Is The World Really Coming To An End?

[Pagan]

[SIZE=2][FONT=Comic Sans MS]The pastor of the church I go to says we are in "the finals days". I consider this guy a nut case who wants the world to end soon so the doomsday sermon he's been preaching for the least 40 years wouldn't have been wasted. I'm not your textbook Christian I do believe there is a God among other things. But I don't think the world is ever going to end.

He baises his statements on the current events going on in the world today, and vague material mention in the book of Revelation. Sure it says there will be wars and natural diasters at the end of the world, but how do we suppose to know these just aren't changes being cause by global warming and a ignorant president.

But I can't shake the thoughts that these could possible be the final days of this world. The thing that's really gotten to me is the discovery of the oldest christ church near Armageddon. Sure wars will happen as long as humans have wants and needs and yeah I can say earthqukakes, storms, and volcanic eruptions are just a coincidence, but this church which was lost to time now being discovered near the supposed final battlefield has left me with a lost for words.

How much longer do you think we have? Is George Bush the anitchrist?
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[Shadow Blade]

[size=1][color=slategray] The End.

Seeing those words at the end of a happy fairy tale makes you think the ending was happy. But seeing those words on a dry eraser board in church sort of makes you think the opposite. But yeah, my family are christians. At the church that we attend the pastor is constantly stressing this point. I agree with you that all of these natural disasters are just coincidence. But my guardians are a bit tense about this.
There are theories that the antichirst is going to be the man who has poliltical power and is going to be the one who unites all of the nations in the world. I don't think Bush is the antichrist. One he is all into war - I don't see how he is going to the one who unites the nations with a reputation like that. Two people think that the antichrist is going to be someone else other than an american. And Three the president says that he is a christian. So in my opinion, no, George Bush isn't the antichrist. As for the time limit that earth has left before it's destroyed I honestly don't know.


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[Stark]

Personally, I don't look at that stuff. I just try to live my life on a day to day basis, with some consideration for my future.

However, if you're talking about armageddon, well. Look around you. We do have all the signs mentioned in the book of Revelation(I think...I'm no biblical scholar), but this whole bit about God creating the world just to have it end is sort of silly.

That's just surmising, however.

Logically, everything will come to an end. When and How are the parts no one ever really knows about. For all we know, the world may end whe the sun inevitably turns into a Red Giant--In another few billion years or so. Or, it could end tomorrow in a great cataclysm that no one could have predicted, save yesterday's prophets.

You also mentioned the disasters that have plagued this year. I just think it's Mother Nature trying to tell us to stop screwing with her--she'll just screw us back!

In terms of Bush, I look on the smaller scale. I can't say anything about him being the Antichrist, but I can say a few things about him being just one more step on the very path Rome went on.

Also, people have been saying that it's the 'Final Days' since...well, for a few hundred years (I think. Again, I'm no scholar). It's probably just a cry for attention, and something that they do to make them selves feel meaningful in this life.

In summation, I'll steal a line from a song from Miss Saigon. "Dance like it's the last night of the world". More directly, don't worry your head over this stuff, okay? If it does happen, it's probably beyond all control.

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1]Yup, its the beginning of the end alright, it's all going to go up in smoke and hellfire t'be sure...mmhmm.

Let the thronging mass of wailing, suffering, repentant humanity begin! Its the greatest show on Earth, and the last one too. So get your tickets today 'cause noone is getting into salvation without a ticket, no sir.

Now I know you're all saying 'Doukeshi, we've heard this all before. You promised the end of the world in 2000 but there were complications with the acts and the main headliner was a no-show. Then you said 2001, it looked like it was all going to hell in a handbasket there but no! We were let down again! Why should we trust you now?'

Well I'll tell you folks, this time you won't be disappointed. This time the show must go on and what an explosive show it'll be. Headlined by the Beast himself in the greatest comeback since the ressurection of Christ, this is an event for all the family![/SIZE]

[Semjaza]

I don't know why anyone would care. You can't something as inevitable as the end of the world to begin with. Do what you always do and hope you don't have some horrible regret when some bomb melts the skin off our bones.

Religious figures such as the one you're speaking of are all about sensationalizing (note, I didn't say ALL, because there are obviously good ones as well). If this man was alive 400 years ago he'd be saying the same crap because it gets peoples' attention and instills a pointless sense of fear. It's all tactics to scare off non-believers and bring in new ones.

[IceRose]

Well there have been many profesies that say that there are gonna be natural disasters continuosly before the world ends well not completely end and all but still. the end of the world as we know it. Man, it makes a person think, all the bad thing sone has done, all the good people one has met all the people one loves.

