END TIMES THEOLOGY

Some of the parables present ideas that seem closely atuned to later church doctrine.
We might ask whether such ideas, presented as the parables of Jesus,
actually flowed from the teaching of later gurus,
the Fathers of the Church.

Themes from the Parables

The Fig Tree.
The Ten Minas
The Ten Virgins


This is a concept that features heavily in the Evangelical church,
and appears in many places in the Bible, in a shadowy way.
Each generation sees itself as of supremely importance
and its events and features as pointing to the end.
The time when God will decide to wrap it all up
vindicate the faithful and punish the sinners.
Yet it has never happened yet!

I have been struggling to find where the Bible writes clearly about this.
Some see Daniel 12 as predicting an end of time as we know it.
2 Peter seems to be a source which refers to the Last Days.
as does Acts 2:17 and Mark 13.
but there is really little definite to go on.
Jesus is just saying that bad things may lie ahead.

The book of Revelation is a prime source for its adherents
but do we see it as anything more than analogies
attempting to picture the ills of the world
in graphic terms.

There is nothing concrete there
or anywhere.
It is chimera,
but hardly harmful!
THEMES FROM THE PARABLES