What would it take for someone to be accepted by the majority of Christians as the second coming?

[JennyB]

Stigmata is not enough, lots of people had or claimed to have had them. Performing Miracles is not enough. Thousands have claimed that ability, and Saints are accepted to poccess such skills. There is a very strict set of events that must occur for the over cautious Catholic church to accept someone as Christ King returned. Not to mention other Christians.

And that of course is "The parting of the skies, the rise of the good and pious to Paradise while the foul and wicked ones are dragged beneath. The Four Horsemen would rise to unleash chaos and suffering across the earth, just as damned souls would walk again followed by hell itself opening to reveal hordes of demons, lead by the son of the Dragon on earth himself! The Anti-Christ! Anathema! The Prince of Darkness! THEN, would Christ descend from Heaven with a mighty Host of Angels to engage in the great battle between good and evil! The dichotomy of existence! The Final and only true Struggle!"

At that point, any christian and non-chrsitian left on Earth would probably go: "Yeah, that's the dude."

Mind you, if he's that good it doesn't really matter if he claims to be the Second Coming or not, does it?

 

[Deleted member 92121]

Mind you, if he's that good it doesn't really matter if he claims to be the Second Coming or not, does it?

I would imagine the big JC would be more of a practical demonstrator, instead if a talker.

 

[John I of Brazil]

"The parting of the skies, the rise of the good and pious to Paradise while the foul and wicked ones are dragged beneath. The Four Horsemen would rise to unleash chaos and suffering across the earth, just as damned souls would walk again followed by hell itself opening to reveal hordes of demons, lead by the son of the Dragon on earth himself! The Anti-Christ! Anathema! The Prince of Darkness! THEN, would Christ descend from Heaven with a mighty Host of Angels to engage in the great battle between good and evil! The dichotomy of existence! The Final and only true Struggle!"

At that point, any christian and non-chrsitian left on Earth would probably go: "Yeah, that's the dude."

This has to happen. Two of the main churchs of Christianity (Catholic and Ortodox) are too conservative to accept other thing. So are the Muslims and Jews (for the arrive of the Messiah)

 

[Albert.Nik]

Not sure what this has to do with the original question. If you are thinking of the First Advent, then this question exposes a very flawed understanding of the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation. If you intend the Second Advent, then your question is irrelevant. He is expected to return in in the cloud with power and great glory, not as a newborn.



I'm not sure what you are trying to say here. So you refer to Christ's resurrection or to the resurrection of the dead on the last day?

Okay let's leave the Virgin birth then. Let's come to the latter. Consciousness can be easily expressed in terms of Energy. During 1AD,not much was known about all these. Today,it is known for quite long. So how would all that knowledge be received by the Christians who would believe that Jesus or God would resseruct people. Well the question of God is completely irrelevant as it can never or proved and disproved in the Christian or the Muslim sense in the first place anyways.

 

[Arkenfolm]

Okay let's leave the Virgin birth then. Let's come to the latter. Consciousness can be easily expressed in terms of Energy. During 1AD,not much was known about all these. Today,it is known for quite long. So how would all that knowledge be received by the Christians who would believe that Jesus or God would resseruct people. Well the question of God is completely irrelevant as it can never or proved and disproved in the Christian or the Muslim sense in the first place anyways.

Even if we could raise the dead now (we can't), they couldn't 2,000 years ago. Just like how we can help the crippled walk now. It's irrelevant to the question of Jesus's divinity or the question of God.

As for Jesus's own resurrection, that's a bit trickier, but even there, Jesus still would have literally died in the sense he permanently lost consciousness the same way any other person 2000 years ago did.

 

[Byzantine fanatic]

Depends on how you read the Gospels and what you think they are meant to teach. If the that Apostles et al. taught that Jesus was God, and then used the Gospel stories to demonstrate this, then they are a clearly paint him as God. Claiming to be God is easy, but people are not likely to believe it. Behaving as God in a convincing way is difficult, but this is what the Gospels attempt to show, and this approach seems to have at least moderately successful.

But the gospels were written between 50 to 120 years after Jesus' lifetime, and some parts have been added centuries later.

The earliest account of Jesus death in the gospels ends with an empty tomb, and does not contain resurrection stories.

The gospels are any way part of the story. Some books weren't included in the Bible, and the parts which were did not get chosen until the fourth century, 300 years later.

The Qur'an has its own rather mysterious description of what happened to Jesus. (Verse 4:157). It denies that he was killed on the cross, and states that this only appeared to be so; but that he was certainly not killed and was raised up by god.

Or a more metaphorical interpretation is that Jesus could not be killed since he personified a message, an idea which can not be destroyed by any physical force.

Some people have also disputed whether Jesus was on the cross long enough to have died. The bible says he was up there for six hours only. But normally death would take several days.

