Hi, my name is Earl and I am a Fantasy-Football-aholic! I said in my first blog ever that I was not a big fan of fantasy sports, but I have been changed! Converted! I am a different person now because of it. I have developed a theory as to why fantasy football and other fantasy sports have taken such a hold on people. How did I get here? For me, it has its beginnings from another source of entertainment.
With the myriad of problems facing people these days, its fun to have an escape. For some, its TV shows or movies or anything. There are many things to do. I like to think that I have a variety of ways to escape the everyday monotony and stress of life. But one of my favorite ways to escape is through video games. I have several games that I like to play.
Final Fantasy VII (that’s 7 for all of you not well versed in Roman numerals) is my all time favorite. It is a RPG, or Role Playing Game. This means that you play or control an active character in the game. This character/player fulfills a role throughout the game. It’s slightly different than just an action game. There is a distinct storyline that this character follows and certain actions determine later events in the game. So not only are you playing an active character, but you’re following a storyline as well. It’s like controlling a character in a movie. FF7 is considered by many to be the ultimate RPG, even the best of all time. While there are many RPGs that came before FF7 and many that have and will come after, FF7 is an icon among that style of game. It exceeded limits of RPGs that preceded it, yet is was instrumental in paving the way for immensely popular RPG games now such as Halo or World of Warcraft. It was an apex of storyline, drama, graphics, and gameplay. No other game before or since has combined all of these ingredients like FF7 did.
I remember my roommate and me seeing commercials for this game and getting extremely excited. Upon the game’s release, my roommate immediately bought a Playstation and the game. It’s worth noting that Playstation was a fledgling gaming system compared to Nintendo and Sega at the time. Squaresoft, FF7’s creator, had exclusively used Nintendo gaming systems for the previous Final Fantasy games. However, Playstation was the only system with enough CPU power to play this game and Squaresoft sold the rights to Playstation. Needless to say, this game put Playstation on the map for good… now that’s POWER.
Anyway, even though FF7 is my favorite, it has it drawbacks. I have played the games start to finish at least 5 times. I know every mission, every secret door, every little nuance of the game. Given my knowledge of the game, it stills takes at least 50+ hours to complete the game. That is 50+ game hours! And this only includes doing the minimum amount to complete it. FF7 has supplemental missions as well. These missions are not required to be completed to beat the game, but are extra missions if you want additional challenges. This lengthy game time means that you have to devote significant time to game or else you will become frustrated and eventually give up.
Thus, I have begun playing a new game: Madden! I have never really been a big fan of sports games, but once I began playing Madden, I was hooked! I especially enjoy franchise mode. Franchise mode lets you assume ownership of an NFL team and make decisions regarding the franchise. These decisions range from drafting players to building a new stadium. It is mad fun. But of course, being the nerd that I am, I have developed a theory as to why people love Madden and video games so much.
My theory: video games allow you to control that which is uncontrollable. I will stay with Madden for my examples. Earlier this season, my favorite NFL team, the Miami Dolphins, lost to the New York Jets. I hate when my team loses, but I ESPECIALLY hate losing to the Jets. I had absolutely no control over this outcome whatsoever. I was powerless to prevent this atrocity. So what did I do? I promptly turned on Madden and commenced to thrashing the Jets. Why? In my own way, I was atoning for the loss just experienced in reality. I could control the destiny of my team on Madden and therefore in a weird and limited way, prevent this loss from happening.
This is why I have become a fantasy football fan. I have that control factor again. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a control freak! But in the area of competitive sports, control gives you an edge. Control feeds that competitive urge that drives sports fans. If I do something to control my team’s destiny, then those competitive urges are satiated. I mean, this is why we even play sports to begin with. We all have a desire to win at something. I cannot play professional football, but I can control a fantasy team or a video game team. My fantasy team won for the first time last week. I didn’t control the actions of the players, but I did control my rosters. I sat the right people and started the right people. Fantasy football, along with Madden, allows our internal general manager to come out. We push the right buttons, make the right calls, or setup the right circumstances for our teams to win. And we feel the results personally. A win is exhilarating while a loss stings. In some small way, we are a part of the NFL and that is a great feeling!
I still play competitive sports that my body will allow me to play: golf, softball, some basketball. But fantasy sports allow people to be connected with pro sports outside of the regular boundaries of fandom. It is a new wrinkle on sports that increases love for the game.
How has this affected me? Well, I’m not the ultra-fantasy geek where my entire week hinges on games. But I do peer over stats, evaluate teams and match-ups, and look at making player deals. I review my team for possible trades and acquisitions. I am trying to control that which I cannot control. And in some small way, I am doing just that.
What can I say…? I’m hooked!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
It’s the End of the World as We Know It, But Do I Feel Fine?!? Part Four: Conclusion
Its time to close up the loose ends of this discussion on end times events. My premise of this was to ultimately look at current events and relate them to the prophecies. There is an inherent danger to this, however. If you try to interpret too much into the prophecies, you begin to look like you’re trying to set a date. Jesus himself said that no man knows when Jesus will return to Earth. The Second Coming, as it is known, corresponds with the end times. Once Jesus returns, it will be for good and there will be no more sin and death. Jesus says no man will know the "date", but there will be signs of the "times".
So I preface this blog as a review of the signs of the times, and NOT as a calendar to lead to a specific date. I do not know and do not claim to know when Jesus will return. It could be this afternoon and it could be in the year 3256. I don’t know. But I DO know that there are signs present in today’s society that reflect some of the prophecies written about the end times. I will offer my viewpoints about modern times, using Biblical passages as a guideline.
