• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!
  • Welcome to our archives. No new posts are allowed here.

Are all these unrests a sign of Biblical end times?

A disaster could be from the skies too. Asteroid. Weather conditions (massive earthquakes). Diseases that are airborne. All this is in the bible, isn't it?
Just something that made me go hmmmmmmm.
 
Have you ever cracked upon a history book? Media hype aside, we live in a very peaceful world today. Warfare is pretty much relegated to the occasional skirmish in a few hot spots. The world economy isn't doing so hot, but that is a joke compared to say the black death or the genocide of the American continents or the Mongol conquest.
 
Global warming,

526 Antioch earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Puhar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1556 Shaanxi earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great Famine of 1315

St. Lucia's flood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Valletta, Malta Tornado - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

civil unrest,

Julius Caesar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(I know some good podcasts to download if you'd rather listen to a narrative about this subject)

Caligula - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nika riots - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Deadliest riots in world history)

University of Paris strike of 1229 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peasants' Revolt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St Scholastica Day riot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(A riot between university students and town locals that started over the quality of drinks at a tavern, and was memorialized annually for 470 years)

Evil May Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Salt Riot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Copper Riot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bawdy House Riots of 1668 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


List of wars before 1000 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of wars 1000

List of wars 1500

List of wars 1800

List of wars 1900

List of wars 1945

List of wars 1990

List of wars 2003

List of wars 2011

List of ongoing military conflicts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

unknown diseases running rampant,

Antonine Plague - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plague of Justinian - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black Death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Third plague pandemic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1918 flu pandemic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

etc etc etc.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
A disaster could be from the skies too. Asteroid. Weather conditions (massive earthquakes). Diseases that are airborne. All this is in the bible, isn't it?
Just something that made me go hmmmmmmm.

All of this was in the Bible because those people went through it just as often as we do now.

But the reason why it is in the Bible is because those ancient people had a different understanding of the world than we do now.

Most of what you mentioned are natural disasters of some kind - natural disasters and disease epidemics. But you also have to realize that the ancient people didn't have the scientific method. So when an earthquake happened or disease spread most people thought it was because they had offended the gods and had to make appropriate restitution to them for it to stop.

They didn't have the capacity to understand that earthquakes are the result of tectonic plates shifting, or that disease get spread because of a lack of hygiene and proper food preparation.

So because of the ancient peoples' association with natural disasters and plagues to gods, these events took on moralistic qualities. That is the ancient peoples viewed natural disasters and plagues as aspects of good and evil.

So when the writers of Biblical scriptures talk about natural disasters and plagues they are saying that it's a time of evil because they viewed those things as evil events.

Thanks to the scientific method, however, we now understand and have irrefutable proof that such things are not part of a divine plan but rather because the world follows natural laws that can be studied, codified, and understood and sometimes because of that bad **** happens to us that we don't control and we should accept that and continue to live out our lives despite it.
 
Ah, ok. Well, it is not a sign of biblical end times. It is a sign that there is no God. For your whole life, you have been believing in something that does not exist.


Moderator's Warning:
A reminder: This is the Religious Discussion forum and comments such as these are specifically not permitted here, but are better suited to Philosophy. Thank you for your cooperation.
 
Or is it just yet another turn of what has happened before in other eras?

Well, Enola, I am a Christian, and while there are alternative theories I am inclined to believe in the End Times interpretation of prophecy.

My answer to your question would have to be "who knows? God knows."

I don't.


There's a passage of scripture referred to as "the character of the Age" that goes: "There shall be wars, and rumors of wars, and earthquakes and famines in diverse places..." and concludes "but the end is not yet."

Many people mistakenly think this is a list of "signs of the End", but it is actually a list of things that "just are" and are not to be worried about.

Assuming the standard Evangelical model of the End Times is correct, which I tend to follow myself, it is easy to look at any kind of unrest in the Middle East as troubling.... but then again the middle east is almost ALWAYS troubled in one sense or another, it isn't exactly a stable region and never really has been.


