One very interesting aspect of Christianity not talked as much about in the mainstream as one might expect is the idea of the Millennial Kingdom. Revelation 20:1-6 speaks of a 1,000 year reign of Christ. What does this millennial reign refer to? There are three main perspectives.
Amillennialism: The alpha privative ("a-") affixed to the word implies that there is no millennium. However, as many amillennialist will tell you, this is an inaccurate assessment of the worldview. Amillennialists do not deny the reality of a millennium, they just don't think it's a literal millennium. They think it's a figurative millennium that just means "a really long time." They believe we, as denizens of the Church Age, are currently living in the "millennium", and that when it ends, Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead.
Postmillennialism: Postmillennialists tend to believe in a literal 1,000 year reign (though this also varies). Postmillennialists believe that the millennium has not occurred yet. They believe that the millennium will consist of an earthly utopia in which there is a mass conversion of most of the majority of humankind. After this, Jesus returns.
Premillennialism: Most premillennialists also believe in a literal 1,000 year reign. However, they believe that Jesus will literally reign on the Earth for a thousand years. As in, Jesus will literally be king of the Earth for a thousand years. I find this possibility fascinating and tantalizing.
Whatever your perspective on the millennium, all Christians believe that Jesus is coming back; not to atone for sin this time, however, but to punish it. His death while on Earth was to atone for the sins of the many as a substitution so that those who believe He did this for them would not have to face His wrath during His Second Coming, when the Lamb of God will, for unbelievers, be the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
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Yes it is foretold of the return of Christ to take his children to the promise land. As for for judgement, God is all forgiving. Everyday, we may unintentionally do something that the se need to ask forgiveness and we have the satisfaction of knowing that he is listening and all forgiving. When he returns, we should have piece of mind knowing that he is here for our salvation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with PinolaFl, I believe the real god is one who accepts us for who we are and knows that we are not perfect. That is not to say that we can do anything we want and god will still accept us, I just don't believe god is going to reject us because we dont go to church every Sunday. I dont know much about God, but I don't think he is coming down to unleash any wrath on anybody, thats satans work. I think that as long as people go about life with love and respect for everybody then they will be fine. Of course there are time when people "seem" to do things that are outside of the norm or even unholy - but we usually have a good reason for what we do. God loves all his children, why else would he make them if he wasn't going to love them. With this said I think you would have to be something close to an anti-christ for god to turn his back on you. But if Jesus did come back to rule the earth then I believe it would be the end of all the social inequality that exists in the world - a time without worries - after all, we are all free to dream.
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