What does all of this mean and why should I care? That would be the first question out of the mouth of anyone wondering about these things. First of all, the Bible says that all people will have to give an account of their actions at some point. Study of end times prophecy reveals that there is a point in the future when existence as we know of it will cease. There will be a new existence after that, but there is a fixed point around which the two states of existence hinge. The point of the prophecies is to direct us to be aware of that point and its impending approach. Think of it as a destination, not in physical dimensions, but in time. We are familiar with this concept. We do it for personal occasions in our lives: our birthdays, holidays, graduations, retirements, and so on. Our lives change around these points and we sorta count down to them… 3 years until I graduate… 2 years until I graduate… and so on. While we experience these personal turning points, the Bible says there will a point where all existence will change… we call it the "end of time". I know everyone doesn’t believe in the Bible and in Jesus. But if we think about what the Bible says and we can see hints of these signs coming true in modern times, then we should question whether we are ready for that ultimate existential turning point. What does it all of this stuff mean? It means we are heading towards a point in time where all humanity, yea, the entire universe will be changed. Why should I care about all of this stuff? We should care because we must be prepared for a change in our existence.
I’m not here to proselytize to anyone. I’m trying to make a correlation of modern events and phenomena to Biblical prophecies and scripture. Take from it what you will.
I discussed the three main areas of life that is focused on in end times prophecy. It involves the global centralization of government, economics, and religion under the banner of one man who is referred to as the beast in Revelation and the man of lawlessness in II Thessalonians. The first three postings I put up discuss how these events could take place and how our current global situations are positioned for these things to happen. But what other things mentioned in the Bible refer to the end times? There are several cases of Old Testament prophecies discussing the end. But the most famous end times prophecy, other than Revelation, is the Olivet Discourse.
The Olivet Discourse is written in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus took his disciples upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and He began to teach them. They asked Him to tell them about the time of the end. Jesus tells them of various signs of distress: wars, earthquakes, roaring seas, and famines. He also says that the time right before the end will be like the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37-39). This passage is very important because unlike many prophecies, there is nothing left for interpretation. This is very direct. There will be wars and the threat of wars. There will be earthquakes and famines. And the world will be as it was during the time of Noah. Wars, earthquakes, and famines are easy to see. But how was Earth during the time of Noah? Genesis 6 describes that the people were violent and wicked. So wicked, in fact, that only Noah and his family found favor with God. So wicked that the hearts of mankind only contained wickedness. Galatians 5 gives an outline of what that wicked consisted of: "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like" (Gal. 5:19-21). II Timothy 3 also outlines human behavior in the end "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power." (II Tim. 3:1-5). These two passages reveal how man will act and behave in the last days. Man will be wicked like those in the days of Noah, and that wickedness is described above in detail by Paul.
These signs Jesus lay out are not after His return, but before them. He even refers to them as "birth pains" (Matt. 24:8). These will be signs of life on Earth before the end arrives. That leads to the question: are these things, these behaviors present in today’s society? The answer is without a doubt, YES!
All you have to do is turn on the news or go to a news website to see these signs on full display. Yes, we know of wars and famines and earthquakes, but the wickedness upon the Earth is great. Some things are questionable depending on your standards of morality. Some people think homosexuality and abortion are evil and wicked… some do not. But putting those things aside, there is still wickedness that even staunch atheists would agree are wrong and needs to be dealt with. Let’s look at a few.
The Bible says drunkenness is a wickedness that will be prevalent in the end. I think everyone would agree that alcoholism is a cancer to any society. Lack of self control is also something that everyone could agree on as a problem with society.
There are also things that some things that reveal wickedness that many could not see before. Our current financial crisis stems from several wicked traits mentioned earlier: selfish ambition, lovers of themselves, lovers of money, lack of self control, treachery, conceit. The list keeps going. People gave in to greed and envy and now our entire economy is in shambles because of it. No one realizes that it wasn’t some weird or strange phenomenon that wrecked the economy… it was the wickedness of man. I read an article several months ago reporting that a teenager was arrested for hiring a hit on his own parents (disobedience to parents, if you’re keeping up). The reason: they would not buy him a Playstation 3! He wanted his parents killed over a video game system!!! Its complete lunacy. Just today, I read that a comedian was banned from an event because she made the statement that Republican VP candidate Palin would be "gang-raped" if she came to New York. Sounds like a great comedy act to me (I’m being sarcastic of course). It’s preposterous. The world is becoming more rancid by the minute due to the wickedness permeating society. It is getting more like the days of Noah every single day. And whether or not you believe in the Bible, you have to agree that SOMETHING needs to change. It’s the entire political platform of this election. People know something is wrong with something and they wanna make it right.
Let’s look at another way these prophecies correspond with modern times. Computer programmers have created programs known as spiders. Spiders are programs that search over vast amounts of data looking for things. Some spiders were created to look over investment and market data to look for trends to help investors or to spot possible problems in the market. Some spiders were created to help detect secret messages from enemy nations. The way these spiders work is they search over vast amount of written material looking for a variety of characters, words, or phrases that have commonalities. They compare this data with known resources to look for hidden messages. It’s like a giant cryptogram game. There is another theory about these spiders. Some folks believe they can go back in time with them and also predict the future using them. They assert that by looking at massive amounts of text from a society, they will have a sort of window to subconscious collective mind of society. They will scour our various types of material from news reports, advertisements, even blogs such as this. Again, they look for common characters, words, phrases, and other arrangements within a wide sampling of text material. The theory is that the subconscious collective feelings of a society will be expressed through individuals within that society through the writings of these individuals. They believe they can look into the past and gain an understanding of what that society was going through by the texts of that time period. For example, let’s say the people of 19th century France were concerned with impending war and economic problems. The theory says that written texts of that era will have those fears of economic hardship and war written within SUBCONSCIOUSLY, regardless of the nature and explicitness of the material. The theory suggests that all writing: love letters, business correspondence, advertisements, everything will subconsciously suggest the fears mentioned.
