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May 19th, 2011
09:04 AM ET
What we'll miss if the world endsIf the doomsday folks are correct, there are at least two judgments we will miss – mainly who will be crowned the winners of "American Idol" and "Dancing With the Stars." The clock is ticking toward May 21, which listeners of Family Radio have marked as the Day of Rapture, when Christians will be caught up in the air to meet Jesus. The day will also, they say, be the start of a five-month Judgment Day and the end of the world as we know it. If true, that would suck for so many reasons including the mass destruction and chaos which is sure to follow. But let's consider a few reasons why it would be a tragedy in the realm of pop culture. Read the full of things CNN's Marquee Blog will miss if Doomsday is Saturday.
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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The rapture starts at what time? Eastern or Pacific?...
Hi my name is Jeshurun. My name has been given to me by God the Father. The Lord called me in November 2007. I was ordained as one of his two end of days witnesses. I want to share this with you all. The date that is being given out is very close to a world event, but is off by a few days and the meaning has been defined wrong with that said I am going to give to you two dates and also reveal the beast to you, but before I do I would like to say this. If you do not have Christ in your heart please I beg of you find him learn of him and love him. On May 24 2011 the abomination of desolation will be set up. On July 11 2011 blessing will be received. The beast spoken of in the book of Revelation will arise out of Iran. Folks prepare yourselves we are about to meet our creator Do not be one of the virgins that did not bring any spare oil for their lantern. Do not be caught in your unawares. walk in Christ I love you all watch and pray without cease our redemption is at the doors.
Jeshurun
Only two days left. Is he coming?
Vote Now!
http://www.wepolls.com/p/408397/Will-May-21st,-2011-mark-the-return-of-Jesus-Christ
There will be no rapture Saturday, nor 5 months of judgment in the earth like those people believe. But There would be no surprise at all if the day after some horrible tragedy happens in the earth, becaue this generation of mockers has waved their fists in the face of God one time too many! If, and when it happens, you've got it comming, and it won't be soon enough! Even the ground is weeping and the earth convulsing for the evil that's walking upon it!
FOUNDER OF THIS DOOMSDAY CULT IS SUPER WEALTHY. 100 million in donations!!!! OMG. http://losangeles.ibtimes.com/articles/148239/20110519/may-21st-doomsday-does-harold-camping-s-ministry-have-money.htm
@Sean and Frogist, the reply button is not working at this point. I hope you get to read this reply. You guys are less evil than other atheists as your vocab is not that dirty as far as I know. I'm sorry if I sound mean to you. I meant to tell you facts from observations. Facts are hard, aren't they? Humans are sinful and evil. If you have sound mind, please make a movement to stop mockery of religion for the sake of mocking. That should be your duty as honest human beings instead of bashing the religious. I'm telling you this knowing it's vain because showing respect to other people's religion carries no meaning to atheists.
Matthew 24:36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Acts 1:7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
http://rogertharpe.wordpress.com/
For those who wonder, Jesus gave up some attributes of God only while on earth for our sake. Read Philippians chapter 2 as well.
thank you!, no human being is capable of predicting the acts of God especially not one as the end of this earth's existance. Thats not to say that the Lord wont return one day which I personally believe (jus my opinion) but if your asking do i trust in the what one man and a few others say about the precise hour, day, or whatever about when the earth will end then my answer is definately no.
So where did they get the news of that happening from? As we know the date only known by God and that it would come when we least expect it....
Can tell that some thing big is coming up with time and those changes taking place to countries one after another but whether it is good or bad only God knows....
We here in Yemen our Unity day celebration is on 22 May since 1990 to date but this time because of the troubles in the country related to changes we are threatened by the oppositions that they would make of it a bloody date marching towards the presidency to remove the president against the will of many who prefer having the president finish his legal ruling period rather than those coming to rule by coup rather than legal honest elections....Honestly what a mess we are in by those oppositions who what to take over what the youth have achieved and will be using those youth as their slaughter sheep for them to reach the ruling chair and then again when they both oppositions fight among them over it....
