20% of U.S. Christians believe Jesus to return "in their lifetime".

[Scam of God]

Scary.

For many Christians, Easter is the most important religious holiday of the year -- a time to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and look forward to the Second Coming. According to a 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, fully 79% of Christians in the U.S. say they believe that Christ will return to Earth someday. There is less agreement among Christians, however, over the timing and circumstances of his return. Only 17% of American Christians do not believe in the Second Coming. By contrast,a larger number of American Christians, 20%, believe the Second Coming will occur in their lifetime.

20% believe it will happen within their lifetime, so presumably in this century.
34% believe the earth will get worse before Jesus returns.
23% believe that humanity can affect the timing.

I wish they had asked conditional on that last question "Should humanity attempt to hasten the return of Jesus" to see the level of apocalyptic Christians with a death-wish inside the United States. I'd guess it's something like 10% of the populace or something.

Which is terrifying.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I take it that you are not a fan of Sarah Palin.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     For as long as there has been a book of Revelations, a large number of people at any one time have believed that the world was on the verge of Armageddon. While disturbing, this should not be surprising.

[12th Doctor]

I don't believe this event will occur in my lifetime, but who am I to say that it will not.

[Scam of God]

I don't believe this event will occur in my lifetime, but who am I to say that it will not.

Do you believe that "humanity can affect the timing"?

Do you believe that humanity should?

[So the Heroes Fall]

I don't believe this event will occur in my lifetime, but who am I to say that it will not.

Do you believe that "humanity can affect the timing"?

Do you believe that humanity should?

Anyone who answers yes to either question is clearly going against the Bible.

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

79% believe there will be a Second Coming? That seems high.

[BushKenya]

I generally refuse to speculate WHEN Christ will come back, for it could be as easily tomorrow as 100 years from now.  I do know that He IS coming back.  Plus, it is not for me to know the time and the date of His return, for I am to be ready at all times.

[© Tweed the Younger]

79% believe there will be a Second Coming? That seems high.

it's 79% of Christians, not Americans

[Devilman88]

No one knows when Jesus will come back but God himself.

[JSojourner]

I have no idea when Jesus will return.  But I see nothing scary about it.  I hope it's today.

[Joe Republic]

Jesus has already returned, idiots.  Seriously, he announced it at the bus station in Dayton a couple months ago.  He had a beard and was dressed in rags to prove it.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

These would have been my answers:
1) Yes (100% certain)
2) Yes (60% chance before 2050)
3) No  (100% certain)
4) Yes (100% certain)
5) No (100% certain)

[12th Doctor]

I don't believe this event will occur in my lifetime, but who am I to say that it will not.

Do you believe that "humanity can affect the timing"?

Do you believe that humanity should?

No.  Certainly, there are some "Christians" who do believe this.  Many of them are passive, in that they think Christ will come again when the word of Jesus is know to all nations, and thus they must evangelize to make the Second Coming occur.  That's an interesting idea, if an odd one.  I wouldn't say its heretical, but like I said, its curious.

However, surely there is a small group who seek to violently bring about the Second Coming.  I assume these are the people the "non-religious" are thinking of when they hear people make the claim that they can make the Seconding Coming occur.