While looking into the past is a little easier (since we have some history), looking into the future is difficult. The theory suggests, however, that looking into various writings of the current era; these decoders will be able to pick up on subconscious ideas that are hidden within the text. Example: decoders will employ spiders to look at newspaper editorials of every newspaper in America over the past three years. The spiders will locate any number of specific patterns. Then by matching these patterns with various topics, such as economy, the spiders can then match that topic to the patterns. The idea is that people will have subconsciously left hints of how we felt about the economy by the style in which we wrote, the particular words we used, punctuation, grammar, everything.
Of course, this is very oversimplified, but you get the idea. A book was written a few years back called the Bible Code. It was about how a certain group of religious used this technology to peruse the Bible for hidden messages. Some things they found were simple, but some were very, VERY complex. It was claimed that the Bible produced information that was so specific; it narrowed down events to the date! They claim these codes predicted the World Wars and even predicted the assassination of JFK down the very date he was killed! They said that the Bible Code was so complex that it still could give up information about events hundreds even thousands of years in the future (kinda weird, because their were prophecies written in standard Hebrew and Greek language doing the exact same thing… IN PLAIN SIGHT… but you know how people can be).
Now I told you about spiders and stuff to make a point and it is this: society reveals its collective subconscious via its media sources, but not always explicitly. Why is this important? Because we can infer how society as a whole feels about things by simply reading or watching TV. Let’s look at some things. In the past 15 years, there has been a rise in the number of movies and TV shows involving spiritual beings interacting with humans: Touched by an Angel, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Crossing Over, Bless the Child, The End of Days, The Ring, The Sixth Sense and the list goes on. There have been several movies about alien interaction with humans: The Forgotten, The Arrival, X-Files, Signs, and many others. There have been several movies about the annihilation of human civilization, either by external forces or by our own making: Armageddon, Deep Impact, I Am Legend, Independence Day, and many more. What does this mean? What impression do you get from this? I’m no expert, but it would indicate that people are aware of or at least thinking about two specific things: beings beyond human understanding and the destruction of civilization.
People are aware of, thinking about, or fascinated by the idea that there are beings outside of the realm of the life as we know it. Aliens, spirits, ghosts, angels, demons; society has these things on its collective mind. This would indicate, at least to me, that people are concerned that there is more to life than what we experience physically. It indicates a concern about existence after death: how we get there, what it is like, and what it means for our lives while we are still living.
People are also thinking about the demise of civilization at least on some level. Society is concerned with how to maintain its existence in a dangerous universe. People are concerned with the survival of civilization at a small level. We are worried about economic and social issues. Will we be able to keep up our way of life? People are also concerned with the survival of civilization on a larger scale. Will a catastrophic event wipe humanity from existence? Will aliens or asteroids kill us all and would we be able to survive it? What can we do to maintain our way of life and not completely destroy the environment?
Allow me to wrap this entire discussion up by saying that these are perilous times. The Bible contains prophecies that let us know what will happen at the end of time and signs with which we can recognize its arrival. There are pieces currently in place in this world that allow for governments, economies, and religions to unite under the banner of the beast mentioned in Revelation. Prophecies of Jesus tell of the condition of the world prior to the end. He says it will be a wicked place as in Noah’s day. We see rampant wickedness in all areas of our society. Luke 21:26 that the heart’s of men will faint with terror, apprehensive with what lies ahead. The collective subconscious of our society tells us that our hearts are failing. People are stressed about life after death, the environment, and whether we can maintain our civilization.
I said earlier that I do not know the day of the return of Jesus and I will never say that I do. But the signs are evident of His eminent return. He told his followers to watch for Him, looking at these signs as marker of His return. I personally feel that time is like one of those coin funnels at the mall. Our society is like the coin. At first, it is moving slowly toward the end, but as it gets closer, we spiral faster and faster towards the end. The necessary events of the end times have increased in frequency and quantity within the last 100 years. I feel we are racing towards that turning point faster than we really know and people, including many Christians are not prepared. My goal was to write down my thoughts and ideas in order to raise awareness and provoke thought about these issues. I hope you have enjoyed reading this. Please leave comments as I would glad to answer questions and look at other issues involving this as well.
So I preface this blog as a review of the signs of the times, and NOT as a calendar to lead to a specific date. I do not know and do not claim to know when Jesus will return. It could be this afternoon and it could be in the year 3256. I don’t know. But I DO know that there are signs present in today’s society that reflect some of the prophecies written about the end times. I will offer my viewpoints about modern times, using Biblical passages as a guideline.
