When Will The End-Times Be And How Will We Know?

quote:

---

have noticed that there are at least several christian fundies here that have claimed that the end is near and it might just be around the corner.

---

I have noticed that christians have been claiming the near times of armageddon for 1,967 years. This isn't a peculiarity of our times, but a continuation of the same claim from previous generations. Given the vague prophecies given in the bible about the end times, I can understand why such claims occur in every generation. However, "Cry Wolf" does start to come to mind.

quote:

---

See Revelation 15 and 16 - plagues, for starters.

---

Take the plague. Killed 25% of the European and Asian population. No return of the Christ. Take 25 million dead due to influenza right after WWI, no return.

quote:

---

Compare with Exodus 9. Luke 21:25, 26, ..... there will be wars and rumors of wars......and perilous times shall come.

---

Name one century out of the last 20 that haven't had a war. Name one century where the words "perilous times" hasn't been ascribed to then current times.This is why, in my view, Revelations and the Bible in general is impossible to use to predict the prophesised end times. Every generation can adapt their current situation to fit the prophesies, or at least make the justification that the end times are very near. The four horsemen of the apocalypse seem to visit on a pretty consistent basis throughout history. The only problem is that they come and go without the predictions born out.Here is a better question. If I could fit conditions found 300 years ago to fit the prophesies found in Revelations, could I then claim that the author of Revelations (John) is a false prophet? This is the danger in continually applying current events to predict the nearness of the end times, as has been shown by previous generations.

quote:

---

One clear fact about Biblical prophesies is that for over 5000 years, every time one has been proven wrong, divine re-interpretation has shown that it referred to something else entirely anyway.

---

And not one prophesy in the bible has yet to PREDICT an event. If the prophesies are so obvious, then the proponents of these prophesies should be able to predict future happenings. Instead, all we get is post hoc fulfillments that are tenuous at best.Added in Edit: And what Lam said, too.This message has been edited by Loudmouth, 06-23-2004 05:15 PM

quote:

---

he has been around for a long time
revelation calls him the 'whore that sits upon the nations' - denotes world-government-dominion to me - he calls himself god on earth - and so on, he wears the triple crown, he says he is God's rep on earth, blaspheming the Holy Spirit who IS God's rep on earth.
Try it, let me know your conclusions.

---

Couldn't help it, but David Koresh (sp?) came to mind. Whore = many wives. Sits upon many nations = ancient tribal lands (Waco, Texas) belonging to several Native American nations. Three crowns = Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Claims to be God's rep. = Koresh thought he was the second coming of the Christ.Like I said, you can get quite a few things to fit. I am not claiming that Koresh was the Anti-Christ, just that Revelations is so vague as to include quite a few options.