Jump to content
Goodbye Jesus

Top Ten Reasons Not To Fear Biblical End-times Scenarios


Overcame Faith

Recommended Posts

Margee, I am so glad you noticed me. I feel like I know you. Thank you for the warm welcome. I have read the letter you wrote called, 'Please Forgive Me' many times. When I feel afraid and I still continue to pray to God and I don't feel any answers, I go and read that letter and I know deep down inside that God propbably does not hear my prayers. Every single day that goes by, I see less and less of God's presence and evidence. I am trying to face the fact that He might have never been there all along? This has been heartbreaking for me. The clarity and realization of reality is not very fun, is it? Everything in my mind now, (secretly I do this) dissects the world. My brain is on red alert and I find myself analyzing everything. I have a new pair of glasses on (and they are not very rosy) and I see everything so conflicting now. The terrible news yesterday of the school shootings, the worlds politics, the hatred and violence. I see it all in a different light. I find it incredibly depressing. 

 

I am wishing that all this will go away one morning and the Good Lord will restore my faith. There may be no turning back for me now. I know I will need to be cautious about how I present myself to my friends and family. I do not like to stir things up. I need to stay close to all you people on the board for guidance. That's why I get to my computer as often as I can, to read the topics of discussion. Your posts have brought me a lot of comfort. Each and every post helps to navigate me. I am grateful to everyone.

 

Many thanks.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
Guest r3alchild

Lets take a look at something in revelations 20

 

The Judgment of the Dead

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had doneas recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

 

Now christians say this is the real event of judgment and this is what they use to prove judgment then hell fire.

 

But notice one serious flaw

 

14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

 

If this is talking about a real place how is hades there being tormented forever, hades is not real.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I think hades is some kind of waiting room and after judgment day it stops existing.

Arent "death" and "hades" the same thing? Or is hades a place and death literary death. But how can "death" die?

 

I always thought, christian believe that you get to heaven or hell right after you die. but that sounds more you have to wait in hades till judgment day. so all this near-death-experience testimonies about seeing heaven/hell are not consistent with the bible?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest r3alchild

I think hades is some kind of waiting room and after judgment day it stops existing.

Arent "death" and "hades" the same thing? Or is hades a place and death literary death. But how can "death" die?

 

I always thought, christian believe that you get to heaven or hell right after you die. but that sounds more you have to wait in hades till judgment day. so all this near-death-experience testimonies about seeing heaven/hell are not consistent with the bible?

Sorry for a late reply, my understanding is we die then sleep till judgment day. But this is not what all christians believe.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

What I don't get is why people in Churches want the end times to happen.

 

Its all right for them who probably have family who are 'Saved' how do you think it would feel for some Christians knowing everyone they know and actually truly love are all going to Hell.  I was this type of Christian and I never wanted the end times to come but I always read about them!

 

Anyone know why people in Churches look forward to 'The End' One thing that frightens the shit out of me and put me into my depression a year ago is the fact that how do you know if you are 'Saved' lol.

 

Imagine the Hypothetical Rapture does occur what about the people who thought they were Christian deep in their heart and done good for people.  What if they just had problems with belief but still tried their best and were left behind.  That would be horrible!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Monkey man were you raised in a fundamentalist religion-- you sound so much like me!! It is so hard to get the indoctrination out of our head!! I felt the same way-- I didn't like the end times stuff because it made me sad-- frankly, I really didn't want Jesus to come back, and that was when I was a Christian!! Now, I struggle with the same fears as well as probably some guilt, but I just can't believe that the end times as described by fundamentalists will actually happen-- even though sometimes it seems like it will--- history seems to prove them wrong, so I guess you and I just need to be patient!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I don't get is why people in Churches want the end times to happen.

 

Its all right for them who probably have family who are 'Saved' how do you think it would feel for some Christians knowing everyone they know and actually truly love are all going to Hell. I was this type of Christian and I never wanted the end times to come but I always read about them!

 

Anyone know why people in Churches look forward to 'The End' One thing that frightens the shit out of me and put me into my depression a year ago is the fact that how do you know if you are 'Saved' lol.