Muneef, this is your Freedom Day!!! Enjoy
1. There was no Abraham i.e. the foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no basis.
2. There was no Moses i.e the pillars of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no strength of purpose.
3. There was no Gabriel i.e. Islam fails as a religion. Christianity partially fails.
4. There was no Easter i.e. Christianity completely fails as a religion.
5. There was no Moroni i.e. Mormonism is nothing more than a business cult.
6. Sacred/revered cows, monkey gods, castes, reincarnations and therefore Hinduism fails as a religion.
7. Fat Buddhas here, skinny Buddhas there, reincarnated Buddhas everywhere makes for a no on Buddhism.
>>Seems to me the NT contains a few more instructions that to just believe. And if that’s the case, do you really believe that many, if not most Nobel Peace prize winners will or are suffering eternal torment just because they didn’t believe in your particular god? What about children in other countries who die early, brought up in a different religion, before ever given the chance to hear about Christianity’s message? That doesn’t sounds very loving to me. That sounds highly narcissistic.
The bible contains many instructions on how to live your life, yes. But the essence of salvation is the belief in Jesus Christ. I am sure you are aware of John 3:16? There are many other verses in the NT that says basically the same thing. Jesus gave us two commandments, love God and love your neighbor. All other commandments flow from those two. I urge to do some serious study in the Bible, and I do not mean that in a mean spirited way, only to urge you to learn more, so that you know why you believe the way you do. Sometimes people make assumptions about the bible without ever going to source. I am not saying that is what you are doing, but your statement does imply that.
The question of what happens to people who have not heard the word is probably the most difficult one Christians need to answer, but not impossible, nor does it detract from our faith. As we are only human, we don't know everything, and we are not expected to, which is part of surrendering to God's will. However, there are several viewpoints regarding that question. First of all, most Christians believe that God has a plan for children and the disabled. With regard to the question of those who have not heard, most Christians believe the God makes us responsible for that which has been revealed to us. Jesus has been revealed to the world, and we have the free will to choose or reject Him. You and I really have no excuse. In the end though, it is God who will decide who is saved or not, and that is His judgement not mine. All I have is what He has revealed to me through His word, and that is what I follow.
But with that said, God gave us a mind to use, and we should use it. I urge you to do more reading on the subject. Here is one book that is worth reading...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CGRBJ8/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title
It was by thorough study of the Bible (and yes, I've read all of it), the study of other religions, and examining my beliefs with as unbiased and skeptical an eye as I could muster that led me to let go of my faith. A lot of instruction in the sciences didn't hurt. I feel much freer because of it.
RELIGION = CULT
Stevie7:
Reading and understanding are completely different things. Since you have been bringing up things that are explained in the bible, I came to the conclusion you did not read it. I stand corrected, but I nevertheless encourage you to continue to read and ask questions. I do find it sad that you have come to the conclusions you have....
Peace..
Get ready people! Do you have your Rapture Hatch?
http://lolgod.blogspot.com/2010/08/rapture-hatch.html
I am going to miss tea bagging all you non-believers
Amen.
Phony heavensent. Is this your job to steal my handle?
Amen.
Is it too late to try to organize a nationwide zombie walk for Saturday?
@Eric G: Oh snap! I would totally do that!
It would make it awfully hard to identify the real zombies. We'd need a safe word.
@Sean: How about a safe phrase?
"You've got red on you."
I'm in.
Eric G, the spiritually walking dead belongs to non-believers. Jesus stated that how many years ago? LOL.
Amen.
@HeavenSent, that is so true!!
Buttom line this guy camping in technical terms his a loon
Yup. In your world, "loon" is a technical term. OK.
Mathew24 ,36: said concerning that day and hour nobody knows,neither the angels of the heavens nor the son, but only the father.
Captain Kirk said "Dammit, I'm not doing priceline commericals yet."
I knew you folks were Trekkies. LOL.
Amen.
So Jesus doesn't know when he's coming back? One would think that Jesus would be in the loop and know what's on his itinerary.
god keeps secrets from himself? So much for being omniscient.