What does all of this mean and why should I care? That would be the first question out of the mouth of anyone wondering about these things. First of all, the Bible says that all people will have to give an account of their actions at some point. Study of end times prophecy reveals that there is a point in the future when existence as we know of it will cease. There will be a new existence after that, but there is a fixed point around which the two states of existence hinge. The point of the prophecies is to direct us to be aware of that point and its impending approach. Think of it as a destination, not in physical dimensions, but in time. We are familiar with this concept. We do it for personal occasions in our lives: our birthdays, holidays, graduations, retirements, and so on. Our lives change around these points and we sorta count down to them… 3 years until I graduate… 2 years until I graduate… and so on. While we experience these personal turning points, the Bible says there will a point where all existence will change… we call it the "end of time". I know everyone doesn’t believe in the Bible and in Jesus. But if we think about what the Bible says and we can see hints of these signs coming true in modern times, then we should question whether we are ready for that ultimate existential turning point. What does it all of this stuff mean? It means we are heading towards a point in time where all humanity, yea, the entire universe will be changed. Why should I care about all of this stuff? We should care because we must be prepared for a change in our existence.
I’m not here to proselytize to anyone. I’m trying to make a correlation of modern events and phenomena to Biblical prophecies and scripture. Take from it what you will.
I discussed the three main areas of life that is focused on in end times prophecy. It involves the global centralization of government, economics, and religion under the banner of one man who is referred to as the beast in Revelation and the man of lawlessness in II Thessalonians. The first three postings I put up discuss how these events could take place and how our current global situations are positioned for these things to happen. But what other things mentioned in the Bible refer to the end times? There are several cases of Old Testament prophecies discussing the end. But the most famous end times prophecy, other than Revelation, is the Olivet Discourse.
The Olivet Discourse is written in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus took his disciples upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and He began to teach them. They asked Him to tell them about the time of the end. Jesus tells them of various signs of distress: wars, earthquakes, roaring seas, and famines. He also says that the time right before the end will be like the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37-39). This passage is very important because unlike many prophecies, there is nothing left for interpretation. This is very direct. There will be wars and the threat of wars. There will be earthquakes and famines. And the world will be as it was during the time of Noah. Wars, earthquakes, and famines are easy to see. But how was Earth during the time of Noah? Genesis 6 describes that the people were violent and wicked. So wicked, in fact, that only Noah and his family found favor with God. So wicked that the hearts of mankind only contained wickedness. Galatians 5 gives an outline of what that wicked consisted of: "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like" (Gal. 5:19-21). II Timothy 3 also outlines human behavior in the end "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power." (II Tim. 3:1-5). These two passages reveal how man will act and behave in the last days. Man will be wicked like those in the days of Noah, and that wickedness is described above in detail by Paul.
These signs Jesus lay out are not after His return, but before them. He even refers to them as "birth pains" (Matt. 24:8). These will be signs of life on Earth before the end arrives. That leads to the question: are these things, these behaviors present in today’s society? The answer is without a doubt, YES!
All you have to do is turn on the news or go to a news website to see these signs on full display. Yes, we know of wars and famines and earthquakes, but the wickedness upon the Earth is great. Some things are questionable depending on your standards of morality. Some people think homosexuality and abortion are evil and wicked… some do not. But putting those things aside, there is still wickedness that even staunch atheists would agree are wrong and needs to be dealt with. Let’s look at a few.
The Bible says drunkenness is a wickedness that will be prevalent in the end. I think everyone would agree that alcoholism is a cancer to any society. Lack of self control is also something that everyone could agree on as a problem with society.
There are also things that some things that reveal wickedness that many could not see before. Our current financial crisis stems from several wicked traits mentioned earlier: selfish ambition, lovers of themselves, lovers of money, lack of self control, treachery, conceit. The list keeps going. People gave in to greed and envy and now our entire economy is in shambles because of it. No one realizes that it wasn’t some weird or strange phenomenon that wrecked the economy… it was the wickedness of man. I read an article several months ago reporting that a teenager was arrested for hiring a hit on his own parents (disobedience to parents, if you’re keeping up). The reason: they would not buy him a Playstation 3! He wanted his parents killed over a video game system!!! Its complete lunacy. Just today, I read that a comedian was banned from an event because she made the statement that Republican VP candidate Palin would be "gang-raped" if she came to New York. Sounds like a great comedy act to me (I’m being sarcastic of course). It’s preposterous. The world is becoming more rancid by the minute due to the wickedness permeating society. It is getting more like the days of Noah every single day. And whether or not you believe in the Bible, you have to agree that SOMETHING needs to change. It’s the entire political platform of this election. People know something is wrong with something and they wanna make it right.
Let’s look at another way these prophecies correspond with modern times. Computer programmers have created programs known as spiders. Spiders are programs that search over vast amounts of data looking for things. Some spiders were created to look over investment and market data to look for trends to help investors or to spot possible problems in the market. Some spiders were created to help detect secret messages from enemy nations. The way these spiders work is they search over vast amount of written material looking for a variety of characters, words, or phrases that have commonalities. They compare this data with known resources to look for hidden messages. It’s like a giant cryptogram game. There is another theory about these spiders. Some folks believe they can go back in time with them and also predict the future using them. They assert that by looking at massive amounts of text from a society, they will have a sort of window to subconscious collective mind of society. They will scour our various types of material from news reports, advertisements, even blogs such as this. Again, they look for common characters, words, phrases, and other arrangements within a wide sampling of text material. The theory is that the subconscious collective feelings of a society will be expressed through individuals within that society through the writings of these individuals. They believe they can look into the past and gain an understanding of what that society was going through by the texts of that time period. For example, let’s say the people of 19th century France were concerned with impending war and economic problems. The theory says that written texts of that era will have those fears of economic hardship and war written within SUBCONSCIOUSLY, regardless of the nature and explicitness of the material. The theory suggests that all writing: love letters, business correspondence, advertisements, everything will subconsciously suggest the fears mentioned.
