Benedict XVI
“The end of the world is not nigh.”
Benedict gets it right for the wrong reason.
Benedict XVI, commonly referred to as the Pope or Holy Father, says, “the end of the world is not nigh.” Of course, he is right. However, to support his position, he goes off base by claiming that the apostle Paul never said it was near. The Pontiff refers to 2 Thess. 2:1-2 from the Roman Catholic Bible (New American Bible):
1We ask you, brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, 2not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.
The problem with Benedict’s position is he’s working with a deficient translation. Every major modern translation has changed “is at hand” to “has come.” Paul was warning his readers not to fall for claims that the day of the Lord had already come. He was not discouraging them from believing that the end was near.
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