What the critics charge.

Most Christians don’t seem to realize the predicament we are in if Jesus Christ didn’t fulfill his many promises to come or “return” within the time parameters He specified. Informed critics of Christianity, on the other hand, have no trouble seeing through the strained attempts of Church leaders to explain away “nonoccurrence” in order to protect the credibility and divinity of Jesus in the face of his supposed failure. But let’s face it. These critics have a legitimate complaint if Jesus did not do something that He said He would, and within the timeframe He stated. They also are quite aware of both the enigma and dilemma that “nonoccurrence” presents for the Christian Church and the impossibility of escaping it without being disloyal to Christ.

• Bertrand Russell. Atheist Bertrand Russell, in his book Why I Am Not A Christian, discredits the inspiration of the New Testament by saying:
  • I am concerned with Christ as He appears in the Gospel narrative . . . He certainly thought that his second coming would occur in clouds of glory before the death of all the people who were living at the time. There are a great many texts that prove . . . He believed that his coming would happen during the lifetime of many then living. That was the belief of his earlier followers, and it was the basis of a good deal of his moral teaching. (Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1957), 11)
• Albert Schweitzer. In his 19th-century book, The Quest of the  Historical Jesus, liberal Schweitzer summarized the problem of “Parousia delay” as follows:
  • The whole history of Christianity down to the present day . . .  is based on the delay of the Parousia, the nonoccurrence of the Parousia, the abandonment of eschatology, the process and completion of the ‘de-eschatologizing’ of religion which has been connected therewith.(Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus (New York, NY.: Macmillan, 1948), 360)

• Jewish Critics. Jewish critics contend that Jesus didn’t complete the whole mission of the Messiah within the timeframe their prophets had predicted, although some admit He fulfilled some of it. They allege that Christians invented the idea of a “second coming” off in the future to cover up Jesus’ failure to return as He promised. This is the Jews’ primary excuse for rejecting Jesus and belittling Christianity.

• Even C.S. Lewis, the respected Christian apologist and author, we are embarrassed to report, said in 1960 about Jesus time-restrictive, “this-generation” statement in Matthew 24:34:
  • “Say what you like,” we shall be told [by the skeptic], “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And He was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
  • It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible. Yet how teasing, also, that within fourteen words of it should come the statement, “but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side.(C.S. Lewis, essay “The World’s Last Night” (1960), found in The Essential C.S. Lewis, Lyle W. Dorsett, ed., (New York: A Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster, 1996), 385.)

As we shall see, the embarrassment belongs to C.S. Lewis.

Sources:

1 The Perfect Ending for the World by John Noe

2 The Last Days According to Jesus by R.C. Sproul

3 Last Days Madness by Gary DeMar

4 The Works of Josephus translated by William Whiston

5 Josephus the Essential Writings by Paul L. Maier