Originally posted by messenoirYes, I get very annoyed with Christians who take the view, since we will all be going to Heaven anyway, it doesn't matter what we do in this life, as long as we ask Jesus for forgiveness.
I get the feeling Jesus is going to surprise many people by caring very much how we treated the planet on the people on this planet when we get to Heaven.
Technically they're wrong anyhow...it DOES matter what you do in this life because you don't know when you're going to die.
The great promise of Christianity is that you can be redeemed even until the end. Look to the example of the criminal that was crucified next to Christ. But...you can't count on always having that opportunity AND "counting" on it kind of negates the actual faith you would need at "the end" for it to qualify...I think.
As for the "end times"...I agree anyone who says they "know" when it's coming...doesn't.
Originally posted by ekedolphinWell, none shall know the hour for a fact, but that doesn't necessarily mean that no one will speculate that it could be coming.
In the NIV of the Bible, I believe the phrase "When you least expect it" comes right across Jesus' lips during a parable in one of the Gospels. Then again, someone else may have translated it differently, so who really knows.
What do the other big religions say about the end of times? I know Nordic mythology has Ragnarok but must say I am falling short right after that. If islamic 'end of times' totally conflicts with the christian version we might be looking for the wrong signs. Same for hindu.
(Tried to look it up really quickly, seems most of the big religions have the same thing. First things get worse, then a period of cleansing after which the believers live happily ever after. Saw that the Kuran mentioned darkened skies and such, and that Jesus would return first.)
Hmm..this might be the moment to bring up one of my weirdest thoughts & theories ever.
Doesn't the bible say that we are created in God's likeliness? And God created man from out of nothing really.
The end will come when we become God, when we create from out of nothing (=dna cloning/creation)
A few years ago I heard some story that they could get Jesus' dna from the shroud of Turin (assuming its real). Then perhaps eventually we can recreate him via dna cloning.. This will lead to the second coming of Jesus, created by men. I riled up some religious people I knew with this theory (I myself am not religious in the least) who were shocked by my blasphemy since it went against everything God ever wanted us to do. That's my point exactly. The moment we "become God" (immaculate conception of Jesus) an end is put to this whole experiment..
That is ofcourse if there is a Christian God as we know it.
Originally posted by dMpA few years ago I heard some story that they could get Jesus' dna from the shroud of Turin (assuming its real). Then perhaps eventually we can recreate him via dna cloning.. This will lead to the second coming of Jesus, created by men.
Why stop at just a second coming? Imagine dozens of them running around.
Vanilla Ice on stardom: "I had a weekend that lasted a couple of years."
First off, I don't think we're in the end times. Either it will happen, as Jesus said, when we least expect it, or else we will see it coming from miles away because it'll be clear that humanity is fucked. As much as it seems like there are a lot of bad things going on in the world today (and there are), I don't see any reason to believe that this is a historically bad time to be alive.
On the other hand, isn't there a Mayan calendar that supposedly ends in 2012 or something? And then there's that creepy prophecy about this current pope being one of the final popes. Again, I don't believe either of those things are forecasts of the imminent demise of the world, but I still find it just a little unsettling. I'm sure that there have been a million other prophecies about the end of the world whether it's because it's the year 1000 or 2000 or because of some weather pattern or for any other reason you can imagine.
Originally posted by BigSteve As much as it seems like there are a lot of bad things going on in the world today (and there are), I don't see any reason to believe that this is a historically bad time to be alive.
As upset as many fundmentalist Christians are about our country and as many "bad" things as seem to be going on, take a moment to look back over the last 2000 years. Even with all the problems we have now, they are minor inconveniences compared to the horrors of the past. So I agree with you, it is a good time to be alive. Remember this is the best of all possible worlds as it is the only world we have.
(edited by DrDirt on 19.10.05 1130) Perception is reality
For what it's worth, I think global warming is a more immediate threat than the Final Judgment. If you're looking for a reason why the hurricane season has been so bad, you might try looking there.
(edited by Stilton on 20.10.05 1429) He was a popular attraction until he choked to death on a corn kernel.
dmp, the immaculate conception regards Mary, not Jesus.
Stilton, there are a lot of other places we could look for answers(or the absence of answers) to the damned Hurrican Season rather than jumping on the alarmist GW bandwagon.
