Quote:
Originally Posted by Thor
CB wasn't there predictions of the rapture done in very early bible times?
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You mean 1st century Christianity? Early Bible times is like...6000 years ago dude!
IIRC, many of the early Church and some writers of the new testament (or those that passed it along by word of mouth) probably believed that Christ would return in their lifetimes much as the original Jehovah's witness' believed that Christ would return within the lifetimes of the original believers (and the date constantly had to be changed as that generation died out).
Good reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_literature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of...Academic_views
"The acceptance of Revelation into the canon is itself the result of a historical process, essentially no different from the career of other texts. The eventual exclusion of other contemporary apocalyptic literature from the canon may throw light on the unfolding historical processes of what was officially considered orthodox, what was heterodox, what was even heretical. Interpretation of meanings and imagery are anchored in what the historical author intended and what his contemporary audience inferred; a message to Christians not to assimilate into the Roman imperial culture was John's central message"
It always astounds me how much material contemporary to the canonical Biblical scriptures was thrown out and what was kept in and becomes such a fundamental, literalist truth to so many. The Bible as we know it is really a collection of documents chosen by several papal councils, using Dark Ages philosophy, knowledge, and cultural/political motivations to choose what they wanted in and wanted out.