Is America at Her End
Sep 3, 2013 04:39:54 #
There is a history of trying to use the Bible like this. Study it and you will see that it doesnt work. For example, the end of the world has been forecast many times based on the Bible. Most of the dates have already past.
Using the Bible like this is one way the Devil seduces or tempts us into not seeking its true message, which Jesus summed up in a sentence or two. People who use the Bible like this are proud that they have figured out the meaning that others have missed. This pride gives the Devil all the opening he needs to work much mischief.
Using the Bible like this is one way the Devil seduces or tempts us into not seeking its true message, which Jesus summed up in a sentence or two. People who use the Bible like this are proud that they have figured out the meaning that others have missed. This pride gives the Devil all the opening he needs to work much mischief.
Sep 3, 2013 05:05:28 #
Actually, we are doing pretty well. We got rid of slavery and are working on discrimination. We arent doing as well on social justice as other countries with our money, but most of us still think of ourselves as our brothers' keeper. We are beginning to worry about how we have been exercising the stewardship of this magnificent planet, and are making motions to stop trashing the place. We have finally figured out that women should be encouraged to be equal to men rather than prevented by law and custom, as they were in the Bible. We are finally figuring out that since gayness is not a choice, it is immoral to act as if it were and God would not want us to do so.
We are finally committing ourselves to sharing the burden of ill health financially (we have always shared it on the level of the immediate family, and now we are extending that sharing). Since we cannot take on the physical pain or worries about infirmity of others, we can at least share the financial burden and leave the sick person with only the problem of getting well and not also the problem of paying for the care.
And we are beginning to address the fact that great disparities of wealth are not good for society or for the possessors of that wealth as well as not good for the needy.
We are realizing that as children of God, we are growing older and it is time for us to make up our own minds about good and bad using the guidance of our Father rather than having that guidance (or what we think it is) be the last or only word. We are no longer toddlers of God. We are perhaps more God's preteens, preparing to separate and live our own lives while keeping close to our Father.
On abortion, the best solution is for women not to want to get abortions rather than not be able. In that case, they will take care not to get pregnant. If they do, they should have help taking care of the child, or someone they can entrust with the child. That way, there are good alternatives to abortion and few will want to get one. This is already the policy in some of our states.
Of course, if we returned to segregation or not letting women have decent jobs or forcing gays back into the closet, we will have failed God's test and will be deserving of an unpleasant end.
We are finally committing ourselves to sharing the burden of ill health financially (we have always shared it on the level of the immediate family, and now we are extending that sharing). Since we cannot take on the physical pain or worries about infirmity of others, we can at least share the financial burden and leave the sick person with only the problem of getting well and not also the problem of paying for the care.
And we are beginning to address the fact that great disparities of wealth are not good for society or for the possessors of that wealth as well as not good for the needy.
We are realizing that as children of God, we are growing older and it is time for us to make up our own minds about good and bad using the guidance of our Father rather than having that guidance (or what we think it is) be the last or only word. We are no longer toddlers of God. We are perhaps more God's preteens, preparing to separate and live our own lives while keeping close to our Father.
On abortion, the best solution is for women not to want to get abortions rather than not be able. In that case, they will take care not to get pregnant. If they do, they should have help taking care of the child, or someone they can entrust with the child. That way, there are good alternatives to abortion and few will want to get one. This is already the policy in some of our states.
Of course, if we returned to segregation or not letting women have decent jobs or forcing gays back into the closet, we will have failed God's test and will be deserving of an unpleasant end.
Sep 3, 2013 20:11:39 #
JQP
Loc: Earth To Heaven
I think you need to read Matthew 24, Luke 21, and all of Revelation. This country and this world is falling into greater and greater immorality, depravity, licentiousness, to the point we don't even know how to blush, and brag about the immoral, depraved activities we've engaged in. All the reality shows on TV shows what kind of society we've become: Egocentric, lustful, money and fame hungry, only looking out for #1.
It's because the Body of Christ has refused to stand up to morality and truth that caused the people of this nation and the nations around the world to think that what people are doing is OK, and fall into rebelliousness against God Almighty. So now our society calls good evil, and evil good, right is wrong, and wrong is right, truths are lies, and lies are truths, heresy is gospel, and gospel is heresy. And you say we have turned the corner as if our society is getting better? You have swallowed the liberal political correctness poison thinking it's the pill that leads to truth.
Liberals' meaning of tolerance and peace is: We will tolerate you as long as you believe EXACTLY as we believe, and we will let you live in peace, but if you don't we will drag you through the mud, the courts, and any other way until we've brainwashed you into believing what we believe. This is exactly what Jesus, and Apostle Paul wrote about.
