Regarding Thessalonians 2 – I’m not convinced Paul actually knows what he is talking about – the whole second coming thing seems misled to me. Anyway – the Jerusalem Bible is easier to read and is closer to the original than KJV.
Also, please remember that these are not the words of Jesus, but are Paul’s words that he wrote in a letter to the churches. Also remember Paul never even met Jesus and had some serious issues regarding his guilt over his previous mistreatment of Christians (he was Roman), and also that these early Christians were hiding out and being persecuted and as such were looking out for the Christ to come back to rescue them. Paul doesn’t seem to have gotten this imho.
Anyway, try this JB translation on for size (2 Thes 2:1-8)…
“To turn now, brothers, to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we shall all be gathered round him: please do not get excited too soon or alarmed by any prediction or rumor or any letter claiming to come from us (the other disciples) implying that the Day of the Lord has already arrived. Never let anyone deceive you in this way.
It cannot happen until the Great Revolt has taken place and the Rebel, the Lost One, has appeared. This is the Enemy, the one who claims to be so much greater than all that men call ‘god’, so much greater than anything that is worshiped, that he enthrones himself in God’s sanctuary and claims that he is God. Surely you remember me (Paul) telling you about this when I was with you? And you know, too, what is still holding him back from appearing before his appointed time. Rebellion is at its work already, but in secret, and the one who is holding it back has first to be removed before the Rebel appears openly. The Lord will kill him with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate him with his glorious appearance at his coming.”
I seriously don’t think Paul had a clue, i.e., the first “born again”, perhaps started preaching too soon, should have gone off to a cave and thought it out a little better first. This may sound weird for me to say this, but life is too short to waste on anything that poorly thought out and offering no real solutions other than, don’t worry, someone is going to came and fix everything for you. If Paul had meditated a little more he might have come up with something a little more like the following. Maybe not.
“He is below, above, behind, in front, on the right, on the left; He is everything. If I put I instead of He,
I say, I am below, I am above, I am behind, I am in front, I am on the right, I am on the left. I am everything.”
“I put Self instead of He, I say, the Self is below, above, behind, in front, to the right, to the left. The Self is everything. The personal Self is the impersonal Self.”
“He who sees , thinks, knows this, loves the Self, plays with the Self, unites with the Self, enjoys the Self, govern himself, moves himself everywhere at his pleasure. Those who think otherwise are governed by others. They lose what they gain. Nowhere can they move at their pleasure.”
“He who thinks, feels, knows this, draws life from himself, hope from himself, memory from himself; air, light water from himself; birth, death, food, power, knowledge, meditation, mind, will, speech, name, words, action, everything from himself.”
“He who knows this, cares nothing for death, cares nothing for disease, cares nothing for misery; looks at everything with the eye of Self; gets everything everywhere; remains one…”
-Chhanandogya Upanishad, Book VII, 24-25
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