Another war fueled by longstanding ethnic tensions has errupted in the Middle East. When I see the destruction on television and think about the enmity between the Arab world and Israel, I can’t help but wonder if this conflict could end up being a catalyst for the next world war, with every nation expected to eventually chose sides. I haven’t been following it too closely because, to be honest, the whole thing kinda freaks me out.
For some of America’s evangelical extremists, however, a bloody, drawn-out war in the Middle East is a cause for celebration (via C&L) :
“For the first time in my Christian walk, I have no doubts that the day of the Lords appearing is upon us. I have never felt this way before, I have a joy that bubbles up every-time I think of him, for I know this is truly the time I have waited for so long. Am I alone in feeling guilty about the human suffering like my joy at his appearing some how fuels the evil I see everywhere. If it were not for the souls that hang in the balance and the horror that stalks man daily on this earth, my joy would be complete.”
. . .
“How can we not be excited, our redeemer cometh. We should pray always for the lost. But he is coming. Amen Amen ever so come lord Jesus.”
. . .
“Ready, waiting and excited here! Still telling others whenever possible that the rapture could take place at any time because this world is in such a big MESS and evidently it goes through one ear and right out the other.”
. . .
“I am excited beyond words that the struggle of this life may be over soon and I can finally be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!”
. . .
“I too am soooo excited!! I get goose bumps, literally, when I watch what’s going on in the M.E.!! And Watcherboy, you were so right when saying it was quite a day yesterday, in the world news, and I add in local news here in the Boston area!! Tunnel ceiling collapsed on a car and killed a woman of faith, and we had the most terrifying storms I have ever seen here!! But, yes, Ohappyday, like in your screen name , it is most indeed a time to be happy and excited, right there with ya!!”
. . .
“Lets keep the excitement going!!!!!”
. . .
“Days like today it’s all I want. Other days because of others I want one more. But what a privilege to be apart of the rapture. I can hardly wait!!”
As my wife said, “they sound like they’re ready to put on Nike’s and drink some Kool-Aid.”
Well hopefully they’ll all ascend to heaven quickly, so we can have our country back…
Seriously though people like this make it difficult to come up with any sane public policy. They’re in favor of war, the bloodier the better. Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Poverty, High Crime Rates, Human Suffering in General, are all good things to them, since they see them as signs of the end of the world. Explains a lot about what we’ve been going through for the past six years doesn’t it?
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I’ll tell you somehting equally scary: A muslim fundy that pesters me is also excited. He apparently has some version of the end times he holds dear as well. Of course, in that particular supernatural drama, it isn’t the Christians who benefit.
I think we’ve found at least half of Bush’s 36%.
Sounds like they need a hobby, or at least a good lay.
Islam has its own idea of a Messiah, the Mahdi. The details vary depending on the sect, but the basic idea is that he’ll come back at the end of the world to fight against the Islamic equivalent of the Antichrist. As you can imagine a number of folks have claimed to be the Mahdi or have been suspected by others of being the Mahdi. The most well know example to Westerns is probably Muhammad Ahmad, whose attack on British forces in Khartoum in 1884 has been memorialised in the Charlton Heston film Khartoum.
History is rife with examples of people fully convinced that they are living in the end times and that their god (who holds them in special regard) is returning/coming to lead the elect to their supernatural reward. Let us prepare for the four toothfairies of the appocolypse. If these people were honest their tombstones would read “still waiting for the rapture”. They would be better off considering the words “as you do onto the least among you, so you do onto me” rather than promoting themselves to god’s elect in the final times.
I’m just wondering if I can convince them to give me money. After all, the Rapture’s coming, they have no use for it…
Yuk. As a Christian (Anglican), I find their sentiments disgusting. I too look forward to the coming of Christ, but nowhere are we commanded to rejoice in the evils of this world, much less get giddy whenever a war or conflict arises. They embarrass me, truly.
It is becoming painfully obvious to me that it is coming down to a final battle for sure… a final battle for survival between rationalist thinkers and these delusional psychotics who believe in magical beings and mystical prophets.