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]I'll second the statement inevitability. I'd guess that if the world does come to an end that there isn't much that the common man can do about it aside from piss himself.

George Bush isn't much beyond a bad President. There have been worse Presidents, there will be better Presidents- but he is not the Antichrist. He's just.. George Bush, lol. Not that impressive, huh?[/color]

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f]Well I guess it's really to what we believe in. If you believe in Islam/Christianity/ (Maybe)Judaism, many of the happenings in today's world are indeed at least minor signs of the last day.

But we really can't guess when it'll come, it could be a very long time from now by human standards but to God it'll seem close.

In Islam a major sign of the last day is that the sun will rise on the opposite side of what it should normally rise (for that specific day).

But even if you're athiest you can't deny the world will indeed come to an end. The sun will continue to expand and engulf all of the inner planets and they'll go up in cinders.[/COLOR]

[Derald]

[FONT=Lucida Console][SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkRed]A few thoughts from the Bible (I can't remember where from though):

For one, humans are to receive the mark of the beast in the ending days. Well, guess what? The government, as many know, is issuing those information chips to people which include all personal information as a form of serial number. Not only that, but it is believed that they are to become mandatory in the future.

Next, two "mountains of fire" are to strike the earth, releasing the beast unto the earth. Now this could be one of two things: either asteroids from space strike the earth or nuclear weapons. Now, with the whole nuclear weapons issue in the world, I'd say there's a good chance that the latter of my above statements is more likely.

I'm not saying the world is coming to an end, but a few things are happening that strangely coincide with the events stated in the Bible.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

My first and honestly only response to the above question is a solid no, as a devout Roman Catholic unless the Holy Father comes out and tells the world that the end of days is upon us, I'll happily continue living without such a fear. The world will end at some stage, either by the direct intervention of God himself or in a couple of billion years the Sun has expanded to such an extent that it will consume our planet, though we will have all died from the exposure to heat and radiation long before that. I'm no expert on the Bible, I prefer to leave that to the men who've actually trained to properly interpret it, but I think if this Pastor is one of only a few saying that the end is nigh, we're pretty safe. [/SIZE]

[Lafleur]

[COLOR=DarkRed]There have always been natural disasters. There have always been wars. There always will be. There have been worse years for natural disasters, and there have been more bloody periods of conflict. The concept that the world is coming to an end anytime soon is ludicrous, even by religious standards. The earth has a few billion years left, unless somthing stupid happens. Life won't last that long, though, at least not intelligent life. We exist to be doomed, but don't get to excited - it wont be in our lifetimes.
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[QUOTE=Shadow Blade][size=1][color=slategray] The End.

Seeing those words at the end of a happy fairy tale makes you think the ending was happy. But seeing those words on a dry eraser board in church sort of makes you think the opposite. But yeah, my family are christians. At the church that we attend the pastor is constantly stressing this point. I agree with you that all of these natural disasters are just coincidence. But my guardians are a bit tense about this.
There are theories that the antichirst is going to be the man who has poliltical power and is going to be the one who unites all of the nations in the world. I don't think Bush is the antichrist. One he is all into war - I don't see how he is going to the one who unites the nations with a reputation like that. Two people think that the antichrist is going to be someone else other than an american. And Three the president says that he is a christian. So in my opinion, no, George Bush isn't the antichrist. As for the time limit that earth has left before it's destroyed I honestly don't know.


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What exactly makes an American exempt from being the so-called anti-chirst?

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[QUOTE=Derald][FONT=Lucida Console][SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkRed]A few thoughts from the Bible (I can't remember where from though):

For one, humans are to receive the mark of the beast in the ending days. Well, guess what? The government, as many know, is issuing those information chips to people which include all personal information as a form of serial number. Not only that, but it is believed that they are to become mandatory in the future.

Next, two "mountains of fire" are to strike the earth, releasing the beast unto the earth. Now this could be one of two things: either asteroids from space strike the earth or nuclear weapons. Now, with the whole nuclear weapons issue in the world, I'd say there's a good chance that the latter of my above statements is more likely.

I'm not saying the world is coming to an end, but a few things are happening that strangely coincide with the events stated in the Bible.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]
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Loose interpretation at best. It's Nostradums all over again. [/COLOR]

[Guest kuroinuyoukai]

I don't know if the world is ending soon. I can see where the signs might match up-but no one knows when the world will end. All I can do is be sure of my faith and take it when it comes. I mean I can't stop it.

