Last Week on Earth

Phml said:

It never ceases to amuse me, watching people making fun of extremist christians, sometimes derailing into grandiose rants about religion... Then hiding their tail behind their legs as soon as extremist islamists are concerned.

Christianity isn't the same as Islam at all. Extremist Islamists often take the words of the Qu'ran to mean "brutally maim and massacre all non-believers, sacrificing yourself if you have to" and many of them have the capabilities to do so. (See 9/11.) The Bible doesn't explicitly instruct its readers to do things like that (...does it?).

Jimmy91 said:

The Bible doesn't explicitly instruct its readers to do things like that (...does it?).

See here and here for examples of violence and intolerance in the Bible, some of which instructs others to carry on such acts.

In my mind, extremism is where a lot of problems lie, regardless of whether it's Christianity, Islam, atheism, anarchism, or almost any other -ism. Taking things to the extreme takes things out of balance. And without balance, things get messy.

What's funny is that these guys say "Bible Proves Everything! May 21st!" I gotta say not once did I ever see the date May 21, 2011 scrawled in the Bible saying that this date will be our end. Must be the Cottonpatch Bible.

Jimmy91 said:

Christianity isn't the same as Islam at all.

Yes it is. Muhammed based his teachings on writings that you'll find in the Old Testament.

Extremist Islamists often take the words of the Qu'ran to mean "brutally maim and massacre all non-believers, sacrificing yourself if you have to" and many of them have the capabilities to do so. (See 9/11.)

The books of Islam do promote violence. It's a shocking read.

The Bible doesn't explicitly instruct its readers to do things like that (...does it?).

Yes*. Old Testament when blood sacrifice was required. Jesus was the final blood sacrifice.

*never suicide, though.

I'll possibly be drawing Muhammad.

Quasar said:

It seems the only thing Evangelical Christians can do while they're not busy trying to push their picked-and-chosen beliefs onto everybody else is totally fail to grasp fundamental principles of their own religion:

• Matthew 24:36: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
  
• Matthew 24:42: Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
  
• Natthew 25:13: Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
  
• Mark 13:32-33: But of that day and 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.
  
• Mark 13:35: 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:
  

And of course, a stern warning to those self-proclaimed prophets who come up with this stuff:

Revelation 22:18-19
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book

These are the people that want to tell you what you can read, watch, learn, and fuck. Totally ignorant of anything, even the thing they claim to hold so dear.

I think its a real shame that Christians seem to jump on these bandwagons without researching it first and coming to their own conclusions (which the bible instructs us to do); you don't just simple accept what a person tells you. You have easily demonstrated how easy it was to discount this (never mind you aren't Christian) using the bible - so why haven't they? Are they to busy listening to the "Church"?

Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

All this ends up doing is make us look stupid.

Planky said:

I think its a real shame that Christians seem to jump on these bandwagons without researching it first and coming to their own conclusions.

You mean a Christian actually reading their Bible? Yeah, right.

Partition36 said:

In my mind, extremism is where a lot of problems lie, regardless of whether it's Christianity, Islam, atheism, anarchism, or almost any other -ism. Taking things to the extreme takes things out of balance. And without balance, things get messy.

All these belief systems are flawed models of reality, because they were created by man, within the bounds of his limited reasoning capacity. Every system breaks down at some point, even our "laws" of physics, etc. That doesn't mean they're not useful, just that we shouldn't put implicit faith in them, or become too attached to one particular fixed model.

I hope the world doesn't end yet. I'll feel stupid for two reasons.

1. I rented a shorehouse with my girlfriend for a week starting on Saturday the 21st

2. I'm really adamant about the world ending on December 21st 2012.

But if you convince her that the world is going to end, I'm sure you could get some crazy sex out of her.

I don't need the end of the world for that.

Wait, they can't have Judgement Day on the 21st, I'll miss the fourth week's class on Wednesday.

Shadow Dweller said:

Wait, they can't have Judgement Day on the 21st, I'll miss the fourth week's class on Wednesday.

