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Dr Shari
Skeptic Friend
135 Posts |
 Posted - 12/19/2002 : 03:05:06
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I read a few of the Left Behind books because I saw them as the same as dooms-day Sci-Fi and a patient gave me one to save my soul in my hour of poor health.(I should be healed now if I were a believer) I usually go along with what ever religous belief my patient has because in general I am there to cure thier bodies, not religous beliefs. I believe that for a number of patients thier belief has helped through bad moments and who am I to take away what they feel is helping.
These books though are INSANE. First if I woke up one morning and my fundamentalist sister and her Southern Babtist family were just gone along with other religous people I know I think I would become a believer before I let a single person show up and suddenly take over the world. They make it sound that we would lose all ability to be independant thinkers and would blindly follow and worship the Anti-Christ. They miss the point of being a Skeptic.
How about it Skeptics? If all the things in Revelation started happening what would you do? Admit we may have missed the point and repent or follow the Anti-Christ. As I have absolutely no belief this will happen it's purely for idle conversation. Would you become a believer or follow the Anti-Christ? There would be know way to stay neutral if comets fell to Earth and poisoned parts of the world, people disappeared, and a single world goverment and one church started to rule all goverments. The books make the idea of the "End Times" seem even more ridiculous but if it happened what would you do?
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Death: The High Cost of Living
It is easier to get forgiveness then to get permission! |
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Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2002 : 04:19:13 [Permalink]
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| I read the first Left Behind book, on the recomendation of a good friend of mine. It was enjoyable to read, and I was cheering on the skeptic for a while. You are right, though, Dr Shari. If every fundamentalist Christian disappeared at once, and all of the "end of days" silliness came true, I would most likely say, "well, gee, I guess Jesus was right!" |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2002 : 05:26:14 [Permalink]
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| If anything started happening that Christians think does happen I would start to investigate it a little harder, because it's probably some trick, as they haven't produced anything that's convincing yet. When they start popping up in the heavens, I'll tune into the skeptic web sites to see what the scam is. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2002 : 06:48:21 [Permalink]
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I of course would admit that my atheism was incorrect, but argue vehemently that it was certainly justified. Jesus would have to have one heck of a good explanation before I would "repent" or whatever. If it was basically "Nope, what you've read about in the Bible and heard from my followers is pretty much spot on!", I'd tell him to shove off.
If "Antichrist" means the opposite of Christ, I'm betting he/she would be a fine upstanding moral person.
[spelling] |
| Edited by - Tokyodreamer on 12/19/2002 06:50:11 |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2002 : 15:16:39 [Permalink]
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I find the adventures of Hobbits in Middle Earth much more probable, and appealing, than those of J the C in the bible. And Middle Earth is clearly identified as a fiction. If only the authors of the bible were so honest.
That being said, I suspect that it would take me quite a while to repent. The thought of following a charismatic leader tends to turn my stomach. What is the substance and veracity of the ideas this leader presents. He has to have more than just being a glad handing back slapper.
Does the bible identify what the appeal of the anti-christ would be ?? |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2002 : 15:52:28 [Permalink]
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The funny part is that they think that if they all disappeared tomorrow the world would be worse off for it. It's like that Douglas Adams story of Earth being populated all the useless people from another planet--telephone disinfecters and such. The planet is about to blow up; they are told; get in this rocket and the rest of us will be right behind you in another ship.
I don't think that I'd bother to repent. Except for wasting my time replying to Darwin Alogos, there's nothing I regret. Anyway I'd probably be too busy to repent what with all the celebrations over the Xians being gone I'd be attending.
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I learned something ... I learned that Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Halloween. I guess they don't like strangers going up to their door and annoying them.
-Bruce Clark
There's No Toilet Paper...on the Road Less Traveled |
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TEDPOX
New Member
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2002 : 20:42:05 [Permalink]
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I would sooner believe the alien hypothesis than the JC/supernatural explanation. It's too Christian Apologetic for my taste.
After all, who was it that said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic"? I think it was A.C. Clarke.
Remember there is always a rational explanation for something even when you personally can't explain it. |
I've had about enough of me. |
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Legallee Insane
Skeptic Friend
Canada
126 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2002 : 15:13:47 [Permalink]
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quote:
moakley
I find the adventures of Hobbits in Middle Earth much more probable, and appealing, than those of J the C in the bible. And Middle Earth is clearly identified as a fiction. If only the authors of the bible were so honest.