Let’s face it folks, it’s either let them continue in this dangerous meme- and watching as they slowly poison our planet and lead millions into ‘holy’ *cough* wars; or we stop them now before it is too late to minimize the damage that they are doing. Wake up folks, peacefull, rational debate is not going to work on these people.
Do you ever get the feeling that this is God’s personal sitcom/soap opera? I pray we get renewed for another few seasons, but you couldn’t write this stuff this good. The characters are quite literally unbelieveable, and we go ahead and believe them anyway. We know all the rotten and terrible stuff that will befall us, and we do it anyway. We know that the rotten and unbelieveable people are lying to us, and we elect to follow them anyway. God must have an incredible sense of humor to tune in to this nonsense day after day. At least the stories are better than the commercials, for a change.
Somebody’s gotta level with these poor misguided folks. The Rapture’s come and gone, and they’ve all been left behind with the rest of us …
Hey guys & gals,
I want to throw in a word similar to what St. Worm said above. It’s too bad there are extremist elements in about every system of thought or religion in the world. I’ve been a Christian for a good number of years and I can tell you that the folks you are referring to don’t represent the majority of Christians. The problems in the world and the Middle East are sobering and a source of grief and concern to those I know. In spite of all this we do have a hope that the Lord is still going to work things out for the good of mankind. That is what “rejoicing in hope” really means. Not lack of concern.
Blessings to you,
“Doc”
So let’s see here, by Wiki, we have Zombie Freaks who seem to have seen too many George Romero movies.
Then we have fire freaks who see it as a sort of real life “Porno For Pyros”
Then we have the “daydreamers with a scheme” like the LaHaye’s just making shit up and bringing home 10 wheel dump trucks full of cash because of this “daydreaming.”.
And the Jehovah’s Witness’s.
And the Mormons.
And the Muslims.
And the Hindus.
And the Rastas.
Phew!
All these end timer types waiting for the signal, all dressed up with no where to go. No wonder the world is all FUBAR!
As my dear, departed friend Miz Vittitow once said: “If religion is the opiate of the masses, then fundamentalism is the amphetamine.”
Yes,
Bush sucks and there is no way I am buying all that apocalypse crap. If everyone who does wants to fullfill their own prophesies, I will see them somehow and somewhere in some state and will be much better off than they. Why should my family suffer just because most of the world has a 5th grade eductaion and is too busy running to church to study and research their aborigiony beliefs on their own? If you want to hand me Jesus, I will hand you Hercules. He will come back! He will have his vengeance and he will sit at the right hand of GOD. Give me a break people. You are all brainwashed, you Jesus lovers. Why would God do that? O.K, I’m gonna create the people, make them unworthy of my care, send myself down in man form to save them and keep the ones who buy it….how dumb is that? How many damned animals do you think you can fit in one boat? Why would a loving God need to prove something to Satan? O.K. Satan, you don’t believe my man loves me, I’ll destroy his life and you’ll see….watch this….there goes the story of Job. I just can’t believe how stupid I was to believe all that garbage for so many years. What a waste of my time. Our country will be going to Hell if we allow it to be run by raving lunatics who worship Hercules.
Yes,
Bush sucks and there is no way I am buying all that apocalypse crap. If everyone who does wants to fullfill their own prophesies, I will see them somehow and somewhere in some state and will be much better off than they. Why should my family suffer just because most of the world has a 5th grade eductaion and is too busy running to church to study and research their aborigiony beliefs on their own? If you want to hand me Jesus, I will hand you Hercules. He will come back! He will have his vengeance and he will sit at the right hand of GOD. Give me a break people. You are all brainwashed, you Jesus lovers. Why would God do that? O.K, I’m gonna create the people, make them unworthy of my care, send myself down in man form to save them and keep the ones who buy it….how dumb is that? How many stinking animals do you think you can fit in one boat? Why would a loving God need to prove something to Satan? O.K. Satan, you don’t believe my man loves me, I’ll destroy his life and you’ll see….watch this….there goes the story of Job. I just can’t believe how stupid I was to believe all that garbage for so many years. What a waste of my time. Our country will be going to Hell if we allow it to be run by raving lunatics who worship Hercules.
