I don't share anything in common with Christians when it comes to actual belief. I know what Christians have borrowed from those who believe as I do, what they have utilized through history as they adapted it to their use. But Christians declare themselves to be monotheistic and I am pantheistic or if you prefer polytheistic. Multiples of Gods is what any pagan believes in. So, it becomes news to me when Dave Oliveria who edits and manages the Huckleberries on-line @ Spokesman-Review.com actually thought I was an atheist for not sharing a religion in common with Christendom. Well, as a little reminder, 3/4ths of the world doesn't actually share anything in common with Christianity but likely less than 1% are actually atheist. Pagans still believe in higher powers: those who govern the sun and the storms, the seasons, the moon and the earth. Pagans have engaged in rituals in order to get on the better side of Gods and Goddesses, pagans do pray. But, pagans are not as a rule Christian and never will be. Onward...
The History Channel ran, last night a 2 hour "Count down to Armageddon" special which I watched part of after seeing "Eragon" on Cinemax. (Max channels on Dish Network). Of course, The History Channel trotted out all the usual suspects from radical preachers to radical religious activists turned novelists who gave their own interpretation of what would finally happen on this Earth some 2,000 years after "legend has it" that John of Patmos penned his revelations. What no one assumed was that "John" was probably writing for his own time and to the Christians in his own era. Most certainly there were terrible disasters: The Roman Empire lost some important cities such as Herculaneum to Mt. Vesuvius. Unquestionably there were famines and diseases that may well have contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire. Without question, the barbarous Germanic tribes brought an ancient Pagan (later to turn to Christian) kingdom to its knees. That is, if indeed John of Patmos (as a matter of theory) were writing to his own time, and an oppressed Christian church. However, Pastor Haggee was of the assumption that what "John" wrote could only come true today. So did Tim LaHaye. So, question: Why are Christians so intent on seeing the world end tomorrow, anyway? It could, but only if such "Christian" leaders as GW Bush pushes the nuclear button just because he "fears" what Iran might do.
Speaking of that, "John" probably had the place for the last battle of forces between Christ and the anti-Christ in the wrong place. Israel today is not the Israel of 2,000 years ago. In fact, until after the first World War middle eastern borders weren't that firmly established until the British, and etc. carved up the old Ottoman empire. The place that Christians establish as the point of final battle, strategically, the hill of Meggido (sic); that they recognized as a place where many such battles had been fought before. Which undermines the theory. Why Israel? "John" is exiled to Patmos that is no where near Israel. Armageddon has always been to my best information a world wide conflict. It has a point of origin, but it does not in fact end where it began. If there is a point of origin for an Armageddon to begin, most certainly it began with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict the moment the world finally recognized Israel as a state. But the terrorism that rose from such a conflict has in fact engulfed the rest of the world. What stands solid and stark in front of Christian eyes and they fail to see it. Armageddon isn't a place, but an allegory for final conflict. --Referring to above, the History Channel showed clips of Christ in various paintings. One of the paintings shown had Christ adorned with the Druid's solar Cross.
So why would Christians look for the world to end tomorrow? Throughout all of the last 2,000 years there have been numerous plagues, famines, natural disasters, wars, conquests, terrors, civil unrests. Most of those terrible times had the underpinnings of religion. On the basis of religion people died horribly. A thousand years of peace as Pastor Haggee declared, when men no longer studied war. But the time that men rise from the grave and stand before their God in judgment, does he allow men who made war against their fellow Christians into heaven because of questions of belief? Who tortured and slaughtered "witches" because they made use of folk remedies to cure ills? Who couldn't be bothered to love the neighbor who didn't think exactly like them? Quite frankly, if I were the Christian with that sort of sordid background, I wouldn't be in any kind of hurry to want the world to end tomorrow. Belief: isn't it as much about the practice as what gets preached?
The History Channel ran, last night a 2 hour "Count down to Armageddon" special which I watched part of after seeing "Eragon" on Cinemax. (Max channels on Dish Network). Of course, The History Channel trotted out all the usual suspects from radical preachers to radical religious activists turned novelists who gave their own interpretation of what would finally happen on this Earth some 2,000 years after "legend has it" that John of Patmos penned his revelations. What no one assumed was that "John" was probably writing for his own time and to the Christians in his own era. Most certainly there were terrible disasters: The Roman Empire lost some important cities such as Herculaneum to Mt. Vesuvius. Unquestionably there were famines and diseases that may well have contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire. Without question, the barbarous Germanic tribes brought an ancient Pagan (later to turn to Christian) kingdom to its knees. That is, if indeed John of Patmos (as a matter of theory) were writing to his own time, and an oppressed Christian church. However, Pastor Haggee was of the assumption that what "John" wrote could only come true today. So did Tim LaHaye. So, question: Why are Christians so intent on seeing the world end tomorrow, anyway? It could, but only if such "Christian" leaders as GW Bush pushes the nuclear button just because he "fears" what Iran might do.
Speaking of that, "John" probably had the place for the last battle of forces between Christ and the anti-Christ in the wrong place. Israel today is not the Israel of 2,000 years ago. In fact, until after the first World War middle eastern borders weren't that firmly established until the British, and etc. carved up the old Ottoman empire. The place that Christians establish as the point of final battle, strategically, the hill of Meggido (sic); that they recognized as a place where many such battles had been fought before. Which undermines the theory. Why Israel? "John" is exiled to Patmos that is no where near Israel. Armageddon has always been to my best information a world wide conflict. It has a point of origin, but it does not in fact end where it began. If there is a point of origin for an Armageddon to begin, most certainly it began with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict the moment the world finally recognized Israel as a state. But the terrorism that rose from such a conflict has in fact engulfed the rest of the world. What stands solid and stark in front of Christian eyes and they fail to see it. Armageddon isn't a place, but an allegory for final conflict. --Referring to above, the History Channel showed clips of Christ in various paintings. One of the paintings shown had Christ adorned with the Druid's solar Cross.
So why would Christians look for the world to end tomorrow? Throughout all of the last 2,000 years there have been numerous plagues, famines, natural disasters, wars, conquests, terrors, civil unrests. Most of those terrible times had the underpinnings of religion. On the basis of religion people died horribly. A thousand years of peace as Pastor Haggee declared, when men no longer studied war. But the time that men rise from the grave and stand before their God in judgment, does he allow men who made war against their fellow Christians into heaven because of questions of belief? Who tortured and slaughtered "witches" because they made use of folk remedies to cure ills? Who couldn't be bothered to love the neighbor who didn't think exactly like them? Quite frankly, if I were the Christian with that sort of sordid background, I wouldn't be in any kind of hurry to want the world to end tomorrow. Belief: isn't it as much about the practice as what gets preached?
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