end of the world

[karlpeg]

I think the last ten years or so of this world have been the worst in history. I am talking about War,Greed,Debt.
Can it get any worse? Do these things get to a boiling point and explode or do they just die down then reset its self.?

[jake-the-peg]

I think it's easy to see the negatives without the positives in context.

For example we have peace in Northern Ireland, there is no more apartheid in South Africa, we no longer have the prospect of nuclear war between the west and the soviet union.

Some countries have seen more poverty in the last 10 years like Niger and El Salvador, others less like Vietnam and Pakistan
http://images.wri.org/chart_wrr05_special_figu re1.jpg

I don't think I can share your apocalyptic view of the world, some problems arise some go away, the world keeps turning

[Octavius]

I agree with JTP. It is easy to assume that the current state of the world is a poor one, but the things you mention have been occurring in some form or another for the past 5,000 years or so and will continue to do so (I also have this view on the cyclical nature of global warming/cooling).

Its not a pretty place to raise children, but then neither were the roman years, medieval period, Elizabethan, or Victorian era's particularly, nor the inter-war years, or during the 'red button' cold war years.

[Lonnie]

The only reason you know about them is the media, so why not stop reading the papers, and watching the news on the tv, If the people around a couple of thousand years ago had them, they would have come to the same conclusion as you.

[Theland]

Lonnie - given the whole mid East situation, do you not think that it parallels the predictions made in the Bible?

[jake-the-peg]

Go on then I'll buy it Theland - which specific biblical predictions are coming true in the Middle East right now?

Bearing in mind that Christians seem to have been predicting the imminent end of the world and second comming is just around the corner since St. Paul's day I guess even a clock that's stopped is right twice a day

[Theland]

Hello Jake. Well the state of Israel was founded in 1948. The Jews had come back to their land as the Bible foretold - this time never to leave. They are surrounded by enemies, the situation worsens day by day. Central to all of this is the issue of Jerusalem, that the Bible calls a, "cup of trembling." Like a heavy stone, all who come against Jerusalem will come to grief.
Islamic coalitions are forming, in spite of the fact that they are killing each other. What holds them together is their hatred of Israel.
The bible predicted that Israel would be trodden down by the gentiles, intil the time of the Gentiles was complete, the nthe Jews would return. That's happened. What happens next is a bloodbath, and the players are moving into position all of the time.

[NJOK]

Sounds fairly plausible.

Was that just after the bit with the talking snake?

[Theland]

Why has Jerusalem been in conflict for thousands of years then? Just coincidence?

[NJOK]

Er... yes actually.

It's hardly an outlandish prediction is it?

[Octavius]

But the Jews/Israelites had �returned to their homeland� when David defeated the Babylonians (Goliath?) in the 11th C BCE, and perhaps the �nations� rising against them might have been the Hellenistic period or the Romanisation of the levant which set out to humiliate the Jews in their homeland.

Could the Bible not be just recounting historical events prior to the time of writing, rather than making predictions they were perhaps postdictions?

I believe Nostradamus had a similar knack for predicting events after they had happened.

[jake-the-peg]

But they are leaving - the West Bank and Gaza at least!


Doesn't the bible say:

Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16:28)

That's pretty clear isn't it? Jesus is saying that the End of the world will come in the lifetime of some of those he's talking to.

It's easily clearer than all that cup of trembling stuff.

Now I know you'll have another interpretation - otherwise Jesus would have been wrong - but I can't see how you could possibly rely on your interpretations if something as apparently clear as this could be misconstrued

[wizard69]

Regarding the "end times" Jesus also said that the stars would fall from the sky. Errr, is it me or does this suggest that Jesus thought that stars were little lights hung a few hundred yards up in the air that could fall down?
Another thing that he got wrong...

[Theland]

It's too big a subject to deal with on posts here, but specific prophecies regarding the end times are dealt with in numerous books I have read, and the Bible is uncannily accurate. Loads of web sites too.

[Octavius]

Well regardless of any religious debate, the world will not end. Mankind and many other species may cease to exist through Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death but the earth will survive and new species � perhaps including a new breed of the homo genus - will evolve and survive into a new ecosystem.

It's not ALL bad.

[Whickerman]

I'd rather live now than in 1916. Ok, there are more terrorist attackes now, but it's not exactly the somme, is it? I suppose it's all relative, but at least we have a decent standard of living. Oh, and quilted toilet roll. Nice.

[karlpeg]

What upsets me the most is the ignorance and the disrespect that is rife throughout this country. Bring back the birch, bring back National Services. The old ways aint that insane.

[Theland]

How true! In our efforts to stamp out violence, we got rid of corporal punishment, and now kids are subjected to more violence as a result, from their peers, who use the threat of violence to steal mobile phones and lunch money, or simply for twisted entertainment. The P.C. brigade don't have an answer to it all, just more wishful thinking and spouting about a utopian society .... sometime in the future when everybody is educated enough to support an egalitarian, tolerant ideology, that just isn't going to happen!
Yes, things will get much, much worse, and nobody has the answers.

[Theland]

infundibulum - What in precise terms would you recommend for street crime, for example? Muggings, vandalism, etc?