Are we near the end of times?

I wonder this as a catholic.

Only one knows

Yes, I am aware of that.

But I am starting to notice a contradiction.

On the one end, the Bible tells us that the Church will not be defeated until the end of times,
and on the other end, the world has never been so secularized and indifferent towards Christianity.

How can we reconcile these two observations?

This is all explained through gospel, Matthew 24:7-14:
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."

See the bold, it clearly explains these things will occur, specifically the bold and underlined verse (8). Things need to get considerably worse. The underlined (14) has just about nearly been fulfilled, Christianity has been preached to nearly every area of the globe, to all peoples and nations. Whether the two coincide to a near time period is an area of debate, but if they are, then that is strong evidence that the end times are upon us, and your observations regarding secularism and those that hate Christianity are beginning to the fulfill the former verses.

Verse 10 also offers some valuable insight; people will fall away, eg; towards secularism among other places.

Do not fear (see the red text).

2012 coming, but the earth has been up for billions of years so I we should be fine next year hopefully

Thanks NJaguar for your insight! I didn't know you were a christian.

I wonder if there is a nation left to which the Gospel hasn't been preached?
Seems to me that with globalization most nations have already been reached...

I guess the end times are really near (even though we cannot predict it at all).

Hard to say. No one knows when the end times are. The best thing to do is to keep faithful and help others.

"Watch ye therefore, and be sober, for you know not which hour your lord doth come."

"If the man had known which hour the theif would come, he would have watched, and not suffered his house to be broken up. Watch ye therefore"

"You will know when it is near, even at the door."

The words of Jesus from the gospels.

We won't know the specific day, but we will know the season when its happening.

For example, Jesus also said: "When the fig tree shoots forth its tender green leaves, know that summer is near, so likewise when you see all these things (Listed in Matt 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13) coming to pass, know that I am near."

Just going by memory here, but I believe all of that can be found in the book of Matthew.

This post was edited by Torm1 on Oct 14 2011 12:32pm

I have no scripture to back any of my thoughts or opinions. I just live a good life, I keep my wrong doings to a minimum. I go to church as much as I possibly can. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and I pray for a new and better day every night.

I have no idea when the day will come, But I believe I will be ready.

the world has always been that way, since the beginning. All of the clues given in Matthew 24, is said to be the beginnings of birth pain. We could be anywhere so be ready!