A Troubling Question May 7, 2008
Posted by Matt in Bible, god, Jesus.Tags: god, hell, Jesus, prayer, question
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Should Christians pray for Jesus to return?
I can’t remember if this came up in a worship service or in Bible class, but someone recently made the statement that they always do pray for Him to come back soon and relieve us of pain and suffering and loss. Now, I’ve heard this type of thing before throughout my life and have never given it much thought, but, on that day, I started to really ponder over the ramifications of that request to God. That led to my next question:
What about everyone else?
With the exception of a few nutcases like myself, I think it is safe to say that the large majority of those involved with our chosen denomination believe firmly in an eternal hell. Though their ideas of this underworld may vary, anywhere from eternality outside of the presence of God to a Dantean plane of everlasting torture, the basic beliefs that it is real, it is eternal, and it is bad remain in place.
So, by using a bit of logic, if you pray for Jesus to come back and save you and others like you, then, by corollary, you pray for God to send the vast majority of humanity to a never-ending time of unspeakable horrors.
Does this strike anybody else as extremely self-serving? We want our mansion, robe, and crown, and we want it now, please. And give our deep regards to those untold billions of souls who either didn’t believe or had the misfortune of being born in a land where they never had the chance to.
We can then cheerily sing that horrible lyric, “Many will meet their doom,” from the hymn Jesus Is Coming Soon, without batting an eye, for our destiny of eternal comfort is guaranteed.
Does anybody else find this attitude bothersome?
Doesn’t John end Revelation with a plea for Jesus to come soon? It seems to me that it’s fine to pray for Jesus to come back, just maybe not with the attitude you mention.
It is my understanding that the book of Revelation was written to an oppressed people within the Roman Empire with one of its main points being that of liberation from the persecuting governmental authorities.
So, is it proper for Christians who face no real persecutions to cry out for Jesus to come back?
Or, is it proper for Christians to pray for the return of Christ before the entire population of the world has been saved?
I still think it’s a matter of motivation. If you just want your heavenly reward faster then no, it’s probably not appropriate. But most of the new testament writers talked about the second coming with excitement and anticipation, and I don’t think it was just because they were persecuted. I think it was something that their soul cried out for. Maybe they looked around and saw the horrors that a broken humankind have perpetrated on the world and they cried out for Him to return and end the suffering of the physical world. Maybe they understood Scripture to say that the vast majority of the world would reject Christ, and they realized that every year that Christ didn’t come back just meant more people dying lost. Or Maybe they just really wanted to be with Jesus. So, like most things, I think it probably comes down to why you desire Christ’s return, not the desire itself.
Good point, Jeff.