Hello everyone, once again I found another mistake I made in copying my sister's book. I accidentally skipped over the subject of Atheism. My sister told me this subject was important, so I'm adding it here. It was supposed to be after the discussion on how rapidly knowledge has increased in these last days.
This gospel of
the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the
nations, and then the end will come. Matt. 24: 14
In 1995 it was estimated that at least parts of the
Bible had been translated into 2,092 different languages, and that the Bible,
or parts of it, are available to roughly 98% of the world’s population.
(9) I would say we are getting close to
seeing that verse fulfilled.
What
about this verse…
Mockers mocking? What exactly does that mean? The Webster’s New World College Dictionary (4th ed) defines the word mock as, “…to hold up to scorn or contempt; ridicule…” so we know that a mocker mocking is someone who is contemptuous of, and ridicules, something. (10) This verse makes it clear that the subject the mockers are attacking is the advent of Christ, and their argument is that the world has gone on for centuries without change and that it will continue to do so. Our job is to find out who is mocking the second coming of Christ at the end of the world, and what argument they are using.
Proponents of different religions have argued,
belittled, and even persecuted each other throughout history. There seems to be nothing new about one
“religious person” mocking another, so I think we can dismiss this as applying
to the end times. Then we must look
around and see if there is a new group attacking the return of Christ.
Atheists do not believe in the existence of God or a
supreme being of any kind. Atheists and
their denial of God are not to be confused with Agnostics, or those who have
doubts about the existence of God and are searching/waiting for proof of God’s
existence. No, true atheists are
adamant, unrelenting, steadfast deniers of God.
Now, there have always been people who have doubted or denied the
existence of God, but only in the last few hundred years has there been
anything resembling a ‘movement’, an organized resistance, against God and
religion.
Modern atheism is a product of two developments: the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century where philosophy, science and reason were promoted over religion and tradition; and the adoption by many countries of the idea of separating religion and politics. (11)
But what do atheists say about the second coming of
Christ?
On a website called Daylight Atheism, someone wrote
an article stating that, while reading an Associated Press poll of Americans,
s/he “…noticed the following bizarre statistic: 25% anticipate the second
coming of Christ.” The author goes on to
say, “It is depressing how many people still believe this will happen during
their own lifetimes, considering how many previous generations have also lived
and died expecting it and turned out to be absolutely and completely wrong.”
(13)
Here is another quote from a different source. “Christians believe that Christ will return
to Earth, gather up the faithful, condemn the unfaithful, destroy life as we
know it and create a paradise on Earth - the second coming, the end times…For
two thousand years they (Christians) have believed the second coming would
happen at any moment…Through the years literally hundreds of apocalyptic
predictions have been documented. And yet people still believe this nonsense!”
(14)
These are only two examples of the ridicule heaped
upon the Christian belief of the end of the world and the second coming of
Christ. "Mockers mocking."