Question for Christians: What does Matt. 24:12 mean to you?

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it means not even jesus can save us from ourselves

 

There is good reason to believe that Jesus was not foretelling a large-scale loss of love among God’s people.

The apostles had asked for ‘the sign of Jesus’ presence and of the conclusion of the system of things.’ Jesus foretold wars, earthquakes, food shortages and persecution of Christians. He added: “Because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off.”—Matthew 24:3-12.

Much of that prophecy found a fulfillment between then (33 C.E.) and the great tribulation on Jerusalem that the Romans caused in 70 C.E. (Compare Luke 19:41-44; 21:5-28.) During that interval, did the love of most Christians cool off? No. Those who fell away from Christianity during that generation evidently were in the minority. Most Christians experiencing persecution from the Jews kept up “declaring the good news of the word,” displaying love for God, for unbelievers and for fellow Christians. (Acts 8:1-25; 9:36-42) But love did cool off among the Jews, who claimed to be true worshipers. The greater number of them ignored Jesus’ warning, revolted against Rome and resorted to a violent defense of their nation.

Jesus’ prophecy extends beyond the first century and has its major fulfillment today. (Revelation 6:2-8) As with the Jews back then, people have less and less effective love. Millions have turned atheistic. Even in Christendom, those call themselves Christians but are not, people tend to show less neighbor love, and church attendances and knowledge of the Bible generally are declining. Many who seem to be religious try to rectify human problems through political causes. So it apparently is among such claimed worshipers of God that love is cooling off.

True Christians, though, must not become complacent. Since some Christians in the first century lost their first love or were distracted from it by problems, we could find our love cooling off. (2 Timothy 2:16-19; Revelation 2:4) While, if that happened, we would be exceptions to most of God’s people, the fact that it could happen to us individually emphasizes our need to ‘endure to the end’ so as to be saved.—Matthew 24:13.

 

OWB, sorry if this is offtpic/random but i have to say, from reading your posts, you have gained my respect as being of the most inteligent christians i have come across.

 

Thanx

 

OWB, I like your interpretation on it.

I believe the Ancient Greek word "Agaph", here translated as simply love, could have been translated closer to it's Greek meaning of unconditional, brotherly love and good will. I know that's not an important thing, but it would put more of an emphasis on the type of love to which Jesus refers.

Much of Matthew 24 can be read as end-time prophecy, the prediction of wars, famines, and persecution of the Christian peoples and false prophets. This phrase can be better evaluated within the rest of the phrase.
To read Matthew 24, you have to decide which viewpoint you wish to take it from, whether you take it completely literally or not, and how fundamentalist you are on your views.
For this example, we take a fundamental outlook.

For a fundamental Christian, Jesus is giving a crystal clear warning of life in the end times. Elsewhere in the Bible is the Anti-Christ taking power and fulfilling "miracles", as well as instating world peace and attracting mass-worship. This would be one of the false prophets to which Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24:4-5. "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
After coming into power, persecution of the Christians begins, and many will turn away from their faith ("Then they will hand you over to persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name." Matthew 24:9).

After which, the Antichrist removes Peace from the world so that man will kill one another. This is where this phrase Matthew 24:12 comes in. Prophecies of the removal of peace from the Earth in Revelations, "[SIZE=-1]that they should kill one another" can go hand in hand with this phrase. By this point in time in the Fundamentalist portrayal of end times, the Holy Spirit and all that is holy in the world has gone, and only the unpure of soul remain. This in turn would increase the level of wrong doing [/SIZE]and lawlessness in the World, as the concience is eroded. Lack of concience, lack of consideration for others. The simple brotherly love and affection for fellow man would also be eroded because of this simple lack of concience and care for a friend's feelings.
Our hearts woud run cold like in Matthew 24:12 "the love of many will grow cold.", If you think about it, it's understandable. The soul connotes warmth and love, and without it you would be a cold person, less of a human.

In conclusion, I'm just waffling on most likely. If my big long answer is of use, excelent, if not... well, it got some of my thoughts on a page anyway!

 

Absolutely nothing.

 

it means I must listen to Rush 2112... and try to figure out if I missed something..