Timothy wrote about this present generation in 2 Timothy 3:1-9: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."
It's because the Body of Christ has refused to stand up to morality and truth that caused the people of this nation and the nations around the world to think that what people are doing is OK, and fall into rebelliousness against God Almighty. So now our society calls good evil, and evil good, right is wrong, and wrong is right, truths are lies, and lies are truths, heresy is gospel, and gospel is heresy. And you say we have turned the corner as if our society is getting better? You have swallowed the liberal political correctness poison thinking it's the pill that leads to truth.
Liberals' meaning of tolerance and peace is: We will tolerate you as long as you believe EXACTLY as we believe, and we will let you live in peace, but if you don't we will drag you through the mud, the courts, and any other way until we've brainwashed you into believing what we believe. This is exactly what Jesus, and Apostle Paul wrote about.
Timothy wrote about this present generation in 2 Timothy 3:1-9: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."
Sep 3, 2013 22:23:11 #
Amen! Those perilous times are here. The true believer must stand fast in the faith and totally trust in God no matter what happens. I pray every day for God to give me courage and wisdom to go through these perilous times.
Oct 20, 2013 12:01:55 #
I don't know if the stages of history are actually a true understanding. The 19th Century saw the rise of Historical Determinism. Marx is now the most well-known, but others and especially Oswald Spangler, and Arnold Toynbee believed they had discovered the "Laws of the Rise and Fall of Civilizations". Marx had gotten it completely wrong. And so too the others who did not understand the impetus of the Middle Class.
The Modern Age is synonymous with the rise of the "bourgeoise" or Middle Class. Its origin in the Italian city-states of the Renaissance swiftly moved on to Northwestern Europe.
The congruence of the maps of the early Middle Class and the victory of the Protestant Reformation is not happenstance.
Perhaps the only determinist description of the 19th century that still holds water is that of Max Weber. His "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" is worth the effort. (As with most English translations of German philosophical musings, the complexity of sentence structure renders much of it nearly too dense to read!) But in it my own observations were confirmed.
There is something about Protestantism that powerfully interacts with economic decisions and impels the development of the Modern society.
The Anglophone World defined itself as being the Protestant bulwark against Continental Roman Catholicism. The British North American colonies inherited the fear of Catholic France in Quebec, and Spain in Florida, the trans-Mississippian region and the southwestern regions of N. America.
It was only after the actual first worldwide war, The Seven Years War (called the French and Indian War in America) that the English colonies were relieved of the ominous presence of Papist France looming over New England. This was no racist or bigoted notion. The English sense of sovereignty was cemented during the reign of Elizabeth I. It was during her reign that the French Protestants (The Huguenots) were massacred in Paris and throughout France (St. Bartholomew's Day). The few survivors emigrated to England and to America and they reveal a different France that may have been if the Protestant Reformation were to have triumphed. Paul Revere, The Duponts and many other illustrious names in American history were of Huguenot origin.
The comparison between the English (British) Civil Wars and the French Revolution is a perfectly constructed thought experiment.
The Modern Age is synonymous with the rise of the "bourgeoise" or Middle Class. Its origin in the Italian city-states of the Renaissance swiftly moved on to Northwestern Europe.
The congruence of the maps of the early Middle Class and the victory of the Protestant Reformation is not happenstance.
Perhaps the only determinist description of the 19th century that still holds water is that of Max Weber. His "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" is worth the effort. (As with most English translations of German philosophical musings, the complexity of sentence structure renders much of it nearly too dense to read!) But in it my own observations were confirmed.
There is something about Protestantism that powerfully interacts with economic decisions and impels the development of the Modern society.
The Anglophone World defined itself as being the Protestant bulwark against Continental Roman Catholicism. The British North American colonies inherited the fear of Catholic France in Quebec, and Spain in Florida, the trans-Mississippian region and the southwestern regions of N. America.
It was only after the actual first worldwide war, The Seven Years War (called the French and Indian War in America) that the English colonies were relieved of the ominous presence of Papist France looming over New England. This was no racist or bigoted notion. The English sense of sovereignty was cemented during the reign of Elizabeth I. It was during her reign that the French Protestants (The Huguenots) were massacred in Paris and throughout France (St. Bartholomew's Day). The few survivors emigrated to England and to America and they reveal a different France that may have been if the Protestant Reformation were to have triumphed. Paul Revere, The Duponts and many other illustrious names in American history were of Huguenot origin.
The comparison between the English (British) Civil Wars and the French Revolution is a perfectly constructed thought experiment.
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