Is the End Nigh?

The end has been getting close for a long time now....

Since I don't worry about...it makes no difference to me. I can still live only one day at a time.

"Doomsday clock at five minuets to midnight, experts warn." - Newspaper headline from Watchmen


I don't think it's near. But I'm an optimist. That's my job.

I don't believe in the rapture and we don't know when Armeggedon will happen so I don't worry about it. I have faith in Jesus and I know where I'm going to go when I die.

There actually IS a Doomsday Clock, by the way. It's the cover of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, dating back to the 1950s. The closest it ever came was 2 minutes to midnight, during the 1953 H-Bomb tests of the USA and USSR.

Here you go:
http://www.thebulletin.org/content/doomsday-clock/overview

Do I believe the end is near? Yes, very near. My interpretation of the signs tells me that most things are in place. The upward spiraling prices, the extraordinary levels of violence, especially ethnic violence (kingdom against kingdom), the sexual promiscuity, and many other things. I'm particularly troubled by the new concept of the supernatural that seems to be changing the human perspective on God. For example: I counted the television shows that deal with ghosts and the afterlife one evening. There were absolutely scads! I thought of the verse about having a form of religion (loosely translated) and wondered if the idea of the afterlife with no God present and the continuation of spirit might be just that. These programs imply that a spirit continues after death but suffers no consequences for the life the person led. Others might interpret it differently, but it certainly gives me pause for thought.

I figure it this way: the Word says nobody knows the exact time, not even the Son. But it WILL happen, and my take is that we're exactly one day closer than we were yesterday.

I have friends who obsess about every last newspaper article and war-rumor on CNN, lest it contain a hidden signal they might miss, that the Last Days are on us. This isn't the path I've chosen. I think we're called to be faithful in what we're doing, spread the Good News just an inch farther than the world will allow, and trust Him.

My take.

Deb Kinnard said:

I figure it this way: the Word says nobody knows the exact time, not even the Son. But it WILL happen, and my take is that we're exactly one day closer than we were yesterday.

I have friends who obsess about every last newspaper article and war-rumor on CNN, lest it contain a hidden signal they might miss, that the Last Days are on us. This isn't the path I've chosen. I think we're called to be faithful in what we're doing, spread the Good News just an inch farther than the world will allow, and trust Him.

My take.

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Yowza. Agreed.

Appalachian Writer- We see eye-to-eye. I would like to believe that the world can somehow be pulled back from the abyss, but I don't think it will happen. The OT warns the Israelites about child sacrifice. We've killed 50 million babies in this country on the altar of secularism...probably ten times that amount worldwide. Look at the way the global corporations exploit anyone and everyone for their own gain.

There have always been evil people, but the despots of old never approached what we had in last century. Evil is in asendency everywhere. God has only so much patience; at some point, He'll say, "Enough!"

I pray for my children and grandchildren. As for myself, let it come I'm ready.

windyrdg said:

Appalachian Writer- We see eye-to-eye. I would like to believe that the world can somehow be pulled back from the abyss, but I don't think it will happen. The OT warns the Israelites about child sacrifice. We've killed 50 million babies in this country on the altar of secularism...probably ten times that amount worldwide. Look at the way the global corporations exploit anyone and everyone for their own gain.

There have always been evil people, but the despots of old never approached what we had in last century. Evil is in asendency everywhere. God has only so much patience; at some point, He'll say, "Enough!"

I pray for my children and grandchildren. As for myself, let it come I'm ready.

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I'm ready to go. I have a list of people I want to talk to up there! I just hope I go by way of the grave. I don't want to see the final chapter.

scottVee said:

There actually IS a Doomsday Clock, by the way. It's the cover of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, dating back to the 1950s. The closest it ever came was 2 minutes to midnight, during the 1953 H-Bomb tests of the USA and USSR.

Here you go:
http://www.thebulletin.org/content/doomsday-clock/overview

Click to expand...

I thought it was closest during the Cuban Missile Crisis...

The way I see it, we've been living in the end times since the Ascention. There's really no way to tell if the clock has only an hour left on it or several thousand years. What worries me sometimes is when people try to nail down an exact sequence of events and pin overly specific interpretations on things. Humanity has a pretty bad track record on getting interpretations of the Apocalypse correct. If things unfold differently, someone with an overly specific interpretation could make serious errors: "Come on, there's no way he could be the Beast! The believers haven't been raptured to Heaven yet!"

"You will of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed." (Matthew 24:6) I think some people get alarmed a bit too easily. It's more important to know what a faithful follower of Christ should do in all situations, than to try figuring out what situations are going to happen.

Can I weigh in with a non-answer? It's the same non-answer I keep wanting to give to questions about predestination / free will, the Great Tribulation, politics, etc. This isn't directed toward anyone in particular or in response to any of the other posts, it's just my own thoughts.