[Panda]

Yes, the world is coming to an end. We are all dying slowly. One day we will all be dead.

As mentioned before in this thread people for as long as we have been around have been saying it is the final days. Some as having a Social Security number issued to each person was a sign of the end of days...natural disasters are the sign...Michael Jackson's nose tranformating into whatever it is, it's all a sign of the end of days. People will believe what they believe. Some join cults and kill themselves to catch a ride on the tail of a comet, others drink poisoned Kool-aid while others just sell all their belongings and live in yurts in the desert for the end to come. If you believe it to be the end then it will be the end.

All I know is that I am going to live my life and not worry about it. The time spent worrying about it could be time spent doing something productive and/or fun.

[TheShinje]

[font=century gothic] [color=crimson] The biblical prophecises are not as vague as you would readily believe. They are not some "oh, there will be a war some time in the future at some place, yeah, ho hum hee." The prophecies are straight to the point, pulling no punches.

Consider the tiny nation of Israel. It was prophecised that the nation would be scattered, then bought back in one day! [Isa 66:8; Mic 5:3] No other nation has ever achieved restoration from utter desomation to becoming a nation again. not Rome, not Egypt, yet, little ole Israel did it.

And it was bought back, and ratified by the U.N in one day. Vague? Yeah, right.

[quote=bibledesk.com] 9. There would be an increase in earthquakes-Mt 24:2,3,7; Mk 13:8; Lk 21:11. This prophecy is correct.
Note: One might think as the earth settled over a period of time that earthquakes would decrease like ripples in the water. Yet the Bible indicates the opposite is true. In this last generation, research from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center reveals that major earthquakes of a magnitude of 6.0 or higher have remained relatively constant during this century. However, the total number of earthquakes in recent years appear to be rising. For example, it was reported that in 1986, the total number of earthquakes was 12,718. In l990, it was 16,612. In 1994, it was 19,371. [/quote]

It's most interesting. I don't think that anyone who has done any unbiased reserch into the prophecy can say that they are vague, there is plenty of evidence the are nore accurate than that. [/font][/color]

[Lafleur]

[QUOTE=Shinji][font=century gothic] [color=crimson] The biblical prophecises are not as vague as you would readily believe. They are not some "oh, there will be a war some time in the future at some place, yeah, ho hum hee." The prophecies are straight to the point, pulling no punches.

Consider the tiny nation of Israel. It was prophecised that the nation would be scattered, then bought back in one day! [Isa 66:8; Mic 5:3] No other nation has ever achieved restoration from utter desomation to becoming a nation again. not Rome, not Egypt, yet, little ole Israel did it.

And it was bought back, and ratified by the U.N in one day. Vague? Yeah, right.



It's most interesting. I don't think that anyone who has done any unbiased reserch into the prophecy can say that they are vague, there is plenty of evidence the are nore accurate than that. [/font][/color][/QUOTE][COLOR=DarkRed]

The time of Isreal's reincarnation was hardly one day. The Isrealis faught for years with the Palestinians, because they wanted a homeland for the Jews - if it wasn't for WWII, Isreal wouldn't exist. When the Jews were being persecuted, they flocked to what was once Isreal en masse. They then had to fight with the UN for a few months/years before they were given their own homeland.

Hardly one day.

How long have we been recording Earth Quakes? A century? Bit more, maybe. For all we know this year is a small-fry compared to past centuries. There are records, primative as they may be, of city-leveling earthqaukes occuring daily in parts of China and Japan. We really just don't know.

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[Ikillion]

[COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=2][FONT=Times New Roman]I was wondering how long it would be until I was going to see something like this. After hearing all of the controversy all over the media and parts of my school I knew that this wouldent be long comming. To tell you the truth what is the point of being worried if the world is going to die. If there really was a commet heading for earth or something like that, how smart do you think it would be to announce that lets say. Three weeks in advanced? not to smart I tell you it would definly cause a world wide panic then many more people would die. So then they would probaly tell you less than two days befor hand or atleast that is something that I would do.

So if I knew the world was going to end tommorow I would just probaly do anything regular and when the time actuall happened I would just smile into the explosion or whatever happens. There is no point in worring about things that you cant control afterall right?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Raiyuu]

[color=DarkSlateBlue][font=Trebuchet MS][quote name='Lafleur][/font][/color][color=DarkRed] The time of Isreal's reincarnation was hardly one day.[/color][color=DarkSlateBlue][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] [quote=Shinji][/font][/color][font=century gothic][color=crimson] And it was bought back, and [b]ratified by the U.N in one day.[/b][/color][/font][color=DarkSlateBlue'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] True, Israel wasn't reforged in a day, but it [b]was [/b]ratified by the UN in one day, which is an incredibly short amount of time for them to ratify somewhere as a legal country.