While looking into the past is a little easier (since we have some history), looking into the future is difficult. The theory suggests, however, that looking into various writings of the current era; these decoders will be able to pick up on subconscious ideas that are hidden within the text. Example: decoders will employ spiders to look at newspaper editorials of every newspaper in America over the past three years. The spiders will locate any number of specific patterns. Then by matching these patterns with various topics, such as economy, the spiders can then match that topic to the patterns. The idea is that people will have subconsciously left hints of how we felt about the economy by the style in which we wrote, the particular words we used, punctuation, grammar, everything.
Of course, this is very oversimplified, but you get the idea. A book was written a few years back called the Bible Code. It was about how a certain group of religious used this technology to peruse the Bible for hidden messages. Some things they found were simple, but some were very, VERY complex. It was claimed that the Bible produced information that was so specific; it narrowed down events to the date! They claim these codes predicted the World Wars and even predicted the assassination of JFK down the very date he was killed! They said that the Bible Code was so complex that it still could give up information about events hundreds even thousands of years in the future (kinda weird, because their were prophecies written in standard Hebrew and Greek language doing the exact same thing… IN PLAIN SIGHT… but you know how people can be).
Now I told you about spiders and stuff to make a point and it is this: society reveals its collective subconscious via its media sources, but not always explicitly. Why is this important? Because we can infer how society as a whole feels about things by simply reading or watching TV. Let’s look at some things. In the past 15 years, there has been a rise in the number of movies and TV shows involving spiritual beings interacting with humans: Touched by an Angel, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Crossing Over, Bless the Child, The End of Days, The Ring, The Sixth Sense and the list goes on. There have been several movies about alien interaction with humans: The Forgotten, The Arrival, X-Files, Signs, and many others. There have been several movies about the annihilation of human civilization, either by external forces or by our own making: Armageddon, Deep Impact, I Am Legend, Independence Day, and many more. What does this mean? What impression do you get from this? I’m no expert, but it would indicate that people are aware of or at least thinking about two specific things: beings beyond human understanding and the destruction of civilization.
People are aware of, thinking about, or fascinated by the idea that there are beings outside of the realm of the life as we know it. Aliens, spirits, ghosts, angels, demons; society has these things on its collective mind. This would indicate, at least to me, that people are concerned that there is more to life than what we experience physically. It indicates a concern about existence after death: how we get there, what it is like, and what it means for our lives while we are still living.
People are also thinking about the demise of civilization at least on some level. Society is concerned with how to maintain its existence in a dangerous universe. People are concerned with the survival of civilization at a small level. We are worried about economic and social issues. Will we be able to keep up our way of life? People are also concerned with the survival of civilization on a larger scale. Will a catastrophic event wipe humanity from existence? Will aliens or asteroids kill us all and would we be able to survive it? What can we do to maintain our way of life and not completely destroy the environment?
Allow me to wrap this entire discussion up by saying that these are perilous times. The Bible contains prophecies that let us know what will happen at the end of time and signs with which we can recognize its arrival. There are pieces currently in place in this world that allow for governments, economies, and religions to unite under the banner of the beast mentioned in Revelation. Prophecies of Jesus tell of the condition of the world prior to the end. He says it will be a wicked place as in Noah’s day. We see rampant wickedness in all areas of our society. Luke 21:26 that the heart’s of men will faint with terror, apprehensive with what lies ahead. The collective subconscious of our society tells us that our hearts are failing. People are stressed about life after death, the environment, and whether we can maintain our civilization.
I said earlier that I do not know the day of the return of Jesus and I will never say that I do. But the signs are evident of His eminent return. He told his followers to watch for Him, looking at these signs as marker of His return. I personally feel that time is like one of those coin funnels at the mall. Our society is like the coin. At first, it is moving slowly toward the end, but as it gets closer, we spiral faster and faster towards the end. The necessary events of the end times have increased in frequency and quantity within the last 100 years. I feel we are racing towards that turning point faster than we really know and people, including many Christians are not prepared. My goal was to write down my thoughts and ideas in order to raise awareness and provoke thought about these issues. I hope you have enjoyed reading this. Please leave comments as I would glad to answer questions and look at other issues involving this as well.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
It’s the End of the World as We Know It, But Do I Feel Fine?!? Part Three: Religion
In my previous two blogs, I have discussed two parts of an end times triad involving a global, centralized government and economy. My goal was to show how current events are preparing the way for this to occur. It’s obvious to see that global economy and government could happen and in fact, may happen very soon. But, religion is another animal altogether. A centralized religion seems not only unlikely, but impossible. There are too many obstacles in the way for this happen. There are fundamentalists, extremists, and other die-hards unwilling to surrender. There are atheists and agnostics who unwilling to believe. Despite the perceptions and difficulty, the Bible clearly states that a centralized religion abounds in the end times.
First things first, I am writing this from a Christian and Biblical perspective. If you do not believe in these things, then this will be harder to understand. My point is not to claim a "right or wrong" stance, but to indicate how the Bible illustrates end times events that are reflected within our modern times. As I said earlier, the religion portion of this end times triad will be the most difficult to come to terms with.
There are several passages which outline this singular religion. Revelation 13:4-8 says that both the dragon and the beast will be worshipped by all men, except those written in the Book of Life. This would indicate all true believers in the True God will not worship the beast or the dragon. I’ll elaborate on this passage later. II Thessalonians 2:4 says there will come a man who will sit in the temple of God and proclaim that he is not only greater than the things of God, but that he himself is God. Daniel 9 discusses a man who causes an "abomination of desolation" in the temple of God. Many theologians believe that the man discussed in Daniel and the man discussed in II Thessalonians are one in the same. Regardless, it would appear that at some point in the future, there will be a man who claims to be God on a large scale and that all men will worship two beings known as the dragon and the beast.
