--- title: "Christian History recapitulation" date: 2026-03-01 source: "https://telegra.ph/Christian-History-recapitulation-03-01" tags: - "telegraph" --- *I will begin by saying that I am not an expert on theology and do not hold any accreditations suggesting I may have any authority over your own ability to think about things.* *What I present here today is a recapitulation of what I consider to be important elements to have in mind to properly understand the world in which we live in 2026.* I will also layout my own cultural biases. I originate from the French speaking portion of the Canadian cultural matrix; This means I was born and educated into the system of the Roman-Catholic program. Be that as it may, I was also given the latitude to develop my own understanding of the world which allowed me to develop strong opinions that often contrasted with the values of the cultural program and those of my family and friends. As early as my teenage years, I became self-aware of my identity being located outside the matrix of the belief system of the French-Canadian Roman Catholic outlook. This allowed me the liberty to be often highly critical and to distance myself from the institution itself while preserving a respect for the people of my community. Having found myself into a cultural 'No man's land' of sorts, I enjoyed a freedom to exchange with people of all walks of life, of all origins. It also allowed me to take up the many very interesting questions of philosophy, science and theology in general. What follows are a series of notes that help paint a picture, a map of the analysis-situs of our common human existential crisis landscape. I will remain open to your feedback if this feedback is motivated with a desire to help clarify and cast brighter illumination to aspects that I may not properly understand at this time. Hopefully our disposition should all be to serve the interest of our common human identity and see the goal of both my own and other's development, in mind when providing any objections, should there be any. > I start with the statements heard said by the author Cindy Coates, situating the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) to the final week of Jesus’ life, around AD 30–33. At this time, Jesus had prophesized the coming destruction of the Temple which was destroyed by the Roman army under Titus in AD 70. It took about 40 years for Jesus' forecast to materialize. If you are like me, it is at this point that your mind will perhaps ask questions it never quite clearly understood before. The Temple? Did Jesus just talk about the temple? I have heard mentions of Temples often enough but do they always refer to the same thing? Well it turns out that the temple that Jesus was talking about was not the first temple in Judea. He was referring to the 2nd Temple. Let's get help from CoPilot AI chat. You can offer corrections if needed. The first Temple would have been built around: ~960 BC, and eventually destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. This Template's pupose, amongst others was to contain the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant. Functioned as the heart of Israel’s sacrificial system. Why it ended?: Babylon invaded Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, burned the Temple, and exiled the population. What was the Second Temple? Built by: Jewish exiles returning from Babylon, Initial construction: ~516 BC (under Zerubbabel), Massively expanded: 20 BC onward by Herod the Great, Destroyed: AD 70 by the Romans under Titus. The destruction in AD 70 ended the sacrificial system permanently. Abrahamic Religions timeline 1.~1250 BCE (or ~1445) Moses on Mount Sinai 2. 960 BC | Temple 1.0 is built 3. 516 BC | Temple 2.0 is built Zerubbabel 4. 30 AD | Jesus on Mount of Olive Trees prophecy: "Temple will be destroyed by God" 5. 70 AD | Temple 2.0 is destroyed by the Romans fulfilling Jesus's prophecy 6. 0 | The Rabbis vote to have Jesus killed when given the chance by Pontius Pilate 7. 312 CE | Constantine's personal conversion to Christianity 8. 313 CE | Edict of Milan, ended persecutions and granted religious tolerance 9. 380 CE | under Emperor Theodosius I via the Edict of Thessalonica, explicitly declaring Nicene Christianity the empire's sole legitimate religion A. Jewish expectation (non‑Christian) Many Jewish traditions expect a future Third Temple as part of the Messianic age. They base their expectation on Ezekiel chapters 40–48 (a detailed temple vision) Prophecies about restored worship in the Messianic era Are we to dismiss the fact that The Temple Mount is currently occupied by the Dome of the Rock and Al‑Aqsa Mosque? Is there any possibility that this Mosque may be conceived as the third Temple? Some groups (Temple Institute in Jerusalem) have prepared vessels, garments, and architectural plans, but no construction is possible under current political conditions. Meanwhile, within the spectrum of various Christian views, we can take account of of such views to be the 'Futurist view' (common in evangelical circles - but wait... don't forget about the origins of the Scofield bible which serves as the basis of much of these evangelical churches) A literal Third Temple will be rebuilt before the return of Christ. (( So... you may be asking, as I am... when did the Dome of the Rock and Al‑Aqsa Mosque get built? It is said that this Dome of the Rock was built between 685-692 CE under the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik. It's one of the oldest surviving Islamic structures and is located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa Mosque was built later, also during the Umayyad period. Construction began around 705 CE under Caliph al-Walid I and was completed early in the 8th century. It's also located on the Temple Mount, south of the Dome of the Rock. )) These Christians holding this 'Futurist view' point to 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (“man of lawlessness” in the temple), Revelation 11 (measuring the temple), Daniel 9:27 (sacrifice stopped). These passages imply a functioning temple in the end times. Still within Christian denominations, we have the 'Preterist view'. From the perspective of the Preterist, no Third Temple is expected citing the fact that all temple prophecies were fulfilled in AD 70 and that the “temple” language in the New Testament refers to the Church or Christ himself. Whenever there is discussion of Ezekiel’s temple, we are to see a symbolic, not architectural interpretation. Again in the Christian denominations, we find those sharing a perspective characterized as a 'Amillennial / symbolic' view. For them also, we do not expect a third temple as we hold in mind, in their view a temple imagery that is spiritual, not literal based on the scripture emphasizing that the Church is the temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), that Christ is the true temple (John 2:19–21) and that Revelation’s temple scenes are symbolic of God’s presence. What do you think?