Manna:
This is a very good question. God gave us a mind to use, and we should use it. There are different views on what Jesus meant. You have to understand that English was not the original language of the bible and when we go back to the original language there are words that do not translate correctly. The word "know" is one of those words. There is a good article on this here – http://bible.org/question/does-jesus-now-know-when-he-coming-back-or-still-only-gods-knowledge-stated-matt-2436-and-m
htt://ginzotalk.wordpress.com
@M-M- and Stevie: Jesus voluntarily gave up some attributes of God (such as omin-science here and omni-presence) while living on earth. Read Philippians chapter 2 why it happened. He did everything for us.
"Adelina
@M-M- and Stevie: Jesus voluntarily gave up some attributes of God (such as omin-science here and omni-presence) while living on earth. Read Philippians chapter 2 why it happened. He did everything for us."
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This simly suggest that jesus and the father are separate. One cannot be both omniscient and not omniscient. Thus, you're saying that Christianity is polytheistic.
Free
"Spiritually understood", but having real world consequences, like death and destruction, right? If what you were talking about only played out in people's minds then you might have an argument, but anything that has real world consequences necessarily are within the realm of reason and logic, so your claim is just plain silly.
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Feel free to enjoy and embrace you beliefs as you will! I will do the same!
The Bobinator
Once again you dodge the question because you know what admitting it would mean. You're an intellectual coward.
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Once again, you don't realize all faiths are NOT the same. You still insist on lumping all faith together. It does not work. Why is that so hard to grasp? I will not answer for any other faith group. I will answer for mine. Regardless of what you may want to call it, you have my answer!
> Once again, you don't realize all faiths are NOT the same. You still insist on lumping all faith together. It does not work. Why is that so hard to grasp? I will not answer for any other faith group. I will answer for mine. Regardless of what you may want to call it, you have my answer.
How do you know faith isn't the same? You don't because you've only ever experienced yours. As such you cannot really state anything about what faith actually is, you can only relate it in terms to your own faith, which may be poorer or better then what faith really is.
You state that faith is a pathway to truth. And you do this by saying "I can only look at my faith". Well, that means your argument is as valid as a person saying "I'm Napoleon Bonaparte" and saying "I believe it to be so."
So we cannot adopt your method of looking at faith because it's not valid.
The way I look at faith is to start with nothing and build up on common traits that all faiths share. The first aspect comes from what we can observe. There is no objective evidence for God that we are aware of. Therefore, faith in a God must be without evidence. Things that do exist may not have evidence we're aware of. However, things that do not exist do not have evidence of their existence.
So, best case scenario is that one set of faith accurately portrays God. The rest of the faiths that exist in the world got it wrong.
Steve, given that you only know your own faith, how do you know your faith is correct? How do you know the special feelings you get, possibly the messages of God you recieve are accurate? How do you know?
The only way you can actually stay loyal to your faith among all the others is to plug your ears and go "La la la la".
Hello Steve! I hope all is well with you and yours!
Faith, as you have described it yourself, is belief without supporting verifiable evidence. By that definition, all faith may not be the same, but all share the same position and logical relevance.
To discredit the faith of others because it is different than your faith is intellectually dishonest. To discredit a faith because of verifiable evidence to the contrary is reasonable.
I would not even consider "faith" in the absence of evidence as "faith". That term presupposes a legitimate belief in something. In the absence of evidence, one cannot have faith in a god, all they can do is hope or wish for a god. But, if one insists on using the term "faith" due to some perceived etymological loyalty to the term, one must accept that it is a very, very shallow concept indeed in the absence of evidence to support it.
No matter how you categorize it, belief in a god is a shallow, weak, emotionally-driven reaction for frightened children and illeducated adults.
@Colin: Mother of pearl, that was over my head. Can you explain in a little simpler language? I'd appreciate it. Also I'm not sure I understand your definition of "faith". I'm not trying to call you out. Just trying to understand.
@Eric G.