In light of this, God has just informed me that he has postponed Judgment Day until June 4.

And when the people of the correct version of Christianity get teleported by God the rest of us can break out the good booze! Weee!

My dreams were all dead and buried
Sometimes I wish the sun would just explode
When the lord comes and calls me to his kingdom
I'll take all you sons of bitches when I go

If this really happened atleast it would mean I don't have to write my upcoming exam on the 24th.

bytor said:

Yes it is. Muhammed based his teachings on writings that you'll find in the Old Testament.

But isn't that kinda like saying that beef and cheese are the same because they both come from cows? ;P

DeathevokatioN said:

If this really happened atleast it would mean I don't have to write my upcoming exam on the 24th.

My art exam is split over this week and the next. So if it does happen, then Jesus will probably see my shit half-finished watercolor. He could decide my fate based on that criterion alone. :P

Jimmy91 said:

Isn't that kinda like saying that beef and cheese are the same because they both come from cows? :P

Wait... you didn't know? Look like someone needs to go back to school. ;)

A lot of the writings remain intact.

They might've come from the same sort of teachings, but they're still quite fundamentally different to each other, is my point. The conflict between them on a global/historic basis surely shows that.

DeathevokatioN said:

Wait... you didn't know? Look like someone needs to go back to school. ;)

Heh. Religious education always bored me rigid at school. :P

The ironic thing of course is that there's no real fundamental difference between Harold Camping's beliefs and that of other Christian groups. He's just put a date on when he thinks it's going to happen.

Phml said:

Anyway. By that I mean seeing internet tough guys acting tough is the only thing I'll get to see about this May 21 thing, because I don't live in the United States.

You'd be surprised.

Jimmy91 said:

Extremist Islamists often take the words of the Qu'ran to mean "brutally maim and massacre all non-believers, sacrificing yourself if you have to" and many of them have the capabilities to do so. (See 9/11.) The Bible doesn't explicitly instruct its readers to do things like that (...does it?).

Yes.

What the Bible says about : Religious Tolerance

Jimmy91 said:

Heh. Religious education always bored me rigid at school. :P

Nah, I was kidding, I was referring to that beef and cheese are the same because they both come from cows statement. I have a bad and indecipherable sense of humor. :)

fraggle said:

You'd be surprised.

Not a big surprise really, my school is also putting up posters for this date.

Jimmy91 said:

. The conflict between them on a global/historic basis surely shows that.

Ultimately the only real reason they have for conflict is that they both believe the other is wrong, for the same reason - both of their holy books state that they are the one and only path to salvation and that all other beliefs are heresies.

Are there still any active forum members in New Zealand? Being amongst the first to greet the new day means they could provide a vital service for the rest of the community by acting as our early warning system on the 21st.

Quick question (prompted by the source material's antiquity) - should we be going by the Jewish day, which starts at nightfall? Not that I'm wavering - just trying to cover all bases.

Destx is still there. A few others from memory, but can't recall their names.

However I'll be sure to let everyone know whether my parents are raptured :þ

Ads warning this are all over the place in NY. On the subways, on billboards, even on trucks people drive around just to "warn the people"

The sad part is that people have been donating their life savings towards these. I'm sure they're going to be really pissed on Sunday. :/

GreyGhost said:

Are there still any active forum members in New Zealand? Being amongst the first to greet the new day means they could provide a vital service for the rest of the community by acting as our early warning system on the 21st.

Planky said:

Destx is still there

It all depends on what time it's happening, if it's at midnight I'll definitely still be awake then. But as it falls on a Saturday, if it's a morning thing I'm really not gonna be reporting any giant bearded dudes or chitinous cosmic horrors untill at least 11 am.

Wouldn't be the first time I slept in past armageddon.

Maybe it's a metaphorical Armageddon, like, on May 22nd when they find out we're still here and everybody's going to be suing somebody for false advertising. It'll be the financial Armageddon.

GreyGhost said:

Are there still any active forum members in New Zealand?

I'm still active.