Well, keep in mind the early believers were pretty excited about Jesus coming back too. It took a little time for it to settle in that this was for the long haul.
And then everybody loves a good detective novel, so deciphering the Daniel-Revelation code for some of these folks becomes an obsession. I’ve seen it.
Others of course get into the fray because there’s money to be made cashing in on people’s curiosity and concern about the future.
But bottom line, I can’t think of anything more natural than for the people who most love Jesus to most desire his return and the blessings of his kingdom that will follow. My wife bugs me about it all the time. She has a real problem with all the pain in the world, and looks to Jesus to come and end the foolishness we put ourselves through.
BTW, Harold Camping has repented publically of his repeated errors concerning the matter. I give him a lot of credit for that, but really it should have happened right after his first miss. I’ve always told people, look, how are we goning to know better than Jesus did whan his return was going to happen. If he didn’t know, how do ya think we’re gonna know? And another thing. He told us he was coming back when no one would be looking for it. Ipso facto, if we’re all looking for it right now, it’s pretty unlikely to happen right now.
I like what DL Moody once said. Somebody asked him, what would you do today if you knew for sure Jesus was coming tomorrow. His answer, IIRC, was “plant a tree,” by which I think he meant, he wouldn’t do anything different than what he was already doing. If we are living in true faith of the Son of God, and our sins have been washed clean by his blood, and we have his Spirit, what would we need to do different?
Peace,
SR
It was what created the urgency to write the New Testament. The lunacy of the 990's surpassed even the lunacy approaching the year 2000.
But bottom line, I can’t think of anything more natural than for the people who most love Jesus to most desire his return and the blessings of his kingdom that will follow. My wife bugs me about it all the time. She has a real problem with all the pain in the world, and looks to Jesus to come and end the foolishness we put ourselves through.
I think that we're in it for the long haul, too. I live my life as if my children and grandchildren will have children and grandchildren.
You have some wisdom about you, sir.