Over time I've taken the attitude that the prophecy will be fulfilled and this Age come to its end, "Whenever". A few possible exceptions aside, I do not believe it is possible for anyone to accurately predict whether the End of the Age is "near" or not... indeed the Bible says "of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels in Heaven, but the Father only."

Any expressions to the contrary are merely personal opinion.

So in brief, my answer is "possibly yes, but probably not."
 
Thanks to the scientific method, however, we now understand and have irrefutable proof that such things are not part of a divine plan but rather because the world follows natural laws that can be studied, codified, and understood and sometimes because of that bad **** happens to us that we don't control and we should accept that and continue to live out our lives despite it.

I believe in this statement for the most part. I believe in evolution and the foundation of science as our understanding of the natural world. I saw an archeological dig around the the ancient city of Jericho and they discovered the walls had indeed fell down. But not only that they fell inward as the bible described but according to the show's narrator it most likely occurred as a result of an earthquake than the horns being blown. It just happened to be coincidence that they happened at the same time and they thought it a miracle not knowing what an earthquake was being rare in that region.

Point is that even though there are usually perfectly logical reasons for most things it still doesn't exclude the possibility that a divine agent had decreed to some patron saint insight into future events. I'm not particularly overly worried about an "end times" event because all our time will end on earth, then we'll know for sure. But I saw a Special on TV about the Ice Caps melting, methane plumes being released in the Arctic speeding up the greenhouse effect, vast multi mile patches of plastic in the oceans, rampant deforestation, population growth absorbing diminishing resources such a renewable fuels, fresh water and food and I'll tell you it painted an almost untenable and unsustainable future at our current pace.

As much as the Media likes to play harum scarum, all the science pointing to the human species out of control are not exaggerated. Things I promise will not hold the same in the next 20 years and that's not speculation.
 
Point is that even though there are usually perfectly logical reasons for most things it still doesn't exclude the possibility that a divine agent had decreed to some patron saint insight into future events. I'm not particularly overly worried about an "end times" event because all our time will end on earth, then we'll know for sure. But I saw a Special on TV about the Ice Caps melting, methane plumes being released in the Arctic speeding up the greenhouse effect, vast multi mile patches of plastic in the oceans, rampant deforestation, population growth absorbing diminishing resources such a renewable fuels, fresh water and food and I'll tell you it painted an almost untenable and unsustainable future at our current pace.

Well, that is a point, and I agree with those concerns.

However, all of those things are a result of human activities and impact on the Earth and its ecosystem.

What I get out of those reports is that the people of Earth should start educating the people about the sustainability of the planet and lobby the governments of all the nations to enact regulations and restrictions in order to promote planet wide sustainability of the global ecosystems, and that what's preventing these reforms from taking place are businesses that profit from the lowly regulated exploitation of these natural resources.

What I don't get out of those reports is that all of these things are being done because of prophesy and that there is nothing that we can do about it because God will eventually want to destroy Creation but wants to finish waging a war against Satan before he chooses to do so.

And I think that focus on supposedly divine prophesy written two millennium ago won't help us to deal with these problems. Rather, I think a better way to deal with these issues is to use science and knowledge in order to prevent these things, and for those things that cannot be prevented then to at least deal with in the most efficient means.
 
Well, that is a point, and I agree with those concerns.

However, all of those things are a result of human activities and impact on the Earth and its ecosystem.

What I get out of those reports is that the people of Earth should start educating the people about the sustainability of the planet and lobby the governments of all the nations to enact regulations and restrictions in order to promote planet wide sustainability of the global ecosystems, and that what's preventing these reforms from taking place are businesses that profit from the lowly regulated exploitation of these natural resources.

What I don't get out of those reports is that all of these things are being done because of prophesy and that there is nothing that we can do about it because God will eventually want to destroy Creation but wants to finish waging a war against Satan before he chooses to do so.

And I think that focus on supposedly divine prophesy written two millennium ago won't help us to deal with these problems. Rather, I think a better way to deal with these issues is to use science and knowledge in order to prevent these things, and for those things that cannot be prevented then to at least deal with in the most efficient means.

