End Times - Oh Crap

[themonkeyman]

hey

 

I was reading these forums this morning and I heard about the Isaiah 17 thing so having OCD I looked into it and got caught up in other end time prophesy's and now I'm worring big time. Can some people please reassure me otherwise. E.g the Fig tree as blossomed (Israel) and Jesus said the end would come within a generation so I'm rather shittin it here. Help!!!!!

[RankStranger]

First of all, that's allegorical bullshit that just kinda sounds like it might be true.  If the guy actually knew what was going to happen- why speak in fucking parables?  Why not just speak plainly and tell people what's going to happen?

 

I'll tell you why:  if he spoke plainly, we wouldn't be able to kinda fit future events into that vague 'prophesy'.

 

Not only that, but it's generally accepted that a generation is something along the lines of 20 years.  Probably less back then.  Well it's been what?  65 years since the U.N. pulled Israel outta its ass?  That's certainly more than "a generation".

 

Now I guess if you really WANT to, you can stretch that to mean "within the lifetime of the generation that saw that happen".  If you insist on looking at it that way (which is not what the verse says), AND you insist on believing that Israel is a fig tree (why didn't he just call it Israel?), then I guess you're just gonna have to keep shitting bricks for the next 40 years or so until every last person alive during 1948 dies.  When there are none left of that "generation", the christians will just go find another verse- there are a thousand to pick from.  Or maybe they'll re-define what a generation is (again), or what some unknown writer may have meant by that (again) or claim that the fig tree was something else that happens to be convenient (again).

 

It might do you good to read up on all the failed prophesies that christians have thrown around over the past couple thousand years.  They've predicted the end of times pretty much ever since the religion was established.  And they have a consistent 2000-year track record of being wrong. 

 

Here's a book that had me shittin' bricks when I was a kid:

 

88 reasons Why The Rapture Will Be in 1988

[florduh]

The end has been nigh my entire life, and for two thousand years prior.

[sdelsolray]

hey

 

I was reading these forums this morning and I heard about the Isaiah 17 thing so having OCD I looked into it and got caught up in other end time prophesy's and now I'm worring big time. Can some people please reassure me otherwise. E.g the Fig tree as blossomed (Israel) and Jesus said the end would come within a generation so I'm rather shittin it here. Help!!!!!

What exactly are you worried about?  

[RipVanWinkle]

My father told me that this end times stuff was going on when he was a kid. If he were alive today he

would be 111 years old. For gawd's sake forget about that shit. It's obviously stupid unless you look at it with fear. As long as you do that, you're hooked just like they want you. bill

[★ Citsonga ★]

Check out this thread:

 

http://www.ex-christian.net/topic/44234-top-ten-reasons-not-to-fear-biblical-end-times-scenarios/

[Guest Marty]

jesus also said he would return before the death of the generation he was speaking to in 1CE...

[wanderinstar]

hey

 

I was reading these forums this morning and I heard about the Isaiah 17 thing so having OCD I looked into it and got caught up in other end time prophesy's and now I'm worring big time. Can some people please reassure me otherwise. E.g the Fig tree as blossomed (Israel) and Jesus said the end would come within a generation so I'm rather shittin it here. Help!!!!!

 

How much have you read into the history of the bible? I too had an end times hangover while coming out of christianity but it was cured once I felt confident that not one word in the bible can be taken as fact, there may be a few facts in there but none that strongly support any religious doctrine. Having OCD must only make this all the more difficult for you and I am guessing your anxiety would be through the roof. If you have had any therapy for OCD the same techniques you use on other irrational beliefs apply here.

 

First you need to convince yourself the belief is irrational. I think many of the posts above provided help with that. I hope I haven't presumed too much, and I hope you can find a way out of this horrible place soon. Don't feel embarrassed, many here have been through the same thing, and some with mental illness in tow. 

[RaLeah]

Please don't let this stuff get to you. There was already a Bible verse: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled," and that was thousands of years ago. So... no. Time's up, didn't happen, and it isn't going to happen. 

 

Look, the Bible is full of nutty stuff like this. People have been trying to stretch the timeline out and make excuses, but to no avail. Preachers keep making predictions about when god will return. The date comes and goes, and a bunch of people are out of time and money. 

 

Don't fall for it. It's just emotional manipulation without one shred of truth or accuracy, as has been shown time and time again. 

 

This may not be a huge comfort to you now, but the longer you're out of this brainwashing, the farther you get from it, the easier it is to recognize how utterly absurd it all is. 

 

I remember being terrified about hell at first. I do. But now the whole preposterous concept of hell is so ridiculous to me I can't believe I ever bought it at all. 

 

And they thought the world was flat and didn't understand outer space! So they think God is going to come down during the rapture in a cloud and the dead in Christ will rise up out of graves (nevermind decomposition or whatever) and fly up into the sky... and then go WHERE exactly? Saturn?