As always... well said. (*No offense @steve (the real one).
Peace...
Peace2All
@Eric G.
As always... well said. (*No offense @steve (the real one).
Peace...
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None taken, Peace!
I can't wait to get on my knees again.
Amen
So you go back to work on Saturday?
Phony heavensent that is a great post. Try it some time.
Amen.
It can't end, at least not before the 7th race at Pimlico. All those people at the Preakness. They're are gonna be REALLY ticked.
Why do Americans care about pop culture like death on a planet with 2 billion suffering people? Your forefathers weren't like that. The fellow Americans suffering from floods can't make you serious either, can they? America, stop mocking religion. Your sense of humor like this only proves how empty you are. And it won't save you.
Heaven sent us those nice floods.
Amen.
Adelina-
For a religion that claims to be so against euthanasia and suicide Christianity sure seems to fantasize a lot about ending everyone's 'suffering' en masse.
It's inconsistencies like this that attracts mockery to religion. When the religious attempt to mock science and reason it causes no damage whatsoever because the reasoning they use betrays their total lack of understanding of these things and their criticisms are so transparently erroneous and even fabricated as to be laughable, but when we mock religion it wounds you deeply because you are only too aware of the shortcomings we point out, correct? The mockery wouldn't bother you so much if it were not true.
Free, you never had any science, reason or even logic outside of Christianity. You learned them from the Bible. Mockery increases the sin penalty. We are speaking for your sake, although mockery of religon hurts us the most. I rather have you mock me and my family than my religion. You mockers of religion are disgusting, you know.
Free, if you simply point out or state how false our religion is, we don't grieve but will simply discuss. But you mock in the most des-pi-cable manner what we cherish more than our own lives. It's nice atheists don't have anything to cherish so, or do you? Why don't you call on your fellow atheists to keep some basic manners with the religious?
@Adelina: You said, "But you mock in the most des-pi-cable manner what we cherish more than our own lives."
That's your perogative, but none of us are required to take you seriously.
As long as America mocks religion calling it freedom of speeches(what a filthy, shameful, stupid application of freedom!), it is guanranteed America will be despised by all. Get what you ask for. America holds greater resiponsibility on morality than other nations. More entrusted, more is required.
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
Adelina, if you wish to be taken seriously or be treated with respect, you should begin by posting something which isn't simply more arrogant affirmation of your wholly unsupported positions. For example, how do you possibly claim Christianity is the foundation for logic when the Greeks had been developing its formalities long before Jesus? You'll sidestep this statement, move on to some other equally absurd affirmation, and then wonder why you are the target of such mockery...
Sean, you guys are enjoying seeing religious people suffer because you are bored. We all know it. If you had a religion other than your entertainment, you would not have been so vain. Don't dream a peaceful pluralistic society. You air-head hedonists will only increase hatred and contempt among citizens. American Christians are the only ones who can endure everything in love and patience.
Adelina,
Why are you so delusional, uneducated and amoral? You come on here and dispute what science says to be true using the only thing you have-the Bible. Non-believers are not the bad ones...we don't go killing people or believe in fiction. If you took time to educate yourself and stop living by a book written 2000 plus years ago, you might be tolerable but since you can't seem to come out of the cave you reside in you waste everyone's time. If you believe so highly in your God I suggest you disconnect the power to your house, cancel your internet and buy some duct tape for your mouth...without science you'd have none of this stuff. You won't go anywhere when you die except to a grave and for that I feel sorry for the earth...contamination is bad for it!
Q, Did you read my replies in our previous conversation? I hope you did! Now the volume of comments here are getting too much for me. I can't read a lot now. See you many hours later. I gotta go now.
@Adelina – Honestly, no. But if you'll refresh my memory under which story the exchange took place, I'll go read them...
@Adelina: You said, "American Christians are the only ones who can endure everything in love and patience."
And non-American Christians...meaning you...can't seem to endure anything, including mockery. Does boredom contribute to my enjoyment at your "suffering?" Yeah, probably. Am I in any way responsible for that suffering? Of course not. You do this to yourselves. We just point out the silliness of it all.