ALWAYS FOCUS ON AUTHORIAL INTENT IN THE SCRIPTURES. What was the author trying to communicate and how did he anticipate his audience would interpret and react to what he's saying? For example . . .

When Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica about the Tribulation and Antichrist described in Daniel, what was his point? To scare them? To lay out some meticulous end-times checklist for them? NO! Paul was thrilled about taking part in Christ's plan. Paul was thrilled about being allowed to suffer for the sake of the Gospel so that his faith would be refined like pure gold. Paul was absolutely confident that Christ would return and reign, regardless of what else might happen in the meantime. He wanted his readers to be ENCOURAGED daily by those same ideas.

Similarly, when Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, was he laying out a point-by-point theological plan of how certain people are excluded from God's grace? NO! He was writing to ENCOURAGE the church and was using literary fireworks to describe the enormity of God's grace and the amazing fact that the readers were included in it.

If we read the Scriptures and come away depressed or fearful, we've missed the intent of the authors (and the Author). The intent is that we be transformed into a loving, wise, selfless, and fearless people. Whether today holds great persecution, the return of Christ, or simply a chance to minister to and love others should have no effect on our attitude or outlook. We should be joyful and steadfast.

III, well said. Sometimes we refine too much on the actual words and forget the Scriptures all point to the amazing love of God, made manifest in Christ Jesus.

A lot of great answers on this thread. Was it Luther who was purported to have been asked, "What would you do if you knew the world would end tomorrow?"--to which he answered, "I'd plant a tree." (Please excuse if I'm off the paraphrase too far). Don't know if it's a true story, but we need to keep planting trees.

Did a search on topics with the word "Watchmen" in it and this came up. I'm just posting my astonishment that so many of you take the "rapture" seriously.

I think God will smite us for making Vanilla Pepsi less available to the public. If I were God, I'd do the same thing.

Cato said:

Did a search on topics with the word "Watchmen" in it and this came up. I'm just posting my astonishment that so many of you take the "rapture" seriously.

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Thanks for sharing. Stop by any time

Nah. Just go with the flow and do what you do. There's way too much in the small picture to worry about the big one. I'm gonna climb that hill when I get to it, and not worry about it in the meantime.

Maybe.

But if the end is close, so what? Jesus said "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only." -- Matthew 24:36

That said, we can speculate all we want to and never come up with the right answer. It's like those tabloid papers that used to come out back in the 80's, that said the world will end on so-and-so date. A Baptist preacher used to say that if God was going to end the world on that particular date, He would have changed His mind so that people would not be able to predict it.

Personally, I think probably not. But I voted 'Maybe' because I don't know. The fact is, if only the Father knows, how in the world are we supposed to know?



It's time the Church stopped trying to predict when Christ is coming back, and instead focuses on the work he prescribed for us ... namely, preaching the Gospel to the world.

Could be, I mean, humanity has passed a lot of bad things, but in those days it was only a region that suffered (The Black Plague in Europe, for example)

Now, we are trapped, no way to go. Everything seems to be sinking (economical crisis, overpopulation, war) and is indeed really worriesome

I can't help but think every generation has thought the same thing. I imagine those dying in the Black Plague thought the same.

I agree with Deb K, it's all in His control and according to His plan.

Eh, we'll be fine. Go back and ask anyone living in Europe, round 1939, if they thought the end times were near. Go back and ask anyone living in Europe, round 191, if they thought the end times were near. Or how about 16something or other, when the "one of those really long wars" wars was happening.

I actually foresee an increase in peace with the proliferation of nuclear weapons (You're less likely to invade a country that can turn your cities to ash) and with increased economic interdependence. Obviously, it won't be perfect.

But, hey, since when has the world been perfect?

Also, if there is a god, it'd be a mighty shame for him to end his or her or its creation right about the time things got *really* interesting.

I feel like I'm hanging on the minute hand trying to pull it back to quarter til.

Why I bother, I don't know.
"...But if the end is close, so what?"

Jesus said "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only." -- Matthew 24:36

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Yep. That's about it.

In my opinion:

Who stinking knows?

Religion pushes this time frame to instill fear and demand action or be lost. What is time to the inventor of time? When you compare circles around the sun to eternity, it's all short, it's all soon.

I am a Christian who gags at sudden bouts of Olde English and fear inducing religion. It's like religious turrets and appearance manipulation. If you're going to be a follower of Christ, you're going to be a follower of Christ. If you're not, you're not. No amount of fear syringes and religious propaganda is going to push someone into Heavenly Kingdom Come who wouldn't stumble on the 'Rock' in the middle of the road anyway.

Yes, it's soon. Define soon in relation to eternity. No one knows.