Depending on what side of the fence you’re on, whether Jewish, Christian, or Islam, each ideology has very clear ideas as to what “the second coming” means to them.
For the Jewish people, they firmly adhere to the belief that the “first coming” still has not happened yet, let alone a “second coming.” So, in their minds the idea of a
“second coming” is completely irrelevant. In fact, if they had a “first coming,” I wonder if they too would also believe in a “second coming.” I guess we’ll never know.
In my research into Islam, I was surprised to learn that they too believed in a “second coming.” I knew that they believed Jesus to be a prophet, perhaps an Ascended Master, but what surprised me was that most Islamic scholars believe in the prophecies that the “second coming” (Parousia), will occur by Jesus returning to earth to defeat the anti-Christ, then later ascend.
For the majority of Christians,
the “second coming” is steep in stories of apocalypse, punishment, and judgment that precede Christ's “second coming.” Again, this would be followed by rebirth and ascension that will usher in an indeterminate period of peace.
As I was pondering these archetypal notions, something occurred to me. I thought, “perhaps this idea, an idea that conjures up feelings of redemption, justice and rebirth, are nothing more than a remembrance.” “What if,” I asked, “this idea of 'second coming' stems from actual times in our ancient past, where people did indeed live in peace and harmony, devoid of conflict, with mutual respect for their fellow humans, including animals and the plant kingdoms.” Could it be that the memories of these times, that are so buried in our minds and in our very cells, are memories of a forgotten utopian world?
The more I pondered this, the more it made sense to me that this could very well be the reason why the 2 major religions of the world (Christianity and Islam) both believe in a “second coming” of Christ, albeit different perspectives as to the “why.”
If we were to take a closer look at some of our Native American cultures that pre-date the birth of Christ, we can hypothesize that they could have lived in harmony with each other and with the land. If we consider our current understanding of the Native American culture, we must acknowledge that their history has only been known to us since the first visits of Europeans. Some will argue that Native American tribes did in fact war with each other, but what about their history that reaches back tens of thousands of years? For those histories, we can only rely on the spoken word from American indigenous people themselves. Their unwritten, undocumented stories can only give clues to their state of being in these ancient times.
The ancient Mayan culture also went through many cycles of development. We sometimes hear contradicting stories of their history depicting a warring culture with cannibalism and human sacrifice. Simultaneously, we hear them described as an advanced race with advanced technologies, living in harmony.
My point is this…I’ve just named a few examples of cultures that could have, quite possibly, experienced living on this earth in perfect peace and harmony. Who’s to say that there aren’t more? It would seem very plausible to me that there were many more civilizations in our ancient past that our scientist and academics aren’t aware of or have yet to discover. They are uncovering hidden cities, showing signs of advanced civilizations at an astonishing rate; case in point, Gobekli Tepe in Turkey. It's not such a long shot to stretch our imaginations in this direction. Why couldn’t the writers of the major religions of our world source their writings by tapping into their subconscious, remembering pockets of times where people did indeed live in peace with all life on earth.
The term, “second coming,” implies the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, to then wipe out the anti-Christ in the battle of Armageddon, followed by judging all those who have not lived a pious life, punish them to eternal damnation, then allow the remaining “worthy” souls to ascend. Instead of such an elaborate story, why not choose to believe that this story was all made up in an attempt to remember a time in our existence without fear, pain, judgment, jealousy or greed. This utopia could have existed in our earths ancient past or in our eternal spirit. Either way, I’m convince our ideas of “second coming” are due for a makeover.
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