OK, let’s look at the characteristics regarding this centralized religion possibility. In its essence, this is the final culmination of the plans of God’s antithesis. This is man’s ultimate expression of existentialism led by Lucifer. The Bible is replete with instances of man trying to replace God with something else. Whether it is a pagan deity or lust for power and money; sinful man has tried to replace God. This centralized religion will be the magnum opus of man attempt to accomplish this goal. This raises three very big questions right off the bat however. Number one: how does this affect those who do not believe in any kind of deity? Number two: how does this affect those who believe in a deity? Number three: how does this affect those who believe in the Biblical God? Question number three will be the most difficult to answer. Let us look at the entity being worshiped. That will shed some light on how to answer these questions.
If you look at the passages of scripture, each passage reveals something about the entity being worshiped. Daniel indicates that he will have some authority in the area of politics or religion. Daniel says he will confirm a convent with many (Dan. 9:27). This would hint at the idea that this man has power and authority to confirm the promises of many people. In other words, he will be someone of great position either religiously or politically. He will be a prominent person that many people will believe in and trust. II Thessalonians describes the man as one who will have supernatural power as granted by Satan (II Thess. 2:9). The man Paul is talking about will arrive on the scene with counterfeit miracles and signs. If the man listed in Daniel and II Thessalonians is the same guy, you’re looking at a man with supernatural abilities in a position of prominence, either politically or religiously… or possibly both. Revelation 13 indicates that the beast, who could be this man, will be given authority by the dragon and will be worshipped along the dragon. Revelation 12 reveals that the dragon is Satan. If you put these pieces of the puzzle together, all three passages would show that man with great authority and great power will arise in the last days and that his power and authority are such that all men are compelled to worship him saying "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" (Rev. 13:4, NIV).
We have established the character of the man being worshipped, but let’s now look at prevailing trends within belief systems currently in the world. I am not an expert on all world religions, but simple research can give us an idea of some themes and ideas. Several of the major world religions have a messianic figure. This messianic figure is the "Chosen One" of that particular religion. They range from the most famous (Jesus Christ) to the seemingly most absurd (Alien spacecraft hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet). Several religions do not have messianic figures, such as Buddhism. However, Buddhism teaches about reaching enhanced states of being, reaching an existence superior to our current state of existence. Then there are belief systems such as secular humanism, which do not worship a deity, but exclude supernatural phenomenon. Spiritual events are individual at best and ideals such as ethics and reason. You can argue that evolution is a belief system (another day, another blog). One central religion would have to accommodate the varying degree of beliefs and ideologies that are expressed by people. Let me run a quick scenario to illustrate a point.
Imagine a man who many would consider a perfect individual. He’s good-looking, wealthy, charismatic, connected, and educated. Now imagine if this guy was a leader, possibly of a powerful global government. He kept peace and prosperity for every person under his control. Now imagine this guy having the supernatural ability to heal sick and dying people. Imagine that he could lift heavy objects with mere thoughts. Imagine this guy and now think about how the world would perceive him… how would you perceive him?
What does this scenario mean? People can view this guy (the beast) as the perfect zenith of their particular belief system. Messianic religions will see this guy as their messiah (except Christians, but we’ll get to that in a minute). Religions without a messianic figure may see him as a deity, or just a man who has reached a superior state of existence. Evolutionists may see this guy as an evolved person, a state all humanity will evolve to someday (think X-Men). Some may see this guy as an alien, or at least involved with extra-terrestrial activity. If you have no belief system, he will make you believe or at least stir that desire in your heart and mind. The point is that the man described in the Bible passages will fulfill EVERY aspect of what EVERY religion will want to achieve. The big key is that now religions will have no "right or wrong" aspect. It will be acceptable to have one or multiple belief systems. You can be a Muslim Buddhist evolutionist if you wanna be… it won’t matter because this guy will fulfill it all. He will have both natural and supernatural characteristics that will appeal to the mass of civilization despite belief systems. He will be worshipped by all people, because he will complete the search for existence and self-meaning that all people experience. He will have that "something" about him that will make all people simply marvel at him and ultimately worship him. So to answer questions one and two: the man described in the Bible passages referenced will be the pinnacle of human existence to all humans. Whatever you wanna believe in… this guy’s it!
That brings us to question number three. What will people who believe in Jesus as the messiah think about this guy? Wow! You talk about a loaded question. There are more theories about this than you can shake a stick at. There are volumes of books written about this and there is no consensus about the topic, even among theologians. I could spend hours discussing this topic alone, but I will get this down to the nuts and bolts of it. Some Christians believe that we will escape the impending wrath brought upon the world and this man. Some believe that we will only partially experience the end times events and some believe that we will ride it out until the end. Some Christians believe that these events have either already happened or will never happen. There are scripture passages that would seem to advocate each of these thought processes. However one chooses to believe about this topic, one thing is perfectly clear. Jesus proclaimed he would return to Earth at some point. He said there will be signs of his impending return. Daniel was told to seal up his prophecies until the end. Those who are wicked would have no understanding and the wise will understand (Dan. 12:9-10). This means that as the end approaches, those who are wise will begin to understand what Daniel foretold and the return of Jesus will become eminent. With that being said, the man discussed here today would seem to have the power to coerce some people looking for the return of Jesus. Jesus warned of these people in Matthew 24. My honest belief is that true followers of Jesus will be able to discern the truth and that those who follow the delusion were not true believers in the first place. The folks that believe in the true Jesus will not fall for a fake and that Jesus Himself will give us discernment and wisdom. The folks that will be deceived will be the kind of folks that say "Sure, its ok to believe to Jesus, but its ok to follow Buddha as well", or "There are many roads to get to heaven, and Jesus is merely one of them". My point is that there will be people who may see this man as Jesus, and his rise to prominence will look to some as the "second coming" of the real Jesus. I will not attempt to argue one ends times view perspective over another at this point. All will say is that there will be people who will think the guy discussed above will be Jesus and they will be fooled.
