Posted by CPiolo [CPiolo] on November 16, 1999 at 16:15:53 {pRztWiaeukHljYPCrMsQfhe3reEu4M}:
In Reply to: Post-Armageddon Concerns posted by Rick on November 16, 1999 at 01:58:00:
Rick:
In order to think a person, people or an organization will survive a scenario such as Armageddon, you must begin with the premise that they are better than all those who don't survive and somehow in God's special favor. In my opinion, it takes an enormous ego and visions of grandeur to think of oneself in such terms. It is also where, for me, fundamental Christianity falls apart.
If we are to take a literal interpretation of the Bible, first God creates two perfect humans. He then tempts them and succeeds. How he succeeded if they were perfect, I can't figure out, perfection being without fault and falling prey to temptation being evidence of someone less than perfect. It simply defies logic. In addition, God being perfect and all knowing had to have been able to predict the results of his little experiment. That being so, it seems nothing more than a cruel joke. Next, because he succeeded he decides to punish mankind forever -- even crueler still.
Some time passes and God needs to speak to man because man hasn't heeded his warning. Who does he chose but one of the most violent, murderous people of the time - the Jews who have been conquering killing, raping and, in today's language, ethnically cleansing their neighbors. This again this defies all logic. But the story continues and God continues to speak through these violent, murderous people. Still, no one heeds God's word. What does he do? He begets a son using his spirit to impregnate a virgin who has promised to marry someone else. Some might consider this rape because God never asked Mary if she wanted to lay down with God's spirit. Sorry if I've offended anyone, but by the definition of rape (sexual relations without mutual consent), it certainly appears so.
The child of this union is to be a new messenger of God's word, the Messiah. He points out many bad things in the religious and political social order and propones some sound moral principles. Apart from claiming to be God's son, he says nothing that others hadn't said before, often times centuries before. Well, surprise, surprise, the religious and political elite find this a threat to the status quo so they conspire and have him killed.
Some years go by and people write about this Son of God - his miracle birth and the things he did and said over a period of three years or so. These writings are copied by hand, passed on and added to. After another 300 years or so various competing followers of the Son of God get together to decide what to do with these texts. There is much debate and they fight over which texts should be included in the collection of written material. Many believe that much of what has been written is not genuine. In the end, they vote on what to include and so God's word has been decided by a vote of men. A new book is made called The Bible.
Included in the new word of God are what some interpret as prophecies. Some of these prophecies say that the Son of God will return after a period of time to judge mankind and decide who deserves to join God in his kingdom. The rest will be killed after failing to meet God's standards - standards that God knew mankind would not live up to because God, being perfect and having created imperfect beings, had to have known many would not succeed in meeting his expectations. God also had to have known that many would not receive the new word of God because there was no knowledge that these poor people without his word even existed. In essence, God had condemned many before they came into existence.
More time goes on and the divisions between those with the "truth" grow. Sometimes the divisions are great sometimes miniscule but each group has the "truth." Wars are fought, trials are held, intolerance between the various groups grows and many people suffer and die. Time goes by. Do the people of the "truth" learn from the previous errors of other? No. Rather, they find more differences, create more intolerance and many more suffer and die. The cycle continues to this day.
So is it really God's word. God knowing, when he passed us the "truth," that his words would be misinterpreted, misunderstood and poorly translated by his imperfect creation. If we as humans can see such problems, then God surely had to have foreseen them as well. I, therefore, don't wait for nor expect Armageddon to take place. But it sure is good for stirring folks up.