End of Days..

[Philo]

I watched a program last weekend that just amazed me.it was about The Book of Revelations and how about forty percent of the people in this country believe what is written in it.which is that the world will come to an end and they will be the only ones saved and taken to paradise.
how can so many people be so goddamn delusional and believe this crap?are they that afraid of this world that they are willing to die on the odd chance that they will go to another better place.

[ksbluesfan]

Nothing surprises me anymore. Belief in Bible prophecy is hardly the stupidest thing, that's just the start.

[marco]

Sounds like the 'A - Rabs' and their eleventy virgins who do anal on the first date.

[glen a richter]

I work with a "science" teacher who thinks the world is going to end on March 21st 2012 for believers and October 21st 2012 for non-believers. I question why the hell he's a science teacher when all he ever does is bash evolution and preach. I'm frankly sick of listening to him spew this crap.

His reasoning for global warming is that it's "the power of God coming closer to Earth".

[goon attack]

I watched a program last weekend that just amazed me.it was about The Book of Revelations and how about forty percent of the people in this country believe what is written in it.which is that the world will come to an end and they will be the only ones saved and taken to paradise.
how can so many people be so goddamn delusional and believe this crap?are they that afraid of this world that they are willing to die on the odd chance that they will go to another better place.

What is your fukken point, jerkoff?

[Mellanby_equals_grit]

I watched a program last weekend that just amazed me.it was about The Book of Revelations and how about forty percent of the people in this country believe what is written in it.which is that the world will come to an end and they will be the only ones saved and taken to paradise.
how can so many people be so goddamn delusional and believe this crap?are they that afraid of this world that they are willing to die on the odd chance that they will go to another better place.

What is your fukken point, jerkoff?

That religious people are idealistic pansies. You oughta be able to get down with hate on that.

[JCShutout]

Yeah, religious fundamentalists in every religion are... interesting is a nice way to say it.

Interesting thing is, Revelation was written, describing the persecution Christians were facing in the Roman Empire. It was never intended to be an "end of days"-like text.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_ntb5b.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has some brief descriptions of the different views. Mine stated is under "Moral Booster", and the Theologian quoted (Kellhoffer) I studied under at SLU. Didn't expect to see him there!

Many people who have interpreted the rich symbolism and mythology of [Revelation] have read into it to reflect on a world cataclysm within their lifetime. It greatly misunderstands ancient Jewish and Christian prophets who always talk about apocalypses within their own time, not several centuries hence.

Which leads to my next point, that most Biblical "Revelation" from the Hebrew prophets to the Christian images in Revelation almost always talked about events which are suppossed to happen in the author's lifetime, or at latest, a few decades later. Not centuries or millenia later.

Using Revelation to try and predict the end of the world would be like taking a State of the Union Address from 1860 and using it to interpret the US' current problems. Sure you can look at the old address and see similarities and problems, and study what the concern was and all that, but you woulden't say that address was talking about the Iraq war or the current state of the economy or whatnot. That just wasn't the intent of the author, nor how the people of that time understood it.

[goon attack]

That religious people are idealistic pansies. You oughta be able to get down with hate on that.

How about you just be a little more tolerant, bubba?

[Mellanby_equals_grit]

That religious people are idealistic pansies. You oughta be able to get down with hate on that.

How about you just be a little more tolerant, bubba?

Tolerance and acceptance are 2 different things. I tolerate religious people and believe they have the right to be as insane as they want to be. But I also have the right to think they're nucking futs, and to express this opinion.

[goon attack]

How are you in any position to judge anybody's sanity?

And btw, keep defending Obama and you'll be closer to NOT having the right to your opinion.

[ksbluesfan]

How are you in any position to judge anybody's sanity?

And btw, keep defending Obama and you'll be closer to NOT having the right to your opinion.

This is not a political thread. This is "Sunday, Bloody Sunday".

[Mellanby_equals_grit]

How are you in any position to judge anybody's sanity?

.

Did you miss the "my college degree means everything" thread? I have a degree in Psychology.

[WaukeeBlues]

I work with a "science" teacher who thinks the world is going to end on March 21st 2012 for believers and October 21st 2012 for non-believers. I question why the hell he's a science teacher when all he ever does is bash evolution and preach. I'm frankly sick of listening to him spew this crap.

His reasoning for global warming is that it's "the power of God coming closer to Earth".

2012 has SOME (emphasis on SOME) physical oddities that make it interesting.

Ignoring Nostradamus (which is where most people get the 2012 from) the Incan calendar ends on the year 2012, so people have construed the two sources picking the same year as more than coincidence.

People will keep predicting the world will end on a certain date for all of eternity. Every time another prediction is wrong, they'll go back and re-evaluate the same sh*t and say "OH WAIT, here's what it REALLY MEANT!!!"

[ksbluesfan]

The Mayan calendar just rolls over like an odometer in 2012. Sure, the Mayans were advanced for a primitive civilization, but there is absolutely nothing to support the conclusion that they thought the world would end on December 23, 2012. The same calendar started on August 13, 3114 BC, yet nobody is silly enough to claim that the world started then. To think the world will end then based on the Mayan calendar makes as much sense as believing the world began on January 1 and will end on December 31.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmayancalendar.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are no unique astronomical events that will occur on that date. Everything, in terms of our solar system, has happened countless times before.

The quatrains of Nostradamus are so vague, they could be interpreted to mean anything. It's funny how his predictions are only declared to be true after the events took place. Nobody has ever used his work to foretell a World War, 9/11 or any other major world event.

If you're interested in Nostradamus, check ou this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mask_of_Nostradamus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

James Randi completely debunks Nostradamus.

Psychics are con artists. Some of them might believe they are psychic, but keep in mind that nobody predicted 9/11. Sylvia Browne has been wrong so many time, I'm amazed that anybody believes her. Cold reading, the trick used by psychics, is a trick anybody can learn.

[WaukeeBlues]

There was this thing on the History channel where they were analyzing Nostradamus images. I'm no expert in symbolism, and apparently Nostradamus was but I mean COME ON- some of these things that they were saying were "clear references to" was like... uh, no.

[stlbluz]

Arnie's done better movies.

[the knob]

I watched a program last weekend that just amazed me.it was about The Book of Revelations and how about forty percent of the people in this country believe what is written in it.which is that the world will come to an end and they will be the only ones saved and taken to paradise.
how can so many people be so goddamn delusional and believe this crap?are they that afraid of this world that they are willing to die on the odd chance that they will go to another better place.

I think I watched the same show. The interesting thing I took away is that there is no mention of the Rapture or similar events in Revelations at all, the idea is not even contained in the Bible yet you hear people preaching about it all the time.

[ksbluesfan]

I watched a program last weekend that just amazed me.it was about The Book of Revelations and how about forty percent of the people in this country believe what is written in it.which is that the world will come to an end and they will be the only ones saved and taken to paradise.
how can so many people be so goddamn delusional and believe this crap?are they that afraid of this world that they are willing to die on the odd chance that they will go to another better place.

I think I watched the same show. The interesting thing I took away is that there is no mention of the Rapture or similar events in Revelations at all, the idea is not even contained in the Bible yet you hear people preaching about it all the time.

Here is the most clear Biblical source.

"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
(1 Thessalonians 4:15–17)

Credit John Nelson Darby in the 19th Century for making the rapture an issue. Prior to that, there was little to no support for the idea. Of course I think it's a load of crap.