I've been studying this stuff for 23 years now.
The writings of Paul.
The idea that the disciples of Jesus' time thought that the day of YHVH would come during their lifetime is incorrect. The disciples and Jesus were Jews, and for thousands of years they have believed that 1000 years is 1 day, and mankind will have 6 'days' of dominion over the earth. The approximate time, as they would have calculated, during the life of Jesus was around 4000 years after the normally understood creation of mankind, so the disciples of Jesus would not have expected the day of the lord to come after only 4000 years. Paul, a Jewish Pharisee and a student of Gamliel, would have understood that he was living 2000 years before the 6000 year mark, so it is unreasonable to think that he assumed he would be alive 2000 years later. When he says, 'we who are alive at his coming' he is speaking generally about all believers, and not specifically including himself or any other specific individuals by saying we.
Science vs Dogma
Science is the method by which we humans understand what God does and how God does it. With enough information, everything God does is understandable and explainable in a factual, logical, objectively defined universe of consistent rules and parameters. With the exception of less than 10 miracles which can not be adequately explained by current scientific theory, all events in the bible can be understood by the concrete laws and workings of our factual universe through science. The few that can not be explained still can be understood though many different theories, all of which would not contradict currently understood scientific fact.
The dogma of modern Christianity, however, has spent nearly 2000 years twisting the words of the bible out of context to build a massive collection of man-made, contrived lies and falsehoods that are in direct contradiction to firmly established scientific fact as well as in direct contradiction to the actual contextual teaching of the Bible itself. This had led to the illusion that science and belief in God are mutually exclusive. Science seems to contradict religion, because religions have invented false dogma. Science is concerned with Facts supported by evidence, and False dogma can not stand up to it. When false dogma is removed from a contextual understanding of what the bible actually says, as opposed to what people have imagined it to say, then Science is the ally to every student of theology, and firmly established scientific fact will not contradict the bible. It will instead, help to show which interpretations of scripture are false, and which interpretations are true.
I hope this was informative,
Jallen
