The Apocalypse

Lady Eldorath · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 4:48 am Post subject:

In the movie, the world doesn't "end", there is simply a switch in power. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it's worth the watch. Hell, I saw the making of it and it's cool to know that this guy was chased by an actual panther on a chain lmao.

Ok, anyhow, I don't think the world is going to end in 2012. I also don't think Predators will come down and wipe us all out using us as hosts for aliens, then destroy us because they couldn't hunt down the aliens. Hell of a movie though.

I have to agree a lot with what IR has already posted.
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"Weaken a bad habit by avoiding everything that occasioned it or stimulated it, without concentrating upon it in your zeal to avoid it. Then divert your mind to some good habit and steadily cultivate it until it becomes a dependable part of you. " P. Yogananda

C26 · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject:

I R Speshul · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject:

You fail to recognize the fact that Christianity is not a religion of fear, merely because it has fearful things in it. What you are looking at is the fact that it cannot stop the fear-mongers from preaching. You cannot look at a sole example and paint everything related with the same brush, a crime that many are guilty of, I may mention, in regards to Islam and radical terrorism.

To my experience, fear of damnation is what possesses children with little knowledge and less experience to listen to what some of the more radical Sunday school teachers have to say. Such a faith is not a real faith, but those who follow Jesus and live for Him are the ones who, as I have seen, have no 'fear' of God and divine wrath, but a desire to be close to God and a willingness to be a part of His plan.
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C26 · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:30 pm Post subject:

Are you some priest or something?

Stop saying I fail or confuse everything. It's my oppinion, and I have the right to show it. No matter how young I am.

I don't base my oppinion on words of some twisted preacher. I read the excerpts of Biblie.
Jesus said God loved everyone and would forgive all the sinners. The purpose of the Apocalypse is to warn people that they shouldn't do evil things. It causes the fear from being damned, doesn't it?.
I'm not trying to proove you God is evil. I'm saying every religion must include fear so its followers could be faithfull.

There're people whose faith is full of love, of course. I don't doubt. My faith used to be like that when I was a little girl "with little knowledge and less experience".
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Lady Eldorath · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:22 am Post subject:

C26 · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:25 am Post subject:

To look from another point of view... It's what I did, and my faith's changed entirely.
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Aum · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 2:07 pm Post subject:

I R Speshul · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 2:37 am Post subject:

C26, you're getting too defensive. It might be unwise to bring age into the discussion.

The Christian Armageddon is a unique event. Say, in Nordic mythology, the end of the world is a terrible thing with terrible consequences, one that destroys life as we know it and brings an end to wisdom and independence. Such is the nature of many universal ends. It's the special effects show of religious literature. However, in Christianity, the primary focus is not the horrible punishment a wrathful god inflicts on unworthy sinners, but the grand conclusion of the eternal conflict between God and the devil, or, in a less religious sense, good and evil. Revelations shows us what the world will be like once sin is destroyed, and tells us how God is going to go about getting rid of it.

Essentially, the world that is in Revelations is a post-evil paradise, one that mirrors the closeness to divinity that mankind has not experienced since Eden. It's a story of hope and of victory, one that is designed to make people think "I want in on that!"
In fact, I could argue that the entire purpose of Christianity is to give mankind the ability to get in on something greater than the world, greater than religion. Forgiveness from sin, freedom from evil, and a relationship with God. Look at that and tell me that it contains any semblance of fear-mongering.
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C26 · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 12:29 pm Post subject:

Most people would get defensive if, when talking to them about the subject which's based on the point of view, you desperately kept on saying "you're wrong". Let's leave it.

I know about the fight between good and evil and that catastrophe would lead to creating the paradise. As you said, it's the victory of one side over another. It makes people thinking "I want in on that", but... is it so bacause of a pure faith? I think it's because of the fear from being by the side of losers (I don't mean all the people think like that). Also, the prospect of the paradise attracts people. What if Satan offered another paradise? The decission - which paradise to choose - wouldn't be so easy to make.
At the end of the apocalypse, Jesus announces his return. It's joy for faithful followers only. There'll be the paradise, yet not for the sinners.
Jesus tells Jonh to announce that it's time to be converted, bacause when the Judgement Day comes, there won't be chance to do that. The Apocalypse is a deadline.
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Aum · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject:

I R Speshul · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 2:28 am Post subject:

Christians do not desire to 'bring about' the apocalypse. Apocalyptic cults do, but the Bible is quite clear when it states that the time and day is known only to God, and none other. We as people could do no more to cause Armageddon than we could order the sun to move from one place to the other.

That is not to say, C26, that the end of the universe is not a welcome event to Christians. Your focus on the fate of those who are on the wrong side seems to be superfluous. Why would we look at the plight of the losers if any one of them had an entire lifetime to join the victorious? Do we speak remorsefully of those convicted at Nuremburg? No, we talk in joyous tones of the final defeat of the Nazis. In the same vein, it is not as if those who are going to find themselves on the wrong side of Judgment Day had no choice in their fate, and, for now, our concern is in helping them make the right decision. But, come V-Day, or so to speak, what happens then will be almost minor.
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C26 · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 12:46 pm Post subject:

As far as i remember, there's a question in Biblie which goes like this: Will Jesus find pure faith when returning?
It's said that only those whose faith was pure would be saved from catastrophe. It's not about the decision where to stand - by the side of losers or winners.
Do you really think most people believe in God like that nowadays?
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Aum · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 2:34 pm Post subject:

I R Speshul · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 2:12 pm Post subject:

You both seem to have a terrifically misanthropic view of religion and of Christians in particular. Is it too hard to believe that the faith of people can be based off of faith and not off of fear? Are you pointing to the 'majority' because its an ambiguous entity which you can use just a sparse few examples to support?

Granted, I'll be the first to admit that there are a great deal of Christians who are just Christians on the census count, but Christianity is not designed around, nor are the majority of its members motivated by, the fear-mongering of its preachers.
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C26 · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 3:25 pm Post subject: