Oh good, another accelerationist in power who thinks they’re the catalyst for the rapture.
The thing that confounds me the most is that these people have been rejecting our experienced reality and believing in some post-apocalyptic utopia for CENTURIES. But belief upon belief, attempt after attempt, they have only shown that their belief-system has no foundation or champion whose power they can invoke. But, instead of saying “we have the resources to make utopia exist here and now,” they say, “we must not have pleased our friend who hasn’t shown his face in MILLENNIA. But I know for a fact that he’s real, so we just gotta cause a biblical apocalypse for all the chess pieces we feed and employ.”
I am religious. I find the idea of purposefully bringing on the end of times strongly contradictory to my understanding of the Abrahamic religions. It is not the place of humans to decide, when the end times come, nor do humans have the power to do so. And the idea that purposefully bringing on the end of the world would be rewarded, instead of punished, by God is incomprehensible to me.
There is a narration both in Judaism and Islam, that emphasizes this:
“If the [Day of] Resurrection were established upon one of you, and in his hand is a sapling, then he should plant it.”
عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِنْ قَامَتْ عَلَى أَحَدِكُمْ الْقِيَامَةُ وَفِي يَدِهِ فَسْلَةٌ فَلْيَغْرِسْهَا[1][2]
“If you are holding a sapling in your hand and someone tells you, ‘Come quickly, the Messiah is here!’, first finish planting the tree and then go to greet the Messiah.” – Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai (30 BC – 90 CE),
If it’s not our place to bring on the end times, then it’s also not our place to stand in the way.
That’s the problem. These people are telling themselves “if this is how it happens, who am I to stand in the way?” Think about it: if you see events in motion which could be the stirrings of god bringing about the end times, how could you possibly act in a completely neutral way, neither hastening nor hindering? It’s too fine a line for an humble mortal to assume they can walk.
So while I appreciate your thought, unfortunately your thinking is far too easily flipped around. The base problem is believing any of this stuff to begin with. Once you do, that’s it.
Yeah I can’t understand how religious people think about these things. They believe that people can be judged, right? So they must at least be able to make a choice. Maybe they can choose not to help bring about the end times, even if they’re ultimately lack the power to make the difference? Who the fuck knows. This is like debating how magic works.
God commanded us good things to do and prohibited us from doing bad things.
You should just life your life in accordance with that as good as possible and don’t concern yourself with when the end times are, or when your life ends. It is important not to postpone doing good things, or to continue doing bad things thinking “i’ll just make up for them later.” Because God might decide to end your life in an accident or other sudden way.
There is no indication afaik. in any of the Abrahamic scriptures that you should try to fulfill any prophecies and it certainly does not take priorities over doing what is good in on itself and abstaining from what is bad in on itself.
I would have figured they see it as a point system, and if your below X when the end of times occurs, which is inevitable and of course didnt matter for every generation before or after theirs because they were already dead or yet to be born… they tally up their points. If they judged their neighbor -10 points. Drank a beer, -10 points, listened to rock and roll -10 points. Had sex out of wedlock -100 points. Had sex without trying to make a child -100 points. Lusted for / checked out someone, -50. Vanity, Greed… -75 points. Positives, helping others is really the only way I can think of to increase the score. And a lot more people are complaining about people in traffic than helping people cross the street.
Positives, helping others is really the only way I can think of to increase the score
Then you are more evolved than Christians. Unfortunately Christianity is unclear on whether helping people actually matters, or just faith in god. I’m being completely serious.
I’m reminded of the quote by Heraclitus: “Though reason is common, most people live as though they had an understanding peculiar to themselves.” Religion is not immune to this, with people often twisting it to suit their own goals.
A recent ~2 minute video from the ever-excellent Dr. Dan McClellen. The opening sentence is: “Every last attempt to identify divine commands in the Bible that are relevant to anyone today requires negotiating with the text.”
Oh good, another accelerationist in power who thinks they’re the catalyst for the rapture.
The thing that confounds me the most is that these people have been rejecting our experienced reality and believing in some post-apocalyptic utopia for CENTURIES. But belief upon belief, attempt after attempt, they have only shown that their belief-system has no foundation or champion whose power they can invoke. But, instead of saying “we have the resources to make utopia exist here and now,” they say, “we must not have pleased our friend who hasn’t shown his face in MILLENNIA. But I know for a fact that he’s real, so we just gotta cause a biblical apocalypse for all the chess pieces we feed and employ.”
I am religious. I find the idea of purposefully bringing on the end of times strongly contradictory to my understanding of the Abrahamic religions. It is not the place of humans to decide, when the end times come, nor do humans have the power to do so. And the idea that purposefully bringing on the end of the world would be rewarded, instead of punished, by God is incomprehensible to me.
There is a narration both in Judaism and Islam, that emphasizes this:
https://bliis.org/essay/planting-a-tree-in-the-end-times-an-analysis-of-an-islamic-and-jewish-saying/
If it’s not our place to bring on the end times, then it’s also not our place to stand in the way.
That’s the problem. These people are telling themselves “if this is how it happens, who am I to stand in the way?” Think about it: if you see events in motion which could be the stirrings of god bringing about the end times, how could you possibly act in a completely neutral way, neither hastening nor hindering? It’s too fine a line for an humble mortal to assume they can walk.
So while I appreciate your thought, unfortunately your thinking is far too easily flipped around. The base problem is believing any of this stuff to begin with. Once you do, that’s it.
If it were the end of times made by gods, a person shouldn’t have any ability to stop it.
Sounds more like their God is testing them on whether or not they are a good person, and they are failing spectacularly.
Yeah I can’t understand how religious people think about these things. They believe that people can be judged, right? So they must at least be able to make a choice. Maybe they can choose not to help bring about the end times, even if they’re ultimately lack the power to make the difference? Who the fuck knows. This is like debating how magic works.
God commanded us good things to do and prohibited us from doing bad things.
You should just life your life in accordance with that as good as possible and don’t concern yourself with when the end times are, or when your life ends. It is important not to postpone doing good things, or to continue doing bad things thinking “i’ll just make up for them later.” Because God might decide to end your life in an accident or other sudden way.
There is no indication afaik. in any of the Abrahamic scriptures that you should try to fulfill any prophecies and it certainly does not take priorities over doing what is good in on itself and abstaining from what is bad in on itself.
I would have figured they see it as a point system, and if your below X when the end of times occurs, which is inevitable and of course didnt matter for every generation before or after theirs because they were already dead or yet to be born… they tally up their points. If they judged their neighbor -10 points. Drank a beer, -10 points, listened to rock and roll -10 points. Had sex out of wedlock -100 points. Had sex without trying to make a child -100 points. Lusted for / checked out someone, -50. Vanity, Greed… -75 points. Positives, helping others is really the only way I can think of to increase the score. And a lot more people are complaining about people in traffic than helping people cross the street.
Then you are more evolved than Christians. Unfortunately Christianity is unclear on whether helping people actually matters, or just faith in god. I’m being completely serious.
See: https://www.gotquestions.org/salvation-faith-alone.html
I’m reminded of the quote by Heraclitus: “Though reason is common, most people live as though they had an understanding peculiar to themselves.” Religion is not immune to this, with people often twisting it to suit their own goals.
Your comment reminded me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2RXoqB1LjA
A recent ~2 minute video from the ever-excellent Dr. Dan McClellen. The opening sentence is: “Every last attempt to identify divine commands in the Bible that are relevant to anyone today requires negotiating with the text.”
it’s also called instinct