What Does the Second Coming Entail?

I think he is just stating the obvious. The club is something that is imagined. Let's say some one told me that I had an uncle by marriage who was very rich and would be leaving me a million dollars sometime in the future.If I didn't believe this claim then my life would go on as it is. But lets say the person who told me this was a good preacher full of cunning sales techniques and supplied my imagination with all the good things I could buy when this event happened. They get me excited about how much better my life will be and I get caught up in the excitement. Now I'm the heir of a million dollars. The only thing that has changed and it's also the neccessary thing is that I believe that this uncle exists and that I will inherit.This is the sales pitch of Paul and all those who followed him. If you don't believe in the nightclub then it doesn't exist. All you have to do is believe the story and you can be excited and happy about this great night club you will go to one day. It's a pyramid scheme in a way in that you are encouraged to get others to believe in this nightclub.It's all about belief. If you believe it you will be very happy. You won't even be very distressed about what happens to your family and friends who don't believe it. You'll do your best but then you put your faith in the greatest thing you can imagine that it will all be just.Of course there are some other imaginary nightclubs, the competition, and they have good advertising, so you have to debunk their claims and assert that they are all fronts for the underworld and if you join those clubs the mafia will beat you up and torture you.Now I think religion can be more serious than that but the brand of evangelism that Iano engages in reduces everything to the lowest common denominator of get happy, believe what I'm selling you.lfen

I'm missing something here. As I understand it a person who is deluded believes that what they believe is in fact the case. That it's not the case is what makes it a delusion, so how is that not acceptance? I pretty sure Legend knows that lfen

arach,As Isaiah and Iano contradict one another doesn't it come down to which witness one chooses either Isaiah or Iano?lfenEdited by lfen, : corrected mispellingEdited by lfen, : I wanted to correct the misspelling of mispelling but find the software won't allow me to. So I'm out of here, my brain and or fingers are fading.

Ian,I see the source of your dilemma in your bibliolotry. You have to reconcile not only God but the diverse collection of scrolls assembled into the Bible, with your own theological demands that the Bible be logically consistent and non contradictory, which it isn't. The defense of this gets more complicated as you move from position to position. If you make it complicated enough you lose track of where you were and can then once again imagine the collections of writings that comprise the Bible are entirely consistent.Unless and until you find some other position to view life other than literalism you will be gyrating in this elaborate and dizzying dance.It only looks like bad news that literalism doesn't work. It's actually good news but it means you have to go beyond relying on verbal formulations to something more real.lfen