We're getting closer to the end.

[Trap-Eds]

Of course we're getting closer to the end. Every nanosecond that passes is one billionth of a second closer to Earth's imminent demise. Now I dunno whether or not that'll happen any time soon or if humans have anything to do with it, but I do know that people take these things waaay too seriously...

I, Personally don't believe that any God in any religion would ever make a "Judgement Day".

Just think about it- You create a species, and everywhere you hear "god loves you",
then WHY in the world would he come down from the heavens and destroy us just to see if we lived?

Yes. Why indeed? Another thing I don't get about religion...but let's not get into that now...

 

[Dainty]

This is why Religious Studies classes aren't taught until college. The simple-mindedness of a child this young just can't comprehend that stuff happens, and it doesn't mean the end of the world.

+Most adults can't even comprehend it all.

 

[Ŧøry vs. M£A†¥³]

By the way everyone, December 21, 2012 is most likely not going to be close to end. It will be the new start of the The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar (correct me if I'm wrong). Do you know how many times scientists predict the world to end? The year 2000, 6/6/06, and this planet is still spinning. However, I do agree on many things about scientist.

 

[doesn't matter]

The irony of all this is that Islam is a religion founded on war, and that the culture of it encourages only the study of the Koran, fostering ignorance.

Oh, and I love how World War 3 is Islam against Rome. This would have made sense back in the day when Islam was founded (and it did occur many times thanks to the initial push to spread Islam by the sword from the early believers), but now it only points to the belief that World War 3 will be between Christians and Muslims, though maybe it covers all of Western society in general.

Do you regard Christianity as your enemy? Do you regard Western culture as evil?

Anyway, this Armageddon stuff shouldn't be important. The faithful should be more focused on their actions, not the end of the world.

... I probably shouldn't encourage this thread but whatever.

 

[Ŧøry vs. M£A†¥³]

Meh, there are so many wars today that are not even considered as wars. >.>

 

[LethalTexture]

I remember saying this to you in the Science vs. Religion threads a while back, and I'll say it again.

Lord Gaga, you really need to try and not be so narrow-minded. I know you've been brought up to believe that everything your religion tells us is true, but here, once again, pure logic has dismissed everything you bring to the fore.

I'm not trying to cause offence, but the way you say "All the signs have occured, how can it be wrong?" epitomises my argument.

 

[I Laugh at your Misfortune!]

But I'm not following the Bible, sir. I'm following the Qur'an. And haven't all the signs occured? I believe so. How could it be wrong?

Oh yes, I forgot that the Qur'an was written much more recently. >.<


And as I said in my first post in this thread, all of the signs haven't occurred and most of the ones that have are spread out over the best part of a century (not one Final Day) and are such generalising predictions that anyone could have made them.

 

[Legobricks]

I, Personally don't believe that any God in any religion would ever make a "Judgement Day".

Just think about it- You create a species, and everywhere you hear "god loves you",
then WHY in the world would he come down from the heavens and destroy us just to see if we lived?

Yes. Why indeed? Another thing I don't get about religion...but let's not get into that now...

A lot of people like to make big cities in Sim City just to destroy them with tornadoes.

 

[Richard Wagner]

Do you regard Christianity as your enemy? Do you regard Western culture as evil?

Personally I wouldn't go that far, but I think any Christian who criticizes Islamic fundamentalists without doing the same for Christian fundamentalists is a huge hypocrite - there are a lot of evangelical Christians in the U.S. who want to expedite the end of the world. Is this any better than those who would rather get rid of just one portion of the world - (and I'm actually talking about Israel - not the U.S - a big reason why Osama bin Laden dislikes the U.S. is because of their support of Israel, whose military actions for the past 60 years have been nothing short of despicable.)

In a way, I would regard Western culture as being evil. Its self-righteous attitude it has fostered is almost directly responsible for European imperialism/ colonialism, which IS the reason why Africa is so screwed up today. The Western world thinks its values are the values that are right in the eyes of the universe, because of the Abrahamic concept of "doing right in the eyes of God" - the belief that God is a moralistic person that one must "get right with".

This erroneous belief has still been a powerful force in the world today - look at Bush and Cheney's simplistic, childish idea of Muslim terrorists being "evil" and America as being "good".