So as you can see, one central religion is not quite as far-fetched as you might think. I have outlined a possible scenario for how all mankind will worship a being when so many people disagree on what to believe. There are other scenarios as well. The dragon and the beast may generate worship by force… a "worship me or die" kinda thing. A future religion may come on the market in the future that may be so universal and so enticing that everyone will simply abandon all other belief systems and follow that. Whatever means used to get there, the idea that a central religion system could one day exist is a plausible one. The next question is: do we see this trend happening in the world today? I say yes. The idea that many roads lead to one destination is a prevailing one within our society. People are searching for the meaning of their existence and they will try to use whatever means necessary to discover it, even if it means trying various religions. Many folks will try to blend aspects of many beliefs into a singular worldview. I read an article recently about a woman who claims to be both a Christian and a Muslim. I read another article discussing how the Catholic Church is advocating evolution. In this era, following a religious belief to the letter makes you hard-core and extreme. Fundamentalism is the new slander and people are wary of being tagged by it. We live in a salad bar religious society; pick what you want from various beliefs and throw it all in together. By doing it this way, so make yourself less likely to be offensive and labeled a fundamentalist. You can throw out the non politically correct parts and keep the less dangerous parts. Remember when I said that political lines are becoming blurry? Well the same thing is happening with religion. Beliefs and tenets are getting murkier and muddier everyday. It really doesn’t seem all that crazy that someday, a man with the characteristics I mentioned earlier could arrive on the scene and tie up the loose ends.
Part four will be a conclusion of this personal discourse. I will wrap up the details and blend the previous blogs into an outline of the end times world. I will try my best to take the three basic components and combine into a working paradigm of how the global system could really work. I will also take a look at several secular paradigms that reflect how society is gravitating towards this, even on a subconscious level.
First things first, I am writing this from a Christian and Biblical perspective. If you do not believe in these things, then this will be harder to understand. My point is not to claim a "right or wrong" stance, but to indicate how the Bible illustrates end times events that are reflected within our modern times. As I said earlier, the religion portion of this end times triad will be the most difficult to come to terms with.
There are several passages which outline this singular religion. Revelation 13:4-8 says that both the dragon and the beast will be worshipped by all men, except those written in the Book of Life. This would indicate all true believers in the True God will not worship the beast or the dragon. I’ll elaborate on this passage later. II Thessalonians 2:4 says there will come a man who will sit in the temple of God and proclaim that he is not only greater than the things of God, but that he himself is God. Daniel 9 discusses a man who causes an "abomination of desolation" in the temple of God. Many theologians believe that the man discussed in Daniel and the man discussed in II Thessalonians are one in the same. Regardless, it would appear that at some point in the future, there will be a man who claims to be God on a large scale and that all men will worship two beings known as the dragon and the beast.
OK, let’s look at the characteristics regarding this centralized religion possibility. In its essence, this is the final culmination of the plans of God’s antithesis. This is man’s ultimate expression of existentialism led by Lucifer. The Bible is replete with instances of man trying to replace God with something else. Whether it is a pagan deity or lust for power and money; sinful man has tried to replace God. This centralized religion will be the magnum opus of man attempt to accomplish this goal. This raises three very big questions right off the bat however. Number one: how does this affect those who do not believe in any kind of deity? Number two: how does this affect those who believe in a deity? Number three: how does this affect those who believe in the Biblical God? Question number three will be the most difficult to answer. Let us look at the entity being worshiped. That will shed some light on how to answer these questions.
If you look at the passages of scripture, each passage reveals something about the entity being worshiped. Daniel indicates that he will have some authority in the area of politics or religion. Daniel says he will confirm a convent with many (Dan. 9:27). This would hint at the idea that this man has power and authority to confirm the promises of many people. In other words, he will be someone of great position either religiously or politically. He will be a prominent person that many people will believe in and trust. II Thessalonians describes the man as one who will have supernatural power as granted by Satan (II Thess. 2:9). The man Paul is talking about will arrive on the scene with counterfeit miracles and signs. If the man listed in Daniel and II Thessalonians is the same guy, you’re looking at a man with supernatural abilities in a position of prominence, either politically or religiously… or possibly both. Revelation 13 indicates that the beast, who could be this man, will be given authority by the dragon and will be worshipped along the dragon. Revelation 12 reveals that the dragon is Satan. If you put these pieces of the puzzle together, all three passages would show that man with great authority and great power will arise in the last days and that his power and authority are such that all men are compelled to worship him saying "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" (Rev. 13:4, NIV).
We have established the character of the man being worshipped, but let’s now look at prevailing trends within belief systems currently in the world. I am not an expert on all world religions, but simple research can give us an idea of some themes and ideas. Several of the major world religions have a messianic figure. This messianic figure is the "Chosen One" of that particular religion. They range from the most famous (Jesus Christ) to the seemingly most absurd (Alien spacecraft hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet). Several religions do not have messianic figures, such as Buddhism. However, Buddhism teaches about reaching enhanced states of being, reaching an existence superior to our current state of existence. Then there are belief systems such as secular humanism, which do not worship a deity, but exclude supernatural phenomenon. Spiritual events are individual at best and ideals such as ethics and reason. You can argue that evolution is a belief system (another day, another blog). One central religion would have to accommodate the varying degree of beliefs and ideologies that are expressed by people. Let me run a quick scenario to illustrate a point.
