to is dates of importance. How important, we will almost never know until much later. Pearl Harbor, all Americans knew as it happened. 9/11 again. Other dates need time to see the importance.

Also, the good hearts of such people interfere. They can't believe humans could get any worse to themselves. They are wrong.

We do know by the signs in the Bible we are living in these last days of this system. It will get much worse before it gets better. The problem is it takes time to learn what God requires of us and to implement it. At the last, this time will be closed off. Waiting till the last minute is a definite bad idea. Knowing the truth yet not being able to do anything about coming in is terrible way to go. Like those in Noah's time, with rain drops on their heads, pounding on the ark doors, but God had already sealed them. They had 120 years. "I hear you knocking but you can't come in." comes to mind.

Answer 6

The Day and Hour Unknown

42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.


1 Thessalonians 5:2 TNIV Chapter
for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.


So nobody really can predict.

Answer 7

Hey!

Jesus said that "this generation" would not pass away before all the things he promised happened. It's been about 2000 years now and that generation is long gone.

I guess Jesus was a false prophet who put time limits on events too.

Answer 8

Anytime someone puts a date on the end of the world, just ignore them. The Bible clearly states that no one knows the hour. It also clearly states that there would be many false prophets.

Answer 9

Brilliant question and one I asked before and some of the answers I got was this. A prophet was allowed to make mistakes as he/she was only human. That sent me into fits of laughter, and they truly believed that even if the prophet make five or six mistakes it is ok because they are only human.

Answer 10

Just let them be, those people I personally think are lost. No one can predict the future its just impossible, when the end of the world comes each and every one will know with out somebady telling them.