@Adelina – Found the thread, May 11th, "Navy reverses itself...". Read your posts and responded. Cheers...
You're slipping phony heavensent. Time to repent and ask Jesus for forgiveness then sin no more.
Amen.
@Adelina: I think the thing that speaks volumes here is you calling others names and putting them down while extolling how Christianity has made you loving and patient.
Adelina-
"I rather have you mock me and my family than my religion."
What I mock of religion are the parts that deserve mockery. Not everything about religion deserves mockery in my view. About 85% of what Jesus is reported to have said in the gospels I consider universally wise, for example.
Now you, personally, deserve mockery for most, if not all, of what you say here, but I don't know your family, so why should I mock them? "Sins of the parents wrought upon their children" sort of thinking, I suppose? Another example of a religious idea that deserves mockery because it is self-evidently too silly to take serious. For that reason I'd rather go with something like "Mock the silliness, not the silly person", to borrow from the religious sentiment because I have great hopes in people being shocked out of such ideas. Something that gentle persuasion cannot accomplish when the subject is completely closed-minded.
"if you simply point out or state how false our religion is, we don't grieve but will simply discuss."
This has been done here, and in books by respected atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens, time and time again and the religious person's response, including yours, has typically been just to threaten hellfire. Should you ever wish, however, to debate the truth of your beliefs civilly I will be more than willing to accommodate you.
Here, lets try a test. I say that the Bible is as much a product of the human imagination as all the other books ever written on this planet. Now, I await your pleasant and civil response.
@Real HeavenSent, no worries, we usually know what real HeavenSent would say. Fakes, stop your evil follies. @Q: Human mind has capacity of logic as we were created in the image of God. Sure, some ancient individuals had wisdom and noteworthy thoughts but the Bible(both OT and NT) is incomparable, surpassing all by far. It's the Bible which made the West and Israel different, not the Greek wisdom. We all had similar things except the Bible. It required systematic thinking to study the Bible and it provided the deepest, noblest ideas and courage to carry it out.
@Prochoice-: Science is only discovering what God had made and applications in His orderly world. Science developed in Christendom alone as all pioneer modern scientists were either Christian or theists under Christian umbrella. You are the one who should move out of USA, the nation Christians created.
@Sean and Frogist, the reply button worked! But I answered you elsewhere. Look for it on the same page. @Free: You didn't get my point. If you mock others' religion it deeply hurts, although you atheists have no noble dogma to cherish you don't understand such pain. Free, we all carry the sins of our fathers because they are part of us because our own sins are far more grave anyway, but Jesus reverse it all. That's the massage of the Bible. Get it correctly. What's the 15% you had trouble with? I'd like to hear. I hope you remember what you read because you only remember the trash listing of your favorite anti-God authors. The Bible is not a product of human imagination but the inspired Word of God. The text is far superb above all literature in existence, past and present, East and West, and it alone changes human hearts forever. It is most read, most coveted, over one's own life because it alone is worthy of risking life. It gives eternal life. The Bible is the source of all noble, meaningful movement thus changing history for good everywhere it enters. You only need to look into the world and US history and present stati-stics. The British and US consti-tu-tion(and laws) which is the base of all the civilized world is based on the Bible.
@Free: PS Christians don't threaten with hellfires. You are being told your evil conducts await permanent justice at the end, and you are hating those who are giving you warnings lovingly. All you must do is to say sorry to God, accept His grace and start living the new God-given life as you should (How simple that is!) because you've been indeed guilty, but you can't do that only because you are unwilling.
@Adelina – With respect, a human mind may have the capacity for logic but this isn't the same as exercising this capacity. Again, I believe you are confusing "logic" to mean "something which makes sense to you personally" rather than a formal or informal process for reaching a conclusion. When you use logic, you are generally providing a series of premises and a conclusion that follows from these premises. If your premises are incorrect, you may still have a valid conclusion (i.e. it makes sense given the premises), but the conclusion is not sound. For instance, your conclusion that the Bible is what caused the West (and much later) and Israel to be "different", is based on a flawed premise that other contributing factors were not at least equally if not more important (while not a perfect argument, you many want to read Jared Diamonds "Guns, Germs and Steel" which proposes a number of hypotheses for why some regions of the world dominate and not others).
