Christianity and the End Times

"Not a TRUE Calvinist." Gee, why didn't we see that one coming?

The Unitarian call to prayer that we used ended with:

quote:

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We do this knowing that prayer does not change things, but prayer changes us and we are the agents of change.

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Similarly, the proper purpose of an invocation to start a meeting would be to remind everybody present of what they are there for in order for everybody to put themselves in the proper frame of mind. How do you know that? Wasn't that written by Man? Wasn't that Man putting words in his god's mouth?Everything that we know about any god is the stories Man has told and written about that god.

I'm afraid that my copy of "The History of the End of the World" is an older edition, so I don't know what the current schedule is supposed to be.

It's been "Soon" for thousands of years.

Yes, it's sadly so normal of them, but it shouldn't be. If only they would read the Bible, they would know that it is impossible for them to predict the date for the End Times. Gee, they value that book so much that they practically worship it, yet they cannot be bothered to actually read it.Here's a page which lists verses in the KJV which speak of the End Times coming as a thief in the night; eg:

quote:

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"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only . . . Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up . . . The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,"
Matthew 24:36, 42-43, 50,KJV

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"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."
Matthew 25:13,KJV

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"But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things . . . But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."
Mark 13:23, 32-37,KJV

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"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not."
Luke 12:35-40,KJV

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"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."
Luke 21:34-36,KJV

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"When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."
Acts 1:6-7,KJV

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"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."
1 Thessalonians 5:2-6,KJV

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"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
2 Peter 3:10,KJV

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"Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."
Revelation 3:3,KJV

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"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."
Revelation 16:15,KJV

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Not only does the Bible have Jesus himself saying it in all three synoptic Gospels, but it also appears in the very book that deals directly with the End Times, Revelation, which fundamentalists still obsess over (in my time with the Jesus Freaks, c. 1970, they would obsess about two things: demons and End Times prophecies). So I guess their ignorance of what the Bible says demonstrates what they really think of it.

I have seen this developing since 1970 with the Jesus Freak Movement. In the 80's, Pat Robertson had plans to set up loudspeakers everywhere proclaiming their message just to fulfill some prophecy requirement that everybody in the world had heard the message and rejected it.Remember when Trump tried to recruit Kasich as his VP? Promised to make him the most powerful VP in history in that he would do all the work while Trump just lazed back and served solely as figurehead. Well, guess what Mike Dense (AKA "Pence", "Dense" was his nickname as governor) has been doing all this time. When Bush 43 (AKA "Dubya") cheated his way into the Oval Office, a fellow chief (albeit a boot chief, having just been admitted into the chiefs' mess), a Religious Programs Chief Petty Officer, expressed his joy at having a "born again" believer as President. Then I pointed out that someone who believed in the End Times now had his finger on The Button and even he had to do a "oh shit!". Now we have an imbecilic President who is itching to push The Button at the close advice of a fundamentalist End-Times VP advising him. What could possibly go wrong?

Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot ... Oscar?Screw your no-show god! This is our problem and we need to solve it!There's an old story that I've told before about the beautiful garden. A passer-by remarks to the gardener about the beauty of the garden and what God and the gardener had accomplished with it. The gardener replies, "Oh, that's nothing! You should have seen what a total mess it was when only God was attending to it."We attended a Unitarian-Universalist church (long arduous story there) where the call to prayer included the words: "We say this knowing that prayer does not change things, but rather prayer changes us and we are the agents of change." I have found that outside of UU circles, those words can be very troubling.Trust in no gods! We have to act to save ourselves!

In the chess world (not a member) there is a phrase often used: Gens Una Sumus. We are one people.Why is that such a difficult concept for so many people?