Simply Politics & News

[mlsoft]

GEO...

Again, I will try to answer your comments as briefly as possible. As I noted (correctly) in my previous post, these answers will likely not satisfy you because of your preconceived notions, but I will try to keep it factual.

"my cynicism emanates from the fact that people have been forcasting the end of the world since the "beginning of the world"....

In my life, the world was supposed to end a couple of times....plus there have been numerous recognized & failed predictions...."

Yes, history is littered with the ashes of probably thousands of people who incorrectly predicted a specific time for the end of days, and many, perhaps most of them claimed to be "Christians". However the end time prophesies of Scripture have never changed one iota, and one central tenet of end times prophesy is that "no one knows" when the end will come. If such people would just read their Bible and believe what it says, fools like the recent guy who (for the second time) mistakenly predicted it to happen last month would never make such foolish mistakes.

End time prophesies do give us what are called "the signs of the times" to aid us in identifying when the end is near, but beyond that there are zero clues in Scripture as to when the onset of the end times will happen. Once the end times commence, there is a detailed timeline as to all the events to follow -- the final 1007 years of human history. Unfortunately, there will always be people who are so foolish that they try to set a date despite what they are told in Scripture.

Nostradamus was a false prophet, and his quatrains are far more indecipherable than Biblical prophesy. Prophesy is somewhat difficult, but it contains very specific details. Nostradamus and other false prophets cannot predict the future, period. The Biblical method of determining a false prophet was that if even just one of their prophesies was incorrect, he was a false prophet and was stoned to death -- Nostradamus easily flunked that test. All the true prophets gave both short term and long term prophesies so that they could demonstrate by their short term prophesies that they were true prophets of God.

Nostradamus and the Mayan prophesies are both the same. The Biblical admonition that "no one knows the day or the hour" applies to them just as much as to deluded Christians. I can absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, guarantee you that the world will not end in December 2012 or at any other predicted date. "No one knows" means exactly what it says -- there is not one person who knows or can calculate the onset of the end times. That is a guarantee with the full backing of Jesus, directly from His mouth. So rest easy come Christmas of 2012 -- the world may be in turmoil, but it will not end.

By the way, end time prophesies also tell us exactly how the world will end, and all the events leading up to it.

"and, I notice Christianity is based upon "fire and brimstone"....we're always trying to save the natives....always talking about eternal damnation...."

The Bible frequently warns us that God hates sin and cannot abide being around it in any way. It tells us that the penalty for even one sin is death so without a Savior we are all under a death sentence, and it is not only a temporal one, it includes eternal damnation. Out of His mercy toward us, God often delays the execution of that sentence in hopes that we will accept the way He gave us to have that sentence paid by someone else -- a Savior. So when a life is not ended "early", it is only because of God's temporary mercy toward us, but it is only a temporary stay of execution. The penalty will be paid.

We are told that God is patiently waiting until the last person who will become a Christian enters the fold. When that happens is when the onset of the end times occurs. Remember also that God once before wiped out the entire human race (other than Noah and his family) because of its sins -- in the Great Flood. Do not fool yourself into thinking that human history will not end -- it will. And both the earth and the entire universe will be "uncreated".

Again, this is a very brief and incomplete answer, but it is the best I can do in such a limited format. If you want a more complete answer to any specific point, please send me a PM.

mlsoft