The Utopia thread got me to thinking about the "Second Heaven and Earth" some people literally believe is coming. They tend to think the Left Behind series is perfectly plausible. I was raised in an area with many who believed this but not in my own family.
Was anyone here raised in such a family? I'd like to ask something but before I asked I wanted to be sure there was a point.
It's strictly a theological question, and it depends on believing the Book of Revelation is a book about literal events to come (Antichrist, people having the Mark of the Beast to live, etc), and believe it's a very important part of the Bible. Obviously, you don't have to believe it yourself, just have an understanding of those who do.
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The best description of Revelation that I ever heard is that it's the "Saturday Night Live" of the New Testament. 
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Yes, up until I reached the age of reason:biggrin: and I think I'm going feel sorry for those expecting the rapture/ second coming to happen my 2015, especially for my dad, but being old enough to live through several doomsday cults and Televangelist corruption, he should of wised by now to this kind of stuff.
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I was raised in just such a family and community. I've even read the Left Behind Series and enjoyed it immensely. So ask away.
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Fortunately, I was raised in a secular home devoid of fairy tales.
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swalter Wrote:Fortunately, I was raised in a secular home devoid of fairy tales.
Me too, isn't it sad? :'(
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Cuddly Wrote:Me too, isn't it sad? :'( Yes, but probably not for the reason you're thinking. It's very sad, and frustrating, to live in a world where 90+% of the population sincerely believes utter nonsense. Sad, indeed.
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I've noticed that many fundies say that for good to exist there must be evil, and that evil is pretty much an inevitable consequence of free will, that is as long as we're free to choose what we do and believe some are going to choose to do evil, perhaps once, or perhaps so much that it becomes a way of life. Therefore free will inflicts all sorts of suffering, callousness, and horror on the world such as rape, murder, corruption, genocide. And they also say we're all sinners because of that free will, even the devout Christians will stumble and sin (as one Christian bumper sticker says, "Not perfect, just forgiven").
Yet they ALSO promote the idea that a world is predestined in which evil does not exist (the day that the lion will lay with the lamb). Does this mean that as there is no evil that there is also no good?
And if there's good in a world without evil then how has it become possible? Does free will still exist? (Bonus question, can there be either good or evil without free will or does such things become as meaningless as they are to blenders and microwaves without free will?)
REMEMBER: I'm trying to figure out how they (those who accept Revelation as both literal and immanent) think. Surely at least a few others brought up with this have had to wonder similar things so someone somewhere came up with answers that at least appear to give some sort of explanation. (Or do the kids simply get whipped or exorcised and adults excommunicated for asking?) It's not meant as a "trap" or "trick question" and I'm also not asking how other Christians who have a less literal view explain this. I just want to understand how their minds work this out.
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Pix Wrote:I've noticed that many fundies say that for good to exist there must be evil, and that evil is pretty much an inevitable consequence of free will, that is as long as we're free to choose what we do and believe some are going to choose to do evil, perhaps once, or perhaps so much that it becomes a way of life. Therefore free will inflicts all sorts of suffering, callousness, and horror on the world such as rape, murder, corruption, genocide. And they also say we're all sinners because of that free will, even the devout Christians will stumble and sin (as one Christian bumper sticker says, "Not perfect, just forgiven").
Yet they ALSO promote the idea that a world is predestined in which evil does not exist (the day that the lion will lay with the lamb). Does this mean that as there is no evil that there is also no good?
And if there's good in a world without evil then how has it become possible? Does free will still exist? (Bonus question, can there be either good or evil without free will or does such things become as meaningless as they are to blenders and microwaves without free will?)
REMEMBER: I'm trying to figure out how they (those who accept Revelation as both literal and immanent) think. Surely at least a few others brought up with this have had to wonder similar things so someone somewhere came up with answers that at least appear to give some sort of explanation. (Or do the kids simply get whipped or exorcised and adults excommunicated for asking?) It's not meant as a "trap" or "trick question" and I'm also not asking how other Christians who have a less literal view explain this. I just want to understand how their minds work this out. Well as I understand it, they usually just assume the having free will is a zero sum game, they never think about how free will can (and is) be practiced without harming another person( do I want waffles or pancakes, play videogames or watch a movie, go out to bar with friends or stay home and masturbate etc.)
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No I can't say I was raised in a christian household...:biggrin:
However later in life I did study the bible and The Apocalypse (Revealing) and many, many other books on the subject.
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