0 comment Friday, August 29, 2014 | admin
From the Telegraph, a surprisingly favorable article about American evangelicals, in the wake of the Harold Camping ''rapture'' scare of the last few days.
All the sneers and jokes in the mass media about the 'end of the world' that wasn't are a sharp contrast to the way they treat non-Christian 'prophecies.' The so-called Mayan Calendar prophecies about 2012 come to mind. There has been endless discussion of this Mayan prediction as we approach the fateful year. Even some professing Christians seem to be concerned about this supposed impending doom.
The media also devote a lot of space -- and respect -- to new-agey things like the writings of Nostradamus, a purported 'seer.' Nostradamus was a priest, so he is not in the same category as the third world shamen who are so revered by the new age followers and leftists in general. But the methods he used to make his predictions involved what the church would call occultism: scrying, for example.
How many TV documentaries have been made about Nostradamus? I think most Americans today know more about his prophecies than those of the Bible.
I've read his quatrains, years ago, before I was a Christian.Even then, I could see that his quatrains were so cryptic and so vague that one could read almost anything in them. They end up being like Rohrschach ink-blots, showing you what's in your own mind, absolutely subjective.
Be all that as it may, Camping's false prophecies should never have received the coverage they did, but the media couldn't resist it. So much potential for jokes and cheap shots at crazy Bible-thumpers up in the hills. They love that kind of thing. They couldn't let it go to waste.
But Camping and his predictions should have been ignored by the media. From a Christian viewpoint, his predictions about 'the end of the world' or the 'return of the Lord' are wrong simply because Christians believe that no one knows exactly the date or the time of these things. Therefore, anybody who claims to know the date or the hour is a charlatan, a fraud, a false prophet, a false shepherd. Any Christian who fell for this, shame on you for not knowing better.
Personally I don't know anybody who took it seriously, though no doubt there are some.
But the world has its share of gullible and undiscerning people, who are prey for all the wolves in sheep's clothing. That's a sad commentary on the world today, and it applies to the secular sphere as much as the religious.
Meantime, the media will make as much hay out of this 'failed prophecy' as they can, and many nonbelievers will be even more hardened against Christianity because they now think it's been discredited entirely.
The linked article alludes to 'Rapture parties' among nonbelievers, and sad to say, such people are partying because I think, deep down, some of them wonder at times if the Christian message is true. They exhibit a ''certain fearful looking for of judgement'' and that's not a pleasant state to be in. So now that they have gotten a reprieve as it were, and have been reassured that this world is all there is, they will go on with their lifelong party and go back to somnambulism for now.
I think that everybody senses that we are on the brink of something, but most hope to sleep and party their way through it.
All the sneers and jokes in the mass media about the 'end of the world' that wasn't are a sharp contrast to the way they treat non-Christian 'prophecies.' The so-called Mayan Calendar prophecies about 2012 come to mind. There has been endless discussion of this Mayan prediction as we approach the fateful year. Even some professing Christians seem to be concerned about this supposed impending doom.
The media also devote a lot of space -- and respect -- to new-agey things like the writings of Nostradamus, a purported 'seer.' Nostradamus was a priest, so he is not in the same category as the third world shamen who are so revered by the new age followers and leftists in general. But the methods he used to make his predictions involved what the church would call occultism: scrying, for example.
How many TV documentaries have been made about Nostradamus? I think most Americans today know more about his prophecies than those of the Bible.
I've read his quatrains, years ago, before I was a Christian.Even then, I could see that his quatrains were so cryptic and so vague that one could read almost anything in them. They end up being like Rohrschach ink-blots, showing you what's in your own mind, absolutely subjective.
Be all that as it may, Camping's false prophecies should never have received the coverage they did, but the media couldn't resist it. So much potential for jokes and cheap shots at crazy Bible-thumpers up in the hills. They love that kind of thing. They couldn't let it go to waste.
But Camping and his predictions should have been ignored by the media. From a Christian viewpoint, his predictions about 'the end of the world' or the 'return of the Lord' are wrong simply because Christians believe that no one knows exactly the date or the time of these things. Therefore, anybody who claims to know the date or the hour is a charlatan, a fraud, a false prophet, a false shepherd. Any Christian who fell for this, shame on you for not knowing better.
Personally I don't know anybody who took it seriously, though no doubt there are some.
But the world has its share of gullible and undiscerning people, who are prey for all the wolves in sheep's clothing. That's a sad commentary on the world today, and it applies to the secular sphere as much as the religious.
Meantime, the media will make as much hay out of this 'failed prophecy' as they can, and many nonbelievers will be even more hardened against Christianity because they now think it's been discredited entirely.
The linked article alludes to 'Rapture parties' among nonbelievers, and sad to say, such people are partying because I think, deep down, some of them wonder at times if the Christian message is true. They exhibit a ''certain fearful looking for of judgement'' and that's not a pleasant state to be in. So now that they have gotten a reprieve as it were, and have been reassured that this world is all there is, they will go on with their lifelong party and go back to somnambulism for now.
I think that everybody senses that we are on the brink of something, but most hope to sleep and party their way through it.
Labels: Anti-Christianity, Christianity, Media Bias