 

Imagine the Hypothetical Rapture does occur what about the people who thought they were Christian deep in their heart and done good for people. What if they just had problems with belief but still tried their best and were left behind. That would be horrible!

Let's get even a little more fundamental. Ask yourself why the need for Jesus to come back at all? The answer to that question can dispel all end times fears.

 

The Jesus of the four gospels was a failed Messiah. By that, I mean that during his life, he did not meet the minimum requirements to be the Messiah. Primarily what he left undone was universal, world peace. Having died before achieving world peace, Jesus, by definition, was not the Messiah.

 

Now, put yourself in the place of a person or group of persons whe wanted to perpetrate a religious fraud. The fraud was to present Jesus as the Messiah and to build a whole new religion around this concept. You know that your fundamental problem is that there is not world peace. What do you do?

 

What you do is exactly what the gospel writers did. You fashion a two stage messiah. The first stage is to die as an atonement for sin. And the real slight of hand trick is to proclaim that during the second stage, the second coming, your false Messiah will then bring about world peace. Beautiful solution. No one can prove that Jesus' death was not an atonement for sin. Additionally, there never has to be actual world peace, only the continuous expectation of, but never fulfilled, second coming.

 

Any wonder why, with such a preposterous two stage Messiah, the Jews reject the Christian religion? The Jewish Biblical scholars know that their Messianic prophecies do not allow for a two stage Messiah. In other words, they have not allowed themselves to be duped!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Because when people do what God will supposedly do in the future, human beings ALL condemn them. 

 

If people really were being thrown into a pit of fire, even if we threw prisoners into one, everyone would be aghast. 

 

If Xers saw God REALLY doing what he is thought to be going to do, they would be AGHAST. 

 

If they saw people screaming in pain and knew it was God, they would run away so fast, they would not be worshipping him. People get PTSD as it is now when they witness horrors. They would also have it then.

 

God would be a monster and everyone would see it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Just poking around and found this thread.  

 

A couple thoughts came to mind.  One Revelation itself was hotly detested in the early church-- many thought it should not be in the canon.  Eusebius of Caesarea wrote in the 3rd c.:

 

"Among the disputed books, although they are known and approved by many, is reputed, that called the Epistle of James and Jude.  Also the Second Epistle of Peter and those called Second and Third of John ... Moreover, as I said before, if it should appear right, the Revelation of John, which some, as before said, reject but others rank among the genuine."

 

I love this from Jefferson:

 

“It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it [the Book of Revelation], and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams.  … What has no meaning admits no explanation; and pardon me if I say, with the candor of friendship, that I think your time too valuable, and your understanding of too high an order, to be wasted on these paralogisms. You will perceive, I hope, also, that I do not consider them as revelations of the Supreme Being, whom I would not so far blaspheme as to impute to Him a pretension of revelation, couched at the same time in terms which, He would know, were never to be understood by those to whom they were addressed.”—Letter to General Alexander Smyth, Jan. 17, 1825

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just poking around and found this thread.  

 

A couple thoughts came to mind.  One Revelation itself was hotly detested in the early church-- many thought it should not be in the canon.  Eusebius of Caesarea wrote in the 3rd c.:

 

"Among the disputed books, although they are known and approved by many, is reputed, that called the Epistle of James and Jude.  Also the Second Epistle of Peter and those called Second and Third of John ... Moreover, as I said before, if it should appear right, the Revelation of John, which some, as before said, reject but others rank among the genuine."

 

I love this from Jefferson:

 

“It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it [the Book of Revelation], and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams.  … What has no meaning admits no explanation; and pardon me if I say, with the candor of friendship, that I think your time too valuable, and your understanding of too high an order, to be wasted on these paralogisms. You will perceive, I hope, also, that I do not consider them as revelations of the Supreme Being, whom I would not so far blaspheme as to impute to Him a pretension of revelation, couched at the same time in terms which, He would know, were never to be understood by those to whom they were addressed.”—Letter to General Alexander Smyth, Jan. 17, 1825

These are excellent points! Thank you for posting them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.