\n
He comes to this conclusion on the basis of Matthew 24:10, in which, among other signs of His coming and of the end of the age, Jesus says this:\u00a0 \u201cAnd then shall many be offended<\/em>, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another\u201d (Matthew 24:10; KJV).<\/p>\nThat\u2019s the wording in the King James Version.\u00a0 But the ESV renders the passage \u201cAnd then many will fall away\u201d (ESV).\u00a0 The NIV has \u201cAt that time many will turn away from the faith\u201d (NIV).\u00a0 The American Standard Version comes closer to the metaphor that is in the original:\u00a0 \u201cAnd then shall many stumble\u201d\u00a0 (American Standard Version).\u00a0 And the Catholic Douay-Rheims Version transliterates that metaphor, which has become a word of its own in the English language:\u00a0 \u201cAnd then shall many be scandalized.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Greek word is \u03c3\u03ba\u03b1\u03bd\u03b4\u03b1\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9, the passive participle for the verb derived from (to use Roman letters) skandalon, <\/i>meaning \u201cstumbling block.\u201d\u00a0 As in 1 Corinthians 1: 23: \u201cbut we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles\u201d (ESV).<\/p>\n
So to preserve the figure of speech, we might say that many will be tripped up.\u00a0 Which means that many will come upon something that they cannot accept, that they find scandalous, and, yes, offensive.<\/p>\n
The Jews might have accepted a Christ, the long-sought Messiah, but \u201cChrist crucified\u201d is a stumbling block.\u00a0 The Messiah they expected would be a victorious king, not a crucified criminal.\u00a0 That would be a humiliation, a failure, at best a martyrdom.\u00a0 As for this claim that this crucifixion is a sacrifice that atones for our failure to keep the Law, that is just unacceptable.\u00a0 A crucified Messiah would be scandalous.\u00a0 That people are making such claims is offensive.<\/p>\n
Today many people are fine with Christianity up to a point, but the Christian sexual ethic is for them a stumbling block, something they find offensive.\u00a0 So they reject Christianity as a whole.<\/p>\n
And, as of old, Christ crucified remains a stumbling block, and not just for Jews.\u00a0 Many people are happy to consider Jesus Christ a great moral teacher and an example to us all, but the cross?\u00a0 Atonement?\u00a0 Redemption?\u00a0 They won\u2019t go that far.<\/p>\n
Some people don\u2019t believe in Jesus and what he has done for us because they don\u2019t believe in God, or miracles, or a spiritual realm, or because they think it\u2019s unfair that God would punish His Son for what other people have done.\u00a0 These are the Greeks.\u00a0 They think Christ crucified, along with the rest of Christianity, is \u201cfoolish.\u201d<\/p>\n
But others are tripped up by one point\u2013be it the atonement or a moral teaching or because a Christian has hurt them in the past\u2013 for which they reject Christianity completely.<\/p>\n
I would contend that this is the main reason people reject Christianity in these End Times.<\/p>\n
(More on End Times prophecies tomorrow.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Illustration:\u00a0 Tripping\u00a0by\u00a0Luis Prado\u00a0from\u00a0Noun Project<\/a>, CC<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
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An End Times preacher cites how people are always claiming to be “offended” all the time as a sign that Christ is coming soon.\u00a0 He bases that on Matt 24:10 (KJV): “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” He is wrong, but the word at issue is “stumbling block.” And there are lots of stumbling blocks in Christianity and in “Christ crucified.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":64104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,10,25],"tags":[94,12655,12804,12807,5054],"class_list":["post-64008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","category-bible","category-christ","category-language","tag-advent","tag-end-times-prophecy","tag-second-coming-of-christ","tag-stumbling-blocks","tag-unbelief"],"yoast_head":"\n
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And there are lots of stumbling blocks in Christianity and in "Christ crucified."\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/12\/many-shall-be-offended\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Many Shall Be Offended"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An End Times preacher cites how people are always claiming to be "offended" all the time as a sign that Christ is coming soon.\u00a0 He bases that on Matt 24:10 (KJV): "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." He is wrong, but the word at issue is "stumbling block." And there are lots of stumbling blocks in Christianity and in "Christ crucified."\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/12\/many-shall-be-offended\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-14T11:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-10T19:38:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2022\/12\/noun-tripping-10935.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/12\/many-shall-be-offended\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/12\/many-shall-be-offended\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Many Shall Be Offended\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-14T11:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-10T19:38:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"An End Times preacher cites how people are always claiming to be \\\"offended\\\" all the time as a sign that Christ is coming soon.\u00a0 He bases that on Matt 24:10 (KJV): \\\"And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.\\\" He is wrong, but the word at issue is \\\"stumbling block.\\\" And there are lots of stumbling blocks in Christianity and in \\\"Christ crucified.\\\"\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/12\/many-shall-be-offended\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/12\/many-shall-be-offended\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/12\/many-shall-be-offended\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Many Shall Be Offended”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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