Perhaps we can never be sure the exact details of it.

 

[Albert.Nik]

Even if we could raise the dead now (we can't), they couldn't 2,000 years ago. Just like how we can help the crippled walk now. It's irrelevant to the question of Jesus's divinity or the question of God.

As for Jesus's own resurrection, that's a bit trickier, but even there, Jesus still would have literally died in the sense he permanently lost consciousness the same way any other person 2000 years ago did.

Whatever the hypothesis,we cannot decide who is Jesus and who isn't whatsoever,wouldn't you agree? Even if somebody comes from the clouds or the sky as Philip stated,we could still have it explained in some other way like Alien visit or even if Humans themselves build an advanced colony in Space somewhere and return to Earth,would that person qualify as Jesus and what if many people do so? We cannot do this as of now,yes just like how you said we couldn't have crippled people walk or heal people of diseases which couldn't be done so 2000 years ago but we can now. The problem is that these are irrelevant questions for any Human reality or any possible reality itself. There is no way to decide or deduce anything on the metaphysical aspects of Christianity or Islam given that you have so many hypotheses done that has resulted in the diverse denominations of those religions. The final take on OPs question is that whoever wants to know should do their own homework and decide upon their own.

 

[Arkenfolm]

Whatever the hypothesis,we cannot decide who is Jesus and who isn't whatsoever,wouldn't you agree?

No, but people can and do, and Christians and Muslims who accept Jesus as the Messiah and son of God do it daily.

Even if somebody comes from the clouds or the sky as Philip stated,we could still have it explained in some other way like Alien visit or even if Humans themselves build an advanced colony in Space somewhere and return to Earth,would that person qualify as Jesus and what if many people do so?

Then OP's challenge is fulfilled, because future/alien tech existing right now, let alone centuries ago would make people believe a person was Jesus returned no problem. But that would be ASB.

We cannot do this as of now,yes just like how you said we couldn't have crippled people walk or heal people of diseases which couldn't be done so 2000 years ago but we can now. The problem is that these are irrelevant questions for any Human reality or any possible reality itself. There is no way to decide or deduce anything on the metaphysical aspects of Christianity or Islam given that you have so many hypotheses done that has resulted in the diverse denominations of those religions. The final take on OPs question is that whoever wants to know should do their own homework and decide upon their own.

The OP isn't asking for a literal Jesus returned, they're asking for someone who claims to be Jesus returned being accepted as such by the majority of Christians. This is similar (but distinct and IMO harder) then Jewish Messiah claimants (who other than Jesus, gained large followings at times) or Muslim Mahdi claimants (same thing).

 

[Byzantion]

Many people have claimed to be Jesus returned to earth, but none so far have managed to convince the majority of Christians to support them. What might help one of these Messiah claimants to gain widespread acceptance?

Maybe Hong as little brother of Jesus ?

 

[Arcavia]

Maybe Hong as little brother of Jesus ?

A slightly different and more successful Taiping Rebellion definitely seems like the way to go.

Alternatively, someone early in the Christian community like St. Paul proclaims themselves the Second Coming and the position develops more similarly to the Dalai Lama.

 

[Dempsey-Louis]

Many people have claimed to be Jesus returned to earth, but none so far have managed to convince the majority of Christians to support them. What might help one of these Messiah claimants to gain widespread acceptance?

Fox News!

 

[Albert.Nik]

No, but people can and do, and Christians and Muslims who accept Jesus as the Messiah and son of God do it daily.


Then OP's challenge is fulfilled, because future/alien tech existing right now, let alone centuries ago would make people believe a person was Jesus returned no problem. But that would be ASB.



The OP isn't asking for a literal Jesus returned, they're asking for someone who claims to be Jesus returned being accepted as such by the majority of Christians. This is similar (but distinct and IMO harder) then Jewish Messiah claimants (who other than Jesus, gained large followings at times) or Muslim Mahdi claimants (same thing).

The case for original Jesus existing is itself ASB given the claims of what all he did in his lifetime and how he was born and what happened after he was crucified. The fact that he existed or not is not to be debated in this section of the forum. Even if he was believed to have existed,this thread is ASB itself as far as this forum is concerned.
Coming to the first para,there is no way for even them to decide unanimously. Some would accept and some wouldn't splitting the religions like how Judaism was split into Judaism and Christianity after Jesus was accepted by some and rejected by the rest. However,since most of the people including the religious are subconsciously rational and logical today,I wouldn't see their belief in this new Extraterrestrial or advanced Human civilization as their Jesus. However,if it happened during the Mediaeval era,I think beliefs would have been significant.
Hence,I request the Mods to transfer this thread to ASB.

 

[Mike Stearns]

Fox News!

Only until Jesus tells everyone to sell everything they own and give the money to the poor. Then he’s a dirty liberal.