Originally posted by StiltonHow is this alarmist? The average global surface temperature has changed more drastically in the last 25 years than any time in recorded history.
Yeah, but we've only got 150 years of "recorded history" for a planet that we're told is somewhere in the range of 6 billion years old. There may be a long term trend or two we're missing...
That said, I can't honestly say that I don't think we've had an effect. I suspect what we might have done is accelerate something that was already happening. But we definitely need to take a long hard look at how we relate to and use this planet.
As for "end times" in general, count me among those who aren't going to get worked up about the idea. For all we know, we could be the third or fourth or hundredth organized and intelligent species on this planet. And for all we know, we won't be the last. We'll be wiped out someday, there's no question about that; it could be today or tomorrow, it could be a thousand years from now. We could do it to ourselves, or it could be done to us. Ruminating on the possibility won't get anyone anywhere and will distort the way one relates to the world as it is.
Originally posted by StiltonHow is this alarmist? The average global surface temperature has changed more drastically in the last 25 years than any time in recorded history.
Now I'm certainly no scientist, but I'll put one shiny dime up for bet that it was a lot warmer in 1910 than it was, say, during the Ice Age.
Plus, how would anyone know the average temperature of the entire worle in 1860, when there were places of the world still unmapped then?
(edited by Eddie Famous on 21.10.05 1527) As of 2/28/05: 101 pounds since December 7, 2004 OFFICIAL THREE-MONTH COUNT: 112 pounds on March 9, 2005 OFFICIAL SIX-MONTH COUNT: 142 pounds on June 8, 2005 As of 9/26/05: 170 pounds "I've lost a light heavyweight"
Originally posted by Eddie FamousNow I'm certainly no scientist, but I'll put one shiny dime up for bet that it was a lot warmer in 1910 than it was, say, during the Ice Age.
A few degrees warmer, say 3 or 4 degrees on average on a global scale, is all it would have taken to end an ice age. It's been 20,000 years since the end of the last ice age, and only 25 years since 1980. Since the geological record shows there has been no major climactic shift since the end of the last ice age, we know that the Earth is now undergoing the most rapid and drastic climactic shift it has undergone in at least 20,000 years. The results will be cataclysmic. We may be seeing the tip of the iceberg already.
Originally posted by Eddie FamousPlus, how would anyone know the average temperature of the entire worle in 1860, when there were places of the world still unmapped then?
(edited by Eddie Famous on 21.10.05 1527)
The log books of the ships of the British navy from the 19th century are quite accurate and cover enough of the entire globe to factor an average global temperature. That's how.
He was a popular attraction until he choked to death on a corn kernel.
So how could you have honestly said " It's been 20,000 years since the end of the last ice age" if you admit knowing of the little ice age. Sounds a bit dishonest to me.
And excuse me if I am just a bit skeptical about some of the warming data that is out there. We don't trust our weathermen to tell us when it will rain and when it won't, but we are supposed to trust huge theoretical models inside of supercomputers that are supposed to recreate the atmospheric conditions of the entire globe! Man shouldn't be so damned pretentious!
Also, you wouldn't trust a tobacco company telling you about how to keep your lungs clean, sort of like how I just don't trust socialist, anti-american, global governmentalists who want to bring down the lone superpower and demand we sign a crippling treaty but who will not follow it themselves.
We indoctrinate our children when they are in 1st and 2nd grade with this crap. Get them while they were young. Just like all the young kids in the Soviet Union believed that Iosif Vissarionovich was the wisest and greatest leader and they grew up in the best conditions possible.
Interestingly enough, in my Sunday school class I teach, today was end times and I asked the kids (we're talking 6th through 12th grade today because the regular older teacher was gone - usually it's just 6th to 8th for me) what was going to happen at the end of the world. One of the 11 year olds was more insightful than any of us.
He said "poof" - then it's up to God.
I agreed with the kid. Class over, let's have doughnuts.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
Just to chime in, the National Hurricane Center is now issuing updates on the 22nd named storm of the year, Tropical Depression/Storm Alpha. It's on the cusp of a depression & a storm.
Odd.
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All of the quoted "promises" that the cartoon uses were made in May and July of this year. Now I dont know a HELL of a lot about politics, but isnt 5 months a little too soon to say that he already went back on those promises?