> Christ could come tomorrow, or in a million
> years - we have absolutely no way of knowing.
> For all that science says that the earth will
> collide into the sun in, erm, however long it
> says, or that the sun will explode, God has
> proven that He can control even the heavenly
> bodies - take Joshua 10:13

Good point. Without even realizing it, I (and probably a lot of other people) have tended to think that He has to return within a "reasonable" timeframe, i.e. before the "Heat Death of the Universe" as we like to say around here. Or to bring it closer to home, before good old Sol gives up the ghost and life on Earth is no longer possible. But you are absolutely right; He is the Creator of everything and He can do whatever He wants with it all.

> As Christians, we can only trust that *God*
> knows when the Earth's days end. We cannot
> presume to make any assumptions in that area.

Agreed. But I also believe (and I think I ought to believe) that it could, and most likely will, take place during my lifetime. As I said in my response to Travholt, every generation of believers down through the ages has believed that it would happen during their time. As far as I'm concerned, such a belief is necessary if I truly desire to live in the expectation of Christ's imminent return.

On the other hand, one of my main reasons for thinking this way is that "things are just so bad these days in the world; I don't see how they could possibly get much worse." But don't you think every generation has felt this way? And yet, the fact that we're still here shows that things could (and did) get worse.

> On a church retreat, one of the leaders once
> said "Whenever I hear someone say that God is
> going to come at such-and-such a time, I assume
> that God *won't* come then." That's not a
> perfect indicator - someone could make a lucky
> guess - but all the oil could have been long
> gone before the end of time.

I hope you don't think that I'm trying to make predictions. People who write books naming dates, times, hours, etc. are nothing more than false prophets. Whenever I hear of an instance like that, I automatically discount it too. No one but God knows. Still...

Gri"Maybe today my Lord will come for me...maybe today my Saviour I shall see..."shny