Is "date setting" a sin?

I don't know if I would call "date setting" a sin, but it is certainly in error since no one knows when the end is except God.

 

What he said..........

I still remember some 30+ years ago listening to a preacher boldly proclaim that "If anyone doesn't believe that the Lord is coming back in 1981, then they don't know their Bible!!"

I guess that I'm biblically ignorant then.

 

Matthew 24:36

36"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

 

If you'll look carefully, you'll find date setters (who are always wrong) get other things wrong, as well.

 

You mean to tell me that I missed the Rapture, went through the tribulation without knowing it, and now we're in the 1,000 year reign of Christ? :laugh:

 

If it isn't a sin, it is surely a waste of time ... and wasting time probably is a sin.

 

It's useless, certainly. Nevertheless, you can already see some associating between this Mayan calendar prediction of a world phase ending December 23, 2012, with other religions and Christian prophecy. And I just thought of something else interesting... if there are any who believe this and also believe the tribulation of 1260 days is before that date, just counting in my head, that brings to June 12, 2009, as the beginning of that span. That happens to be the revised date of FTC regulations mandating all televison broadcasts in digital. [uh oh, have I put some new 'prophetable' scheme into someone's head? ]

 

August 10, A. D. 70

How's that for date setting.

John Gill

and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. The Arabic version reads it, "ye shall see", as is expressed by Christ, in Mat_26:64. Where the high priest, chief priests, Scribes, and elders, and the whole sanhedrim of the Jews are spoken to: and as the same persons, namely, the Jews, are meant here as there; so the same coming of the son of man is intended; not his coming at the last day to judgment; though that will be in the clouds of heaven, and with great power and glory; but his coming to bring on, and give the finishing stroke to the destruction of that people, which was a dark and cloudy dispensation to them:


http://www.americanvision.com/dayandthehourthe.aspx

About the Title: Throughout Christian history, bizarre fringe groups and well-meaning saints alike have been fully convinced that events in their lifetime were fulfilling Bible prophecy.
In The Day and The Hour, Gumerlock spans two thousand years of conjecture on the last days, disclosing the dreams and delusions of those who believed that their sect was the 144,000 of Revelation 7; that the 1290 days of Daniel 12 had expired in their generation; that the "Man of Sin" of II Thessalonians 2 was reigning in their time; that a Rapture of the saints, a Great Tribulation, a Battle of Armageddon were just around the corner; or that a Millenial Kingdom was about to dawn.
By exposing these erroneous predictions made century after century, The Day and The Hour encourages an approach of "cautious ignorance" concerning the date of the final coming of Christ and related events, and magnifies the truth of Christ's words that the day and the hour is indeed unknown.
This fascinating chronicle of predictions will rivet the attention of any student of Bible prophecy, regardless of your eschatological position.

 

Date setting is not a sin, but a waste of time. However, I do think there is a difference in setting a specific date of the Second Coming, (which we do not know according to Scripture) and knowing if one is in the general time frame, such as the lesson of the fig tree. I have seen many posts here and there saying "Come quickly Lord Jesus" or "Redemption draws nigh, look up" after an election, or some event in the news, or some new law passes. The time and date is certainly not going to be tied to that, but when the Lord says enough is enough.

 

I have always thought date setting to be a problem with the pre-trib rapture theory. If one believes the tribulation is seven years, with the last half called the Great Tribulation 3.5 years, could not you know the exact time by noticing the date everyone disappeared and counting from there?

 

The wording in Scripture is such that the meaning we should get from it is no one knows the EXACT moment of Christ's return (day, hour). Setting a specific date is foolish, but it is not setting the exact moment, what Christ was referring to. Jesus Himself says we will know the signs, so I think many will be very close, but nobody will know the exact time.

 

The rapture is part of the second coming...but I wouldn't complain if June 12 is the day :thumbs:

 

I'm sure I wouldn't either. But suppose communications do somehow go haywire that day, and it's taken advantage of for rioting and looting, as in blackouts, and even some government buildings are taken over. If we've biased ourselves to think something may happen that day to represent the beginning of the end-- or beginning of the tribulation-- then we would be thinking we do know the date and that God instilled this knowledge into some of those 'other sheep' that Jesus said no one, including he, knew. But OTOH when the tribulation does start, is Jesus then still not knowledgable about the date of the end? Or is "day" perhaps a figurative meaning here, as in our conflicts about the creation, and the "day of the Lord" and "one day is as a thousand years," et al?

Someone mentioned the 3 1/2 year (1260 days) as the 'second half' of the tribulation. That gave me another notion-- that the first half began amost right on the Summatra tsunami, which I thought was about Dec. 24-25, 2005. However, that was one year earlier... thankfully [ed. "thankfully" in regard to squashing the notion to think it figures in prophecy, not for the event itself]

 

Jesus said only the Father knows.

 

It will happen with its time for it to, just be found doing Gods work when it does. Thats about it.

 

I do not know the day but I do know the hour when Jesus will return. It will be between 6:00 and 7:00 somewhere on this earth.