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Jesus is going to send these people straight to hell for looking on at the death of an innocent woman and the out break of war with glee.
The Republican “Revolution” sure has been revolting.
What are they gonna do if they find that “once saved always saved” stuff is a crock and since they didn’t bother cleaning up their corrupt lives after “accepting the Lord Jesus into their hearts”, unfortunately their rapture chutes have a severe u-turn included?
I once wrote a story about the Rapture in which it turned out the whole thing was a test designed by God. Anyone who accepted it was, by definition, unworthy of it, because they would be willing to abandon people to their suffering for being “sinful”. The day after the Rapture, nothing happened, Armageddon never came, and the world was a much better place for not having so many self-righteous hypocrites around. :)
Regarding our current heat wave….wonder if this is our own personal hell….a reward for turning our backs on the suffering of others? We live in a nation that has total disregard for the humanity of the world.
Proverbs
24:17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,and when he stumbles do not let your heart rejoice,
24:18 lest the Lord see it, and be displeased, and turn his wrath away from him.
Your wife is definitely right. There is more than one way to kill oneself: These people have given up on their lives, their children’s lives, their neighbors, their country, their world, and the future of humanity; hoping that God will come by and pull the plug for them because they are too damned cowardly to do it themselves.
Lisa: “Jesus is going to send these people straight to hell for looking on at the death of an innocent woman and the out break of war with glee.”
Of course, he’s been dead for about 200 years so they don’t have to worry.
The scariest part is that these delusional simpletons (app 26-30% of the population) are the main voting block. They may seem crazy to us, but they vote!! How else would we have the government we have. Blogs are great, and this country is filled with damn smart people, all we have to do is vote!
As I said to my Mrs. last night. “Funny innit? That the supposed retrun of the “Son of God” is one of the most brutal and bloody episodes that has ever been written. I wonder why a “Man of Peace” would signal his return by making bloddy, savage war on the peoples of Earth?” I am so glad to be an atheist!
Is the US now in our “dark ages”? Is the inquisition next? If intelligent, reasonable, rational thinking people don’t start to take action, I’m afraid so. Democracy? If this is Democracy it sux! We live in an Aristocracy, quickly on the way to a Theocracy. I hope I live to see the Enlightenment, or at least my children do.
Funny, isn’t it? The larger the population, the greater the number of the faithful, because that’s how it works. It’s viral. Only, this is a MEME.
So, in the Middle East, we’re seeing a swelling of Islamists, militant Jews, along with Christians waiting with bated breath for the Rapture…
…which will never come because it’s 100% mythology. Indeed, they can’t even agree when it will happen! There is no concensus on when the Rapture will happen. Will it be before, during or after the 7 Years of Tribulation? They can’t decide. That’s because it’s totally made up.
So, this disgusting MEME continues to cause damage to people’s brains, thought processes and public policy. This dangerous MEME polarizes entire countries, cultures and splits families apart.
The sad fact of the matter is that until the human race gives up religion, no one will be safe.
Relgious faith is the CAUSE of this problem. This MEME will continue to cause death and destruction as long as it’s propagated.
I, for one, am glad I’ve gotten the inocculation. Perhaps it’s time everyone else got it, too.
It’s totally free, too, by the way. It’s called: thinking.
I’m reading an excellent book entitled “The End of Faith,” by Sam Harris. Contra St. Worm and David Winter above, he argues that allowing faith to continue unquestioned, allowing even moderate adherents of religious beliefs to hang around and be treated with respect, ensures that we can never effectivly deal with the threat of fundamentalist and literalist violence. A really radical prospective like you only see in 19th century Atheist writings. And it was a NYT bestseller! It’s worth reading, so check it out.
They Holy Koran makes three primary requirements, listed in the holy book repeatedly over and over:
1. Do good deeds to please God.
2. Avoid the acts God prohibited to exhibit proper fear of God, and
3. Have strong faith in such a Grand and Glorious God and believe in his munificience.
It also speaks very respectfully of the old Hebrew and the Christian prophets and the Koran says these books were given to us for our increased understanding.