I have been watching a lot of Christian television out of boredom lately and it seems that there is a lot of talk about Christ returning soon. They claim that the economic crash, recent war, and rise in immorality in our society are all harbingers of the Apocalypse. The also talk about the Antichrist, the Rapture, the Tribulation,barcodes/chips implanted on peoples hands, etc. I am quite skeptical of this. I am a Christian only in name(i havent been to church since i was eight) and have never read the Bible so i have a few questions-
How many times has Christ’s return been predicted to be imminent?
Is there really an organized group bent on eliminating Christianity and creating a religion “based on Man”, as the 700 Club, etc, claim there is?
Even with the power of Satan himself behind him, wouldn’t the Antichrist have a very difficult time conquering the world?
How would the Antichrist’s government explain the Rapture? Wouldnt people think something is up if suddenly millions(?) of people dissapear without a trace?
There are humanists who believe that in principle Christian theism is a bad thing; in the main, such people are also pretty committed to the ideal of religious liberty, so any “elimination” would be done by reasoned argument and peaceful persuasion. Historically speaking Christianity has been “bent on eliminating” all non-Christian religions and replacing them with Christianity; so long as this is done by peaceful persuasion, such attempts are protected by the laws of civilized societies.
Ehhh…I think this is a pretty serious weakness of the current brand of pre-millennialism exemplified by the Left Behind books. All the evangelical Christians just vanish, and the remaining population of the world (presumably including lots of lapsed Christians and insufficiently evangelical or otherwise theologically incorrect Christians and ex-Christians-now-atheists and Christians who have converted to the Hare Krishnas and atheists who read the Bible just to understand “the enemy”, all of whom are reasonably or even very familiar with the Bible) doesn’t put two and two together when some Romanian is elected President of the World by the U.N.? (Or however it goes.) As our poster Ben likes to describe it, it’s “fundie porn”–yeah, all of us nonbelievers are just that stupid. :rolleyes:
It’s ALWAYS being predicted. At any given moment over the last 2000 years, someone was using the line to scare little old ladies out of their pension money.
No. There is no Humanist Agenda, Homosexual Agenda, Zionist Occupation Government, Council of the Elders of Zion, or any of the other laughable fictions radical religious groups pass off. This is no different than the Wahabi-ists in Saudi Arabia that tell people that Israelis bake their sabaath bread with the blood of children. Only an imbecile, a child, or a bigot buys it.
Define power of Satan. Seriously. I mean, on the one hand he’s supposed to be right up there behind god in the flying around zapping people with laser eye beams department. On the other hand, he’s also supposed to be trying to take over the world all the time and getting his ass handed to him nonstop. All I’m gonna say is he’s supposed to be less powerful than Jeebus, and the son of man sure hasn’t popped up since we invented guns and nukes.
Who says they have to? As long as Satan controls Clear Channel Broadcasting, Viacom, and Fox (which ain’t a stretch) nobody is going to hear about it. After all, the only people beamed up into the UFO are going to be those who donated 10 grand or more a year to Robertson, and when the entire town of Eight Mile, Alabama does vanish, those who do find out about it will probably blame genetic collapse from inbreeding.
Why the bump, the terminator? That’s about all you’re going to get, really. The store of factual answers has been exhausted.
Now, if you want to bring some conspiracy-minded zealot in here to discuss the matter, we might have a throw-down. Otherwise, I think you’ve got the lot.
any future AntiChrist would not have to control the entire globe, just whatever is the main superpower. The books of Daniel & Revelation indicate that armies & nations & uprisings will occur against him (assuming both books speak of his reign).
IF the AntiChrist rises to power after the Rapture (a scenario I doubt), and if the AC claims to be the real Christ, then one possible explanation would be that God removed those backward, prejudiced people who would have fought our beloved Divine New World Order.
I write this as a believer in a real future return of Jesus to destroy a future AntiChrist power & establish His Kingdom, but I’m no longer bound to any specific scenario or to the idea that it will happen in my lifetime. There are good arguments on all sides in the Christian community.