 

I mean, you are smarter than this. Keep a rational focus. Don't let your emotions run away with your mind. Use your logic. These were superstitious people who wrote a book that tried to explain the world the best way they could with the information they had. We now have far better and more accurate information today. There is no excuse for smart people like us with the access to real, true, verifiable information that we have to fall for iron age superstitions. Not anymore, not today. 

 

Don't let irrational fears overtake your own common sense and logic. Don't let it overrule everything you know about science and the world. 

 

Just remember--you know the earth is a sphere, all the planets out there, what's inside the planet down below, and hell isn't "down there" and heaven isn't "up there" and this is amazing knowledge! If you could go back in time and try to convince the people who wrote the bible of these things, they wouldn't believe you. But you know you're right about this. It makes sense, and you believe scientists who have studies the stars and the planets and outer space. You believe the earth is a sphere, not flat, and that it goes around the sun. 

 

Don't allow yourself to believe superstition from thousands of years ago when you know better. When we ALL know better than that now. 

 

You can let go of those fears. Acknowledge them, laugh at them, and release them. They can't overrule your logical mind unless you let them. You are in charge of your brain, and you get to decide. Sometimes we have irrational fears, and we know they're irrational. We confront them and then they evaporate. Do that. Kill the fears with facts and logic. You can do it.

[OnceConvinced]

Paul was adamant he was living in the end times. That urgency was there through a lot of his writings. He was wrong, and if he was wrong, why would you take anyone who claims the end of the world is eminent seriously? Particularly not if they're spouting bible prophecies.

[ExCBooster]

Just a couple things, to nail home the nature of these sorts of things - people interpret them however is convenient for them and their goals throughout history - it's like squishy clay to be formed into any shape, not some sort of record of the future carved in stone.

 

If you're invading Africa from Europe, or Europe from Africa (it happens a lot in world history), there's every chance your army is going to have to march through that valley squished between two seas we call Israel. Megiddo is a very old town in said valley. My brother had a chance for some experience at an archaeological dig on the ancient ruins of said town, which has been (predictably) the site of a lot of battles, ancient and modern. What does this have to do with anything? It's literally the site of Har Megiddo, or Armageddon. If it's a battle of Megiddo you're looking for, it's already happened, several times over, in the past, distant and recent.

 

Battle of Megiddo 1918

 

 

You aren't concerned about other religion's prophesies, are you?

White bison calves being born.

If it's "most likely to be fulfilled" it's cargo cultists I'm betting on. Just a few good air drops away...

 

If you don't give those any credence, then don't worry about Christian ones.

[themonkeyman]

Its not so much those its just when people start saying about Isaiah 17 it got me kinda worried.  After afew days it goes away but that and with the whole 'Peter the Roman' jazz earlier in the year its ruffling my feathers a little.

[Kris]

I understand where you are coming from Monkeyman-- I am going though the same thing as you. It is hard to get away from all the endtimes stuff -- but that is how religion snares us-- we fear and think people are speaking the truth-- but they really aren't-- the prophecy of the poops was wrong-- and these will be too. Trust me, I am telling myself this as well!!

[Lerk]

Jesus actually told people he would be back within their lifetimes, but it didn't happen.

 

The end-times people took the establishment of Israel in 1948 as a sign that Jesus would return in 40 years. 1988 came and went and... Nothng. But the movement won't let go for quite a while. Eventually the end-times people will dwindle in number and we won't hear much about it, for a few hundred years anyway. Or maybe Christianity will mostly die out this time when people finally give up on the prophecies.

[SciWalker]

From the Zionistic perspective End Times aren't literally end times, but change times.

[Lerk]

From the Zionistic perspective End Times aren't literally end times, but change times.

Do you mean because they'll begin the tribulation and 1000 year earthly kingdom of the messiah? If so, good point. For the end-times believers, though, they don't think they'll have to live through all of that, they'll get raptured. Regardless, it didn't happen when they expected it 25 years ago, so they're living with the "god is not slow as some count slowness" verse.

[Kris]

Wow Mister Two-- that sounds like "heaven" to me-- no end times bullshit!!

[amateur]

Well said, everybody!  I especially like the link to the thread:  "Top Ten Reasons Not to Fear Biblical End-Time Prophecies"

 

I wonder how many xian end-time prophecies there have been?  Probably 100's in the last 2000 years.  That would actually make an interesting study.  How many prophecies.  Who made them.  How much of an impact did they make on the population.  How many people killed themselves in fear before that date.  How much money was made by each prophesizer.  What the excuses were when the day after the proposed date came -- every single time.

 

My favorite Jim Bohannon radio show was the one about 30 years ago (I was maybe right out of high school) where he scheduled an end-time prophesizer for the DAY AFTER the proposed end date.  Jimbo said, "If you are right, then we won't be here to discuss it.  If you are wrong, you get to explain!"

 

As long as pastors keep preaching for people to give to the "new building fund" and bigger spaces keep being built, you know the church thinks end-time prophecies are bunk.