Of course I drag my feet long enough in responding to this that the original source article is no longer available. But Tobias Buckell “recently referred”:http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2007/01/11/25-of-americans-believe-world-will-end-this-year/ to an AP article that reported that 25% of Americans think that Jesus will return this year. ((The actual verbiage is that 22% of Americans think that Jesus’ return this year is ‘highly likely’.)) To which I resond:
Why? What makes this year any different?
Now, granted, that quarter of the population may turn out to be right, but I _would_ be curious to know what ‘evidence’ they would refer to in making such a prediction. Matthew 24:36-39 makes it quite clear that no man will know when Christ will actually return. This from the mouth of Jesus Himself. Many have tried to predict His return, even being so conceited as to seat these predictions inside so-called ‘prophecies’. And time and again, those predictions have been proven wrong.
The only thing we can know with any assurance is that we live in the end times. Even Paul and other apostles of the early Church claimed that they were in the end times. But we don’t know how long they will last or when Christ’s return will occur. It’s best to live like His return could be any day, but it seems foolhardy to try to actually make concrete predictions about this event.
It’s sad, because the more “Christians” say, “He’s coming this year” and it doesn’t happen, the more we just look like Didi and Gogo waiting for Godot.