Regarding the Bible as the source of the West's prominence, I offer that much of Europe's High Middle Age, Renaissance and subsequent Enlightenment periods were founded not in the Bible as you claim, but rather in returning to the philosophical, literary, scientific and mathematical works of Arabic and Ancient Greek origin. Add to this, significant but independent cultural and technological advances in various middle- and far-Eastern cultures (e.g. the Four Great-Inventions of Ancient China). The irony of your comments here is that in one sentence you insist the West is a glorious product of Christianity and in the next claim it is an immoral bastion of hedonists but never seem to connect the two currently or historically? I doubt you'd believe someone is "Christian" simply because they say so, but rather based on their behaviors. Why wouldn't you hold a nation or a geopolitical region to the same standard, i.e. look at the behaviors of the West rather than the self-proclaimed mantles of "Christian" nations? I'm glad I live where I do, but I certainly don't pretend my current freedoms and quality of life weren't built on a demonstrably tainted history of all manner of evils...
"Adelina
@Prochoice-: Science is only discovering what God had made and applications in His orderly world. Science developed in Christendom alone as all pioneer modern scientists were either Christian or theists under Christian umbrella. You are the one who should move out of USA, the nation Christians created."
First of all, if I lived in the USA I could move out but since I reside in another country that would be impossible.
Second, the USA was not created by Christians nor was any other country for that matter
Third, Science is discovering what God created-which God would that be?? Science has time and time again proven religion false and there is no excuse for anyone to fall for it any more.
If you had any knowledge outside of the big book of multiple choice you'd be a little more open minded and not so ignorant. Without science you'd have nothing.
Q: Your favorite author is only of his own opinion; there is no reason to trust what he says. Q, nations and covilizations are complex things as you know. Lofty ideals(ideas), laws, customs, and movements were born from beliefs dragging everyone along mixed with different motives as well. But at least the West pushed its way what is important for mankind by holding onto the Bible and Christianity as its conscience – such as the free-willed quest for truth. It's remarkable and they placed importance on quest for truth over all other en-ti-ty. That was historic and unique to Christendom. Every nation or civilization struggled but God blessed the West as a truth holder but it corrupted its way knowingly. Doing evil knowingly is worse than doing it ignorantly. That's what happened and what's happening, Q. But we all need Jesus, God's Savior, as individuals.
@Q, You must learn the world history in order to understand the human evil. If you think your West was bad, you've been spoiled; others were hopeless. We had no one to rescue us from injustice within our borders; I'm speaking especially as a woman. We all needed Christianity. None of other goodies you mention; those were utterly useless in liberation of human spirit, unless combined with Christian conscience.
@Prochoice-, yes, the structure of America and all Western nations were built upon Judeo-Christian tradition, no other. Scientific discoveries only proved the Bible is right. Know what you will talk about before you talk. You worshippers of science are so lost by now, you are saying now that creation creates itself by sheer will. Even robots are not that absurd.
@Q: You sound academic-ally an honest person to some degree. I think you Westerners really lost your iden-ti-ty by Bible-illiteracy. There are so many good and excel-lent things only unique to the Bible and ori-ginated from it alone but you ascribe it to something else. This is the reason secular Westerners are forever in error. It's a will-ful error. And this is why secularists remain sha-llow as human beings and amoral religion bashers.
CNN is not serious... again.
This article is a completely appropriate response to the ridiculous claims of Camping and his followers, pairing silly with stupid...
Q, my point is the content of what they will miss in case the world ends on a certain date. Shouldn't it be something much more important?
Adelina, the article is literally a joke. The author, in listing a number of insignificant events, is making fun of the Camping group by implying an equal insignificance to their prediction.