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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
The gospel of Matthew was mistaken to claim
that Jesus would return in just a few years
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Preview and Summary: The gospel of Matthew is considered to be part of the "infallible" Bible. But absolute inerrancy must be severely discounted when the book assures us that Jesus will return in just a few years.
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Matt. 24: 33, 34: "When you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door... this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place." (New Living Translation)
This verse clearly states that the apostles - those listening to the words as they were delivered - would be alive to witness all of the predicted drama preceding the return of Jesus. But it didn't happen!
Churchmen, for nearly two thousand years, have attempted to make sense of this obvious inexactitude - sometimes, in "pathological harmonizing," to the point of buffoonery. It was once claimed that the apostle John, hundreds of years after the fact, was still alive, in hiding, and therefore the words of Jesus might still be true! Good luck to you on that one.
Today, various churches and their "aligned" theologians are still quite bothered by these embarrassing words of non-fulfillment. Many wild claims are made to save face, a misguided effort to maintain the "infallibility" of scripture - which is an idolatry.
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