Herein we continue, from the previous segments, considering objections raised by an Atheist from “The Skeptic Arena” who goes by the pseudonym “Neo” with regards to my repository website TrueFreethinker’s “About” page during a June 28, 2014 AD podast. In that which follows, you will find the contents of my About page in italics, his comments underlined and my replies in regular font.
Neo quoted Matthew 16:27-28, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” He then stated:
Well Ken, it’s 2,000 years later and we now know that Jesus lied to them. If the truth shall make you free, as Jesus said, then the truth of knowing that Jesus lied has set many former Ghost Worshipers free. Too bad you weren’t one of them, Ken.
Note that he condemns lying without providing an ethical premise upon which to condemn it. Moreover, how does he know that Jesus lied? Because Jesus has not returned to establish His kingdom? But why assume that He lied? One can say something that is not true and not be lying. For example, perhaps Jesus was just wrong. When you are wrong you say things that are not true but you are not necessarily lying. In order to establish that Jesus lied, Neo would have to prove that Jesus knew that what he was saying was not true.
Now, to the issue at hand; in the form of a syllogism the argument would run thusly: 1) Jesus stated that there were “some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” Although the text does not seem to necessitate it, we may want to correlate the establishment of His kingdom with the time when He comes “in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” 2) No one who was standing there is still alive and Jesus has not returned, has not established His kingdom, etc.
3) Thus, Jesus was wrong, His prophecy failed, He is unreliable and thus, not God.
Firstly, perhaps some of them are still alive two millennia later…but there is actually no reason to think so nor go there.
What this objection proves is not that Jesus was wrong or a liar; it proves that Neo needs to do some more research before making such statements.
What we are dealing with is the Kingdom of God and the simple grammatical fact is that within the Bible there are many definitions of the Kingdom of God—just as in every language, one term can have many meanings.
Right after the Matthew 16:27-28 statement we are told (in Matthew 17:1-5) that God the Father proclaimed His approval of Jesus while Jesus was transfigured and in the presence of Moses and Elijah. This is truly an otherworldly scene that was witnessed by some of the apostles. Luke 13:28 notes that we will “see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God.” Thus, the transfiguration was a little window into the Kingdom, in a manner of speaking. Within this context, the Kingdom of God manifested via Jesus transfiguring, ancient personages appearing and God’s voice from heaven endorsing Jesus.
In Act 7:56 Steven “said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” and thus, he saw Jesus in His kingdom.
As for the angels, in Luke 22:43 we learn “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.” Thus, this portion of Jesus’ statement was also fulfilled.
Zechariah 9:9 states “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This is something that Jesus did; thus, He came as a King.
Matthew 27:37 & John 19:12 state, “Above his head they placed the written charge against him: This is Jesus, The King of the Jews.”
John 18:37 has Jesus stating, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Colossians 1:12-13 states, “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
2nd Peter 1:11 gives us a view of the Kingdom within an eternal context, “you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Matthew 12:28 gives us a temporal and present tens view, stating that “the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Matthew 21:43 notes that “the kingdom of God will be taken from you.”
Mark 1:15 relates that “the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Luke 10:9 notes that “The kingdom of God has come near to you” and Luke 11:20 follows up with that “the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Luke 17:20 specifies, “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with observation.’” And this is followed up in the very next verse with “the kingdom of God is within you.”
But as for the earthly, actual establishment of an actual Kingdom in the eschatological/end days/last times context, Luke 19:11 notes that some, “thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately” but this was not the case as much needs to occur before it does so.
Thus, Jesus stated the following in Luke 22:16-18, “I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God…for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
These are not contradictions; they are merely examples of the manner which we all know that language functions: words, terms and phrases derive their meaning from their context. Jesus did not fail to fulfill His prophecy. Rather, Neo failed to conduct a careful study.
In the next segment, we will consider the meaning of freethinking and skepticism.