(A tear drips from my eye).... No..... It can't be.... you mean to tell me that those little hobbit characters in Tolkien's books weren't real?(*sob*).......(*sniffle*, another tear drips from my eye)..... this is just like when I found out.........(breaks down crying).......Santa wasn't real either............... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! |
--"Only the fool says in his heart: There is no god -- The wise says it to the world"
--"I darn you to HECK!" - Catbert
--"Don't worry, we're not laughing at you, we're laughing near you." |
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Stargirl
Skeptic Friend
USA
94 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2002 : 23:09:25 [Permalink]
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Not so fast people. Take a look at this Totally Bogus News Agency article I convinced a fuddy xian coworker I'd downloaded from the Internet. She got so upset she called her preacher.
TBNA
February 30, 2001
2000 World census reveals the Rapture has arrived!
By L. F. Buam
In my travels down the brick path I come upon many disturbing stories but the Top Secret government documents I received last week from a source identifying himself only as Munchkin reveals the terrifying fact that the Rapture is upon us. According to the classified documents the 2000 U.S. census indicates that the population of America has actually decreased by ten's of millions of people. Population censuses done in other nations show an amazing total decline of 839,651,027 people worldwide.
Munchkin gave me the name of a Mrs. Blandick of Kansas whose niece had disappeared into thin air. Upon interviewing Mrs. Blandick she said ‘It doesn't bother me that I've been left behind. Just knowing my niece is in a much more colorful place makes me feel…' The kindly old woman never finished her statement because at that very moment she vanished in a burst of heavenly blue light, the scent of frankincense filling the air as the prairie wind blew around me.
Sipping a thick oily tea from a simple tin cup Philosopher J. Haley believes that those of us left on Earth are indeed doomed to sulfuric lakes that will eat away our flesh as rust dissolves metal. Though he insisted that if we have a heart we must open it up and love what remains of humanity in the time we have left.
But well-recognized Wiccian Ms. M. Hamilton was blatant in her ridicule of the hysteria millions of people will express once they know that the Biblical prophecies are coming true. “Our belief tells us that there is nothing to fear from the darkness that will soon descend upon us… quite the contrary, we look forward to stepping lightly in our slippers colored red with the blood of the damned.”
General B. Lahr refused to confirm a remark made during a Pentagon briefing where the President was reported to have said that he was chosen by the almighty to make certain Armageddon comes to pass. And that at the appointed time he and his political entourage will arise into heaven. The general, himself has faced many enemies in his career, yet he expressed concern about his courage to confront the demons that are sure to attack, saying, “Those just aren't the kind of things I was trained to fight in battle. The thought of hordes of flying creatures descending upon us makes me cower like a scared cat.”
Noted think tank expert Dr. Bolger threw a strawman into the disappearances by arguing that it's all a religious hoax. And claiming that if he had half a brain he'd be able to figure out in what far off land the fundamentalists are hiding all those people. “I wouldn't be surprised if they're all set up in cornfields down in the Bible belt.” Said the self-deluded thinker as he stared at me with what looked like a painted grin on his wrinkled face.
Professor F. Morgan the wizard of technological evangelism is skeptical that so many non-Christians and non-Americans have been taken up into the Rapture. He proposes that the lord almighty is shuffling people around the globe to conceal his actions. “Think about the last time you went to the mall,” he said, “How many foreign languages did you hear. It's like Babel.” Yet, he says he believes that all is not yet lost for those of us left behind. He claims that by following his words of wisdom the remaining faithful will surely find their way home.
The truth, however, dear readers is that after careful investigation I have not found any further reports of people, even among the most devout of born-again Christians who have disappeared in that heavenly blue light I first witnessed in Kansas. So I must conclude that the people remaining on Earth, sadly including me have all been left behind to face our worst nightmares as we descend into th |
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him - Voltaire |
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Dr Shari
Skeptic Friend
135 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2002 : 05:19:12 [Permalink]
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| For those who are not in tune with the "End Times" J the C made none of those predictions. It was a dream that came to one of the early saints. Plus a lot of people refer to it as Revelations and it is one revelation that reads like a bad nightmare to me. |
Death: The High Cost of Living
It is easier to get forgiveness then to get permission! |
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walt fristoe
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
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