“An event that has been just around the corner for a thousand years is a non-event. Thinking Christians should not behave as if the Parousia was a genuine possibility” (Anthony and Richard Hanson, in Reasonable Belief (Oxford University Press, 1981) p.196).
For those not theologically trained, the Parousia is a technical term for the ‘second coming of Jesus’. The first time I read this statement by the Hansons I was shocked that someone could say something like this so bluntly, without any equivocation. To me now, it seems like something quite natural and rather obvious. It presupposes, of course, that figures like Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsay are not “thinking Christians”, but I don’t suppose that is necessarily that controversial…
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