I'm not advocating the musings over prophecy to become any basis for fixing real world problems. And since I'm not positive which scriptures are symbolic, misinterpreted or patently false I don't reference them except for my own personal philosophy. Unless there's imminent signs that the jig is up.

I'm not at all convinced that humanity can't solve or deal with the upcoming difficulties of the future but there will be big changes as always and nobody can predict them 100%.
 
there are less wars today, than there were in the 1980s.

the earth is actually getting more peaceful.

nuclear weapons are drastically reduced, and the chances of a nuclear world-war are almost non-existent.

And countries are running short on money. And the ME has recently become a hotbed of revolutions and violence amongst themselves. I don't think the chances of nuclear world-war are what we really need to worry about, but the long-term ramifications of overspending and resource allocation. One of the most deep-seated fears of humans is the fear of scarcity. This fear will be acted upon violently when sufficient numbers start feeling the strain.
 
And countries are running short on money. And the ME has recently become a hotbed of revolutions and violence amongst themselves. I don't think the chances of nuclear world-war are what we really need to worry about, but the long-term ramifications of overspending and resource allocation. One of the most deep-seated fears of humans is the fear of scarcity. This fear will be acted upon violently when sufficient numbers start feeling the strain.

I agree with this about the scarcity, especially concerning resources. There are many companies and countries positioning themselves for the resources of a melting Arctic that might bring. As the human race approaches hitting an exponential population overload the strain will start having dramatic effects.
 
Or is it just yet another turn of what has happened before in other eras?

There will always be certain elements existant in history that can be identified with 'end time events'. Such as wars or catastrophes. But the key with the end time events is Israel. And for this reason I do believe we are seeing the the end times. So many things fit in place. Such as the world economic woes. Which will take an economic fix, which I believe is what the Beast will do. For the 666 number is an economic fix where you cannot buy sell or trade without it. And the antichrist will bring peace in the Mideast. Were a man to accomplish this today, he would get a large following.

So, I do think we are in the end times.

Quantrill
 
The end times prophecies are in many cases very specific.

If a new solomon's temple is being built, get ready.

If someone delivers world peace, get ready.

If some dude says "I am God" and the majority of the world believes them, get ready.

If we have bad economic conditions, earth quakes, etc, well thats always happened.
 
Have these guys been sighted anywhere?

Apocalypse_vasnetsov.jpg
 
What's happening around the word. Global warming, civil unrest, wars, unknown diseases running rampant, etc etc etc.
this has happened all throughout history. I don't see how this can be a sign of the endtimes. The only reason it is seems so prominent today is because of the internet and the news. Without either of these you would never have known about any issue going on anywhere except your hometown.
 
What's happening around the word. Global warming, civil unrest, wars, unknown diseases running rampant, etc etc etc.

Global warming, cicil unrest, wars, and unknown diseases are not the signs of the end of the world. In the bible the whole book of Revelation talks about what will happen before Jesus returns and the world will end. It says there will be mass plagues and famines, and floods ect.
 
What's happening around the word. Global warming, civil unrest, wars, unknown diseases running rampant, etc etc etc.


Global warming, cicil unrest, wars, and unknown diseases are not the signs of the end of the world. In the bible the whole book of Revelation talks about what will happen before Jesus returns and the world will end. It says there will be mass plagues and famines, and floods ect.
 
Global warming, cicil unrest, wars, and unknown diseases are not the signs of the end of the world. In the bible the whole book of Revelation talks about what will happen before Jesus returns and the world will end. It says there will be mass plagues and famines, and floods ect.
 
The table seems to be laid for the final dissolution.

Of course we're still waiting for the Tribulation. And who knows just what guise those symbols may take?

My guess is it won't be anything so dramatic as earthquakes and volcanoes. At least not in any literal sense. Rather, End Times prophecy describes tumultuous events in the political sphere.
 
Or is it just yet another turn of what has happened before in other eras?

End times doesn't mean the end of the world.. It meant an end of an age..
It means that the Christian Church had survived and the Gentiles were able to tell the world (as they knew it) that we were living under faith instead of law and animal sacrifice.... or even Roman occupation.

Don't listen to Hal Lindsey...
 
Back
Top Bottom