Bad Christianity

I read this article about a group of Christians who believe the end is near. I regret to say, once again, that neither the "believers" who are mentioned nor the writer have any idea what the bible says.

The Book of Revelations does not say there is ever an end of time. It says that the Great Tribulation will come, God will stop the Battle of Armageddon and that Jesus will reign on earth for a thousand years and then this earth will pass away, NOT TIME AND NOT OUR CONSCIOUSNESS.

There are so many things wrong with this that it is like shooting fish in a barrel (not a reference to the last post). People are so bad at even attempting to read the bible. I know too many people who attempt to say that Nero was the antichrist spoken of in Revelations. They attempt to say that the author was talking about the Roman empire that he was living under (it is an Atheist belief). NO, Nero did not have everyone take a mark and clearly the author of Revelations would have known this.

Back to the article. You have way too many Christians who believe that those who are not in the rapture are not saved. NOT WHAT IT SAYS. It does say many believers will be persecuted and cry out to God to put an end to Satan's reign on earth. Now, if these martyrs are in heaven with God, guess what, they didn't go up in the rapture but were still saved.

I am snowed in and cranky; but really fancy math will not provide answers to the Book of Revelations and why bother. End times fascinations just tick me off. My comment to Christians is always the same. Focus on your faith, love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. Don't focus on mistakes.

For the sake of discussion I will say IF we were in the End Times I would expect Christians to continue living life in the same way. Helping others, being in service to others and attempting to do the right thing for the right reason.

Quick background for non-Christians. Revelations does talk about the "Rapture". The rapture is a time when believers will be taken away to heaven. It does not say that all believers will avoid the tribulation. It does say that many will be martyred. This has been interpreted by some to say that the one's left behind are unsaved and this is simply wrong.

Revelations states that the great tribulation (bad times) will last seven years. What is the purpose of the tribulation if all believers have been removed? Just to torture those who aren't saved? That would make no sense. God did not create us just to find amusement in our pain and that is not what it says. It says that he created us to have relationship with him and each other. The purpose of the great tribulation is to show that we must treat each other with love or we will only have hell on earth.

I read so many sites and see so much hate. Alex Jones is a good example. He claims to be a Christian and promotes buying guns. I don't think so. If you are a believer and if you believe these are "End Times" then you should be convinced that violence is wrong. I did not read anywhere in the bible that in the "End Times" the Christians would rise up and kill the bad people or take over the governments of the world, it just doesn't say that.

For people who don't believe in the bible this discussion may be completely unnecessary. I think it should be. To those concerned about "The End Times" I would ask why. Perhaps rather than waiting to be saved from bad times we should focus on the here and now and what we can do.

Yesterday a car bomb was ignited in Egypt in front of a Coptic church. The Coptics are a group of Egyptian Christians who have been persecuted for 2000 years for being Christian. Still, they hold on to their beliefs. This bomb killed 21 and injured 79. Perhaps helping one another is more important than waiting for rapture.