Jesus' Failed Prophesy
Aside from the fact that most modern Bible scholars believe that 2nd Peter was a Christian interpolation, there is nothing in 2nd Peter or any other Bible passage that tells us that any text having to do with time should be filtered through it. Anyone who believes in that filter must then admit that the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 can be reduced to a single day. The sort of contrived thinking that pretends 2nd Peter's statement is applicable is what the early Christians engaged in, after combing the teachings for an excuse to explain why Jesus had not shown up. It's ironic that this "spiritualization" of any doctrines or verses that disagree with their position is also what the Gnostics used to do to the more orthodox Christians, which drove the orthodox nearly nuts from frustration. The excuse based on distinguishing heaven time from earth time was not voiced until after the fact, which nullifies any support for its validity.
To carry the point one step further: suppose that a year were to be defined as the amount of time it takes a planet to revolve around its sun. In such a case, a year on earth is obviously not the same length of time as a year on Pluto, which takes 248 earth years to revolve around the sun. If (to use an outlandish example) a Plutonian were to take out a 4-year car loan on earth, clearly a common system of time measurement would first have to be agreed upon. Otherwise the earth bank might be waiting 992 earth years for the repayment of what they thought was a simple 4-year loan! The potential for confusion is evident. However, I Corinthians 14:9 & 33, respectively, asks/says (1) "...if you...do not utter intelligible speech, how will anyone know what is being said?" and (2) in effect, God is not the author of confusion. After all, it makes sense that an intelligent being would know that to communicate with humans, one must speak the language of earth, including using human systems of time measurement. Therefore, when Jesus says one day or year, he would logically not mean a thousand. Otherwise he would be authoring mass confusion.
In the Resurrection story, if the reference to time were to other than earth-days, no one would know what was meant in the scriptures by "Jesus will rise from the dead after three days." That is, if one applies the 1 day = 1,000 years formula, Jesus would have nearly another 1,000 years to go before he's due to be resurrected. If this were true, all Christians would still be in their "original" sinful state.
Conclusion
The fact that Jesus' prophesies about the end of the world did not come true is an obviously reasonable basis for Christians to question their belief system. All defense offered by Christians is lacking in authority and logic.