The Bible prophecies may be fairly specific, but I think people twist current events to fit them in order to make people believe we're on the slippery slope to The End.
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[Retribution]

[size=1]Did he say "[i]These are the end times[/i]", or that the end of the world is on the horizon? If he said the first, no one should be getting worked up over all this - it's certainly what Christians believe they live in. The "end times" is all time after Christ's passion, death, and crucifixion ... and that basically any moment after that is fair game for the end of the world as we know it.

However, if he said that the world is going to end soon, just don't listen. I think Tony said it pretty well, that he's using scare-tactics to make his flock repent or whatnot.

As for those who think that the book of Revelation is a book about the end of the world - I will say that it is a book about what has already occured, IMHO. All of the events are clearly symbolic, and while I don't feel like going into great length or detail, I think that the past pretty easily shows these symbols.[/size]

[Fyxe]

[size=1][color=slategray]I don't understand why anyone would or could get worked up about this. There has always been times when people say the world will end. But there is hardly a power that can achieve that goal, besides the sun. And, yes, the world will end one day at the "hands" of the sun. When the sun burns out, it expands, swallowing up the planets it once provided for, and then combusts, and "dies." I thought everyone learned that in, like, fourth grade. -__-;;
That, to me, is what so many people call "Armageddon"... if that's what people wish it to be called.
And like other people have said, natural disasters will always occur, the current ones are not a sign of the end. The sun will not burn out for millions of years, even more... but I don't even think the human race will last that long. With all the damage we have inflicted on the Earth, I doubt it will be able to stay stable for us for that long. Or we will just be swallowed by our waste one day, either way. We had better get situated on Mars, fast. >>[/color][/size]

[Guest Doomberg]

Me as a atheeist I do believe in a thery[you mite have herd of it]it called science.science ancerse to all for my theroy there is no such thing as a begining with out a end dont you think

bye the way.if your a critian I am glad you are and I didnt mean to sound mean on my statements. :D

[densuke]

For a lot of Americans it pretty much IS the "end of the world." The population is getting damn OLD. Putting a Republican in the White House hasn't gotten us any peace or riches -- in fact quite the contrary. And whereas America used to be THE place where everyone just had to come to enjoy a prosperous life, nowadays they just stay home and "steal" "our" jobs...

But as far as the stuff in the initial post is concerned, I wish to be reassuring by mentioning that
1) your pastor or whatever is far from the first religious leader to claim to have seen the signs. This sort of thing has been going on for hundreds of years ~_^
2) unless you are looking for an excuse to commit sins and hurt others it might be useful to think about what you would do with your life if it really WAS the end of the world. Would you learn some new skills? Have some long-forestalled conversations with friends and acquaintances? Fall in love? Lots of people would just sit on their butts and moan -- would you be one of them?

[MindGrinder]

I hope the world ends soon.

[Xander Harris]

[QUOTE=Stark]
Also, people have been saying that it's the 'Final Days' since...well, for a few hundred years (I think. Again, I'm no scholar). It's probably just a cry for attention, and something that they do to make them selves feel meaningful in this life.
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Try the last 2,000 years. The early church was convinced that Christ's return was imminent. The Apostle Paul seemed to think that Jesus would return during his lifetime.

All the stuff about revelation giving a timetable for a series of particular, disastrous events came along with John Darby in the early 19th century.

Contrary to the statements of an earlier poster, much of what may seem to be clear, to the point prophetic statements in the book of revelation are actually code phrases used by the subversive Christian movement referring to the dominant political power of the day; rome.

Christ could return tomorrow, or a thousand, thousand years from now. Until he does, we are supposed to live every day as if his return were imminent.

[renayiiq]

[QUOTE=Doomberg]Me as a atheeist I do believe in a thery[you mite have herd of it]it called science.science ancerse to all for my theroy there is no such thing as a begining with out a end dont you think

bye the way.if your a critian I am glad you are and I didnt mean to sound mean on my statements. :D[/QUOTE]


I didn't understand a word of this. What's an "ancerse?" What's a "critian?"

[king_monkey]

i think the end is near but not the end of the world the end of suffering maybe.
i think we'll see great advances in technology or all come to a crashing hault either way
were in for some **** and alot of people will die.(the end of the world is really decades away)[COLOR=DarkRed]ONLY THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE[/COLOR] :animenose