Imagine a man who many would consider a perfect individual. He’s good-looking, wealthy, charismatic, connected, and educated. Now imagine if this guy was a leader, possibly of a powerful global government. He kept peace and prosperity for every person under his control. Now imagine this guy having the supernatural ability to heal sick and dying people. Imagine that he could lift heavy objects with mere thoughts. Imagine this guy and now think about how the world would perceive him… how would you perceive him?
What does this scenario mean? People can view this guy (the beast) as the perfect zenith of their particular belief system. Messianic religions will see this guy as their messiah (except Christians, but we’ll get to that in a minute). Religions without a messianic figure may see him as a deity, or just a man who has reached a superior state of existence. Evolutionists may see this guy as an evolved person, a state all humanity will evolve to someday (think X-Men). Some may see this guy as an alien, or at least involved with extra-terrestrial activity. If you have no belief system, he will make you believe or at least stir that desire in your heart and mind. The point is that the man described in the Bible passages will fulfill EVERY aspect of what EVERY religion will want to achieve. The big key is that now religions will have no "right or wrong" aspect. It will be acceptable to have one or multiple belief systems. You can be a Muslim Buddhist evolutionist if you wanna be… it won’t matter because this guy will fulfill it all. He will have both natural and supernatural characteristics that will appeal to the mass of civilization despite belief systems. He will be worshipped by all people, because he will complete the search for existence and self-meaning that all people experience. He will have that "something" about him that will make all people simply marvel at him and ultimately worship him. So to answer questions one and two: the man described in the Bible passages referenced will be the pinnacle of human existence to all humans. Whatever you wanna believe in… this guy’s it!
That brings us to question number three. What will people who believe in Jesus as the messiah think about this guy? Wow! You talk about a loaded question. There are more theories about this than you can shake a stick at. There are volumes of books written about this and there is no consensus about the topic, even among theologians. I could spend hours discussing this topic alone, but I will get this down to the nuts and bolts of it. Some Christians believe that we will escape the impending wrath brought upon the world and this man. Some believe that we will only partially experience the end times events and some believe that we will ride it out until the end. Some Christians believe that these events have either already happened or will never happen. There are scripture passages that would seem to advocate each of these thought processes. However one chooses to believe about this topic, one thing is perfectly clear. Jesus proclaimed he would return to Earth at some point. He said there will be signs of his impending return. Daniel was told to seal up his prophecies until the end. Those who are wicked would have no understanding and the wise will understand (Dan. 12:9-10). This means that as the end approaches, those who are wise will begin to understand what Daniel foretold and the return of Jesus will become eminent. With that being said, the man discussed here today would seem to have the power to coerce some people looking for the return of Jesus. Jesus warned of these people in Matthew 24. My honest belief is that true followers of Jesus will be able to discern the truth and that those who follow the delusion were not true believers in the first place. The folks that believe in the true Jesus will not fall for a fake and that Jesus Himself will give us discernment and wisdom. The folks that will be deceived will be the kind of folks that say "Sure, its ok to believe to Jesus, but its ok to follow Buddha as well", or "There are many roads to get to heaven, and Jesus is merely one of them". My point is that there will be people who may see this man as Jesus, and his rise to prominence will look to some as the "second coming" of the real Jesus. I will not attempt to argue one ends times view perspective over another at this point. All will say is that there will be people who will think the guy discussed above will be Jesus and they will be fooled.
So as you can see, one central religion is not quite as far-fetched as you might think. I have outlined a possible scenario for how all mankind will worship a being when so many people disagree on what to believe. There are other scenarios as well. The dragon and the beast may generate worship by force… a "worship me or die" kinda thing. A future religion may come on the market in the future that may be so universal and so enticing that everyone will simply abandon all other belief systems and follow that. Whatever means used to get there, the idea that a central religion system could one day exist is a plausible one. The next question is: do we see this trend happening in the world today? I say yes. The idea that many roads lead to one destination is a prevailing one within our society. People are searching for the meaning of their existence and they will try to use whatever means necessary to discover it, even if it means trying various religions. Many folks will try to blend aspects of many beliefs into a singular worldview. I read an article recently about a woman who claims to be both a Christian and a Muslim. I read another article discussing how the Catholic Church is advocating evolution. In this era, following a religious belief to the letter makes you hard-core and extreme. Fundamentalism is the new slander and people are wary of being tagged by it. We live in a salad bar religious society; pick what you want from various beliefs and throw it all in together. By doing it this way, so make yourself less likely to be offensive and labeled a fundamentalist. You can throw out the non politically correct parts and keep the less dangerous parts. Remember when I said that political lines are becoming blurry? Well the same thing is happening with religion. Beliefs and tenets are getting murkier and muddier everyday. It really doesn’t seem all that crazy that someday, a man with the characteristics I mentioned earlier could arrive on the scene and tie up the loose ends.
Part four will be a conclusion of this personal discourse. I will wrap up the details and blend the previous blogs into an outline of the end times world. I will try my best to take the three basic components and combine into a working paradigm of how the global system could really work. I will also take a look at several secular paradigms that reflect how society is gravitating towards this, even on a subconscious level.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)