So, in other words, the Western World's lack of moral relativism and perspectivism is responsible for a lot of what is commonly considered "bad".

 

[Spinor]

It is actually interesting to know all these new prophecies and predictions on the end of the world, there are so many, that I lost count already.

But I really don't care how the world ends as long as it doesn't end in my life time, but interesting way this one is, but just not this century please.

 

[Yamikarasu]

You can believe this stuff if you want to... I mean, it's your choice...

I, on the other hand, am going to say that there has always been war, there has always been death, and there has always been "immorality" as you define it. People have been predicting the end of the world since the beginning, and so far, every single one of them has been wrong.

 

[Percy Thrillington]

The point of this thread is to show that religion is actually real and true.

Whoa, whoa, kid, relax. You can take your theories and your 'facts' wherever the hell you want, but a slideshow isn't exactly going to prove to the world that Islam is real. If it could, it'd be on a bunch of talk shows and whatnot, but sadly, no.

Here's why:

Originally posted by Aurafire:
You can't prove that any of these predictions are accurate, and many of their meanings are vaguely established.

 

[doesn't matter]

There's a lot that I wanted to say in response to this, but we are getting fairly off-topic, so I'll keep it short.

Personally I wouldn't go that far, but I think any Christian who criticizes Islamic fundamentalists without doing the same for Christian fundamentalists is a huge hypocrite - there are a lot of evangelical Christians in the U.S. who want to expedite the end of the world. Is this any better than those who would rather get rid of just one portion of the world - (and I'm actually talking about Israel - not the U.S - a big reason why Osama bin Laden dislikes the U.S. is because of their support of Israel, whose military actions for the past 60 years have been nothing short of despicable.)

In a way, I would regard Western culture as being evil. Its self-righteous attitude it has fostered is almost directly responsible for European imperialism/ colonialism, which IS the reason why Africa is so screwed up today. The Western world thinks its values are the values that are right in the eyes of the universe, because of the Abrahamic concept of "doing right in the eyes of God" - the belief that God is a moralistic person that one must "get right with".

This erroneous belief has still been a powerful force in the world today - look at Bush and Cheney's simplistic, childish idea of Muslim terrorists being "evil" and America as being "good".

So, in other words, the Western World's lack of moral relativism and perspectivism is responsible for a lot of what is commonly considered "bad".

Considering that fundamentalism is inherently retarded, I'll be one of the first to criticise Christian fundamentalism - before they start going on about Armageddon.

iirc, George Bush never called said "Muslim Terrorists" - just "terrorists". Him, along with many other leaders of the Western world, in an attempt not to offend the Islamic minority, ignored any connection between Islam and recent terrorist attacks against America and Europe, and have said that "Islam is a religion of peace." I'd rather America over Islam any day, since that rape is illegal, freedom of speech is allowed and you can follow whatever religion you like, amongst other things.

If the Islamic Armageddon prophecies were to come true, I'd probably wish I was dead by the end of it.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Just a thought before a fight - don't you think that religion, rather than being taken literally, should be taken in a symbolic manner and help teach people the principles of living a decent and peaceful lifestyle? Think about it. The Torah, Bible and Qu'ran are all collections of stories, true, *fictional or with a little of both. Stories usually have a purpose, known as a theme. Even if a story is violent (as all of those previously mentioned texts typically are), it can still have a very important moral lesson at the end. Rather than assume all the stories are true, why don't we be good little literature students and try to understand the theme of these religious texts? Then, compare them with others. What you will discover is that they are remarkably similar.

You cannot prove religion, but you can take its morals and learn from them.

• • •

I do not believe in seeing into the future, prophets/seers, or anything of the sort, unless based off of valid scientific evidence, such as the weather report. Unless you can dig up some valid evidence not based on religion or the blatant obvious, I'm afraid I cannot accept the "end of the world in 2012" hypothesis.

*I use fictional in the sense that it cannot be proven to be true or false through either archeological evidence or scientific proof. This does not mean it is false.

 

[Zanacross]

The end is a lie like the cake. It will never come.

