bts@unc.UUCP (11/07/83)
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Now, for those people who expressed no preference for
an organized religion-- or a preference for no organized
religion. I have a brief comment at the end on my own
feelings. This will be my final word on ess-scatology,
unless someone else brings it up again.
Bruce Smith, UNC-Chapel Hill
decvax!duke!unc!bts (USENET)
bts.unc@CSnet-Relay (other NETworks)
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i found the world will end in a "prince" song
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I do not believe that the Judgement of the King James
Book is coming before the year 2,000 AD. I do not particu-
larly care that other people hold this belief, since I
suspect that other belief which I do hold will appear
equally silly in a few years.
I do not support the actions of people who would commit
the evils set out in the King James Revelation so as to
bring about the Second Coming. This would seem to me to be
a most evil sin. Because the Anti-Christ is necessary for
the Second Coming should men vie for his place? This is the
great and terrible sin of pride -- to wish to bring about
the redemption of the world personally -- when this can only
be done by God. This view places the devil on a equal foot-
ing with God.
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Gee. I don't know. I think that it is possible, given
the offensive capability of certain well known nations, but
then it is quite possible to say that the world is always
'ending' ... after all the world of our grandfathers isn't
around here now. But I do not think that God is going to end
the world, which is what I think your question really is.
I am entirely tolerant of the people I know who think
this, except when they decide that they have to convert me
before the crunch comes. Then I get peeved. Otherwise, I do
not see them bothering me much. I do not see them as
interfering much in governmental affairs, either, they have
their reasons for not thinking that the whole world is very
important, after all.
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Who suggested that there will be no 2001, and why? If
it is based on some mysterious 2000-year interval in the
Bible, I would like to know about it ... and I will probably
reject it just as I reject many other Bible literalisms. If
it is based on the trials of humanity that Jesus mentioned
carrying the cross, then I would like to know how they pin
the time down so accurately.
Or is it based on the vision at Lourdes when Our Lady
is reported to have told the children that there would be a
great destruction in this century, and ``many will not sur-
vive. Many who do survive will wish they hadn't''? And
Exactly What interpretation is being given?
As for myself: I don't think that God will pull down
the curtain just yet. Nuclear war might, but I rather don't
think so. Still, I can't rule it out. I wouldn't bet on
the speed of light changing, though.
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I do not believe a god or gods will end the world. I
understand that Watt's policies were partially based on his
assumption that god gave us the natural resources to use up
before judgment day.
I think Christianity is a sick and dangerous religion.
It is fatalistic and it has nothing good to say about any-
one. Assuming that the Christians do not destroy society
with their environmental policies they might do it by trying
to impose their morality on the world. On the other hand,
if there is no money to be made by imposing morality, I
notice that the moralists don't bother.
I like to interpret "end of the world" to mean that all
Christians will realize how incredibly negative and stupid
their religion is and it will be the "end of the world" for
them when they all give it up.
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Now, because one of the respondents asked, here's why
I ran the End-of-the-World survey. A friend mailed me the
article the following is taken from a week or so ago. I
think this has been a part of Ronald Reagan's policies as
long as he's been in office. James Watt's comments on there
being no generations to save natural resources for don't
scare me nearly as much as the thought that Reagan's defense
build up is aimed not at "defending" us from those G-dless
Commies in Russia, no he's getting ready to fight the Battle
of Armageddon with MX missles.
Bruce Smith
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WASHINGTON (AP) _ Five days before the terrorist bombing in
Beirut that killed more than 200 American troops, President
Reagan wondered aloud if the world wasn't approaching
``Armageddon,'' according to a lobbyist called by the
president. .
Thomas Dine, executive director of the American-Israel
Public Affairs Committee, confirmed on Friday that Reagan
had called him Oct. 18, to thank him for help in striking a
war powers compromise with Congress over the Marine peace-
keeping mission.
Reagan, according to Dine, noted that the night before
he had talked to parents of a Marine killed in Beirut, then
went on to say:
``You know, I turn back to your ancient prophets in the
Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon, and I
find myself wondering if _ if we're the generation that is
going to see that come about.
``I don't know if you've noted any of those prophecies
lately, but, believe me, they certainly describe the times
we're going through.''
Actually, it is in Revelation, the last book of the New
Testament of the Bible, in which Armageddon is prophesied as
the site of the final, destructive battle between good and
evil, to occur on Judgment Day.
The White House press office had no comment when asked
about the conversation, which originally was reported by
Wolf Blitzer in the Jerusalem Post.
Blitzer, Washington correspondent for the Israeli news-
paper, said, ``Someone gave me a transcript which I believed
to be authentic.'' Dine confirmed its authenticity on Fri-
day.tim@unc.UUCP (11/08/83)
Pamela and I often spend our Sunday nights watching the various Christian programming that comes on the local stations at that time. Usually, this is good for some laughs and righteous indignation. Sometimes, it is cause for nothing short of terror. I refer not to the threat of Hell, but from the fact that these people seem united in one thing: absolute and unreasoning hatred of the USSR, combined with an unwillingness to negotiate any arms controls or even to conduct high-level meetings with the Soviet leaders. They do not usually say that they want war, since they realize that they will get bad publicity if they do so, but there seems little other interpretation of their advocacy of massive weapons buildups and refusal to deal with the Russians on non-hostile terms. This past Sunday was particularly bad, since all of them chose this as their topic. Jerry Falwell in particular made no real attempt to cover the fact that he wanted a war with the Reds so bad he could taste it, but that is nothing new, really. He would just as soon see all homosexuals in America put to the torch as well. This sort of rhetoric is usually juxtaposed with a lot of talk about the book of Revelation, and specious comparisons of the current situation with the prophecies. (Not that they're bad matches, it's just that matches equally good could be drawn at any point in human history.) It can't help but worry me to see these people exerting a certain amount of political influence, since they have stated plainly that they think they are to be the last generation of humans on Earth, and we all know how religious folk are with their prophecies: If it doesn't come true on its own, they figure it's their duty to make it happen. In short, I do believe that this form of pre-millenial thought is a clear and present danger to the survival of the human race, now that we have the means to destroy ourselves. ________________________________________________________ Tim Maroney, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill duke!unc!tim (USENET), tim.unc@csnet-relay (ARPA) PS. Some of you may not know that we have a Christian programming ministry on USENET. It is called "itm", which stands for "In Touch Ministries". When the site originally entered our network, a man called itm!bob was fairly active in quoting the Bible in a purposely insulting fashion at us unbelievers, but I haven't seen anything on this group from that site recently. I for one would be interested in hearing more about how these programs are produced, distributed, and funded.
alle@ihuxb.UUCP (11/09/83)
Tim made reference to him getting the impression that Falwell and other fundamentalists seemed to desire a war with the USSR. Maybe this has something to do with the book of Revelations indicating that a great final war will occur between East and West as part of the second coming of Christ (which is anxiously awaited by many Christians). Perhaps Falwell's desire for war with the USSR stems from his desire to see the second coming. Also, I have heard many interpretations of the battle of Armageddon from the book of Revelations that indicate that it will be a nuclear war. Allen England at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, IL ihnp4!ihuxb!alle