 

[Richard Wagner]

Just a thought before a fight - don't you think that religion, rather than being taken literally, should be taken in a symbolic manner and help teach people the principles of living a decent and peaceful lifestyle? Think about it. The Torah, Bible and Qu'ran are all collections of stories, true, *fictional or with a little of both. Stories usually have a purpose, known as a theme. Even if a story is violent (as all of those previously mentioned texts typically are), it can still have a very important moral lesson at the end. Rather than assume all the stories are true, why don't we be good little literature students and try to understand the theme of these religious texts? Then, compare them with others. What you will discover is that they are remarkably similar.

You cannot prove religion, but you can take its morals and learn from them.

• • •

I do not believe in seeing into the future, prophets/seers, or anything of the sort, unless based off of valid scientific evidence, such as the weather report. Unless you can dig up some valid evidence not based on religion or the blatant obvious, I'm afraid I cannot accept the "end of the world in 2012" hypothesis.

*I use fictional in the sense that it cannot be proven to be true or false through either archeological evidence or scientific proof. This does not mean it is false.

Religion and spirituality isn't about morality. It's about the mystery dimension - the wonder dimension. Morality works to counter that. By ethically judging certain things as good and certain things as bad, you are denying the magnificence of some aspects of the cosmos. And the sense of wonder that religion is really about depends on acknowledging the sheer wonder the infinite universe - all of it, not just some parts.

Morality has everything to do with people's personal preferences and everyone's own morals is a part of their unique personality - and this is a magical thing. However, the moral truth is just that - there is no one moral code that is right in the eyes of the universe.

But I agree that religion should be taken symbolically. And that view is one that isn't common, and that's why the religiosity, especially the Judeo-Christian tradition, in the U.S. is becoming less and less prevalent - because religion isn't giving people spiritual fulfillment - a bunch of banal, outmoded, moralistic ideas do little to give on the kind of experience or feelings that religion is so often turned to for.

 

[Gengarchomp]

A few thing's I'd like to point out

The end is a lie like the cake. It will never come.

It is scientifically impossible for the world not to end. In a few billion years the sun wil turn into a Red Giant and engulf the earth.

I do not believe in seeing into the future, prophets/seers, or anything of the sort, unless based off of valid scientific evidence, such as the weather report. Unless you can dig up some valid evidence not based on religion or the blatant obvious, I'm afraid I cannot accept the "end of the world in 2012" hypothesis.

Actually, 2012 is just the end of the 13th Baktun, which is a span of 395 years. It wasn't supposed to be the end of the world. If something were to happen at the end of each baktun, then something would have happened in 1617, 1222, 827, and so on. So you are correct, the world will not end in 2012.

Oh yes, I forgot that the Qur'an was written much more recently. >.<

According to what I've read, the books of the Bible were put together 373 AD, while the Qur-an was written in 633.

There will always be armageddon consirists, and eventually, they will be right. If they say it every day, and the world has to end some day, of course they'll end up right eventually.

If this sentence is true, the world will end in a week.

 

[Azonic]

Uh, no. That isn't what I said. Just because they are signs, doesn't mean they are bad things.

If they are signs of the world coming to an end, then how is that not a bad thing? They are occurring, they are signs of the world's end... how is that not bad?

I never said that people were murdering the earth because they drove cars or something. I'm just saying that the day is coming closer when these signs are happening. Some people are so narrow minded.

If these signs of world's end are occurring and we, as humans, are making them occur, then therefore we are bringing the earth to an end.

But I'm not following the Bible, sir. I'm following the Qur'an. And haven't all the signs occured? I believe so. How could it be wrong?

You can't prove the predictions are accurate.

Really, prove to me that whatever the Qur'an says is right. Prove to me that what any religion says is right. Prove to me that if some book says that something will happen to us in real life after signs, it really will happen. Prove it, and you'll have won this debate.

It is scientifically impossible for the world not to end. In a few billion years the sun wil turn into a Red Giant and engulf the earth.

...obviously. You know what he's referring to. >_>

 

[Gengarchomp]

...obviously. You know what he's referring to. >_>

I do. I just like being a smart-aleck.

 

[I Laugh at your Misfortune!]

According to what I've read, the books of the Bible were put together 373 AD, while the Qur-an was written in 633.

That's kinda what I meant >.>

A book written 1400 years isn't more valid than a book written 1700 years ago.