Originally posted by FMF You live in 4th World Britain where the public domain is forever sniffing the fumes of bad-news-sells courtesy of the 24-hour parabolic/tabloid cycle. I live in a large developing country with a fledgling democracy that's thrown off its West-sponsored dictatorship and things are, for the most part, on the up and up. Suffocating tyrannies across vast swathes of ...[text shortened]... he 'I hope the world ends in my lifetime' type Christians like galveston75, Suzianne and roigam.
I know quite a few Christians who consider anything negative to be an indication of the "last days" approaching or even arrived or maybe even nearly over.
Harry Potter films where in vogue a few years back; seen as a early gateway to satanism for kids and a deadening of their built-in aversion to spiritual apparitions and demons. I've had quite one way heated exchanges on the movie Passion of the Christ, also seen as a corruptor of the faith of millions who flocked blindly to see it.
Having said that, as a Christian myself I have to acknowledge that the bible, Jesus, the apostles and others predicted that the world will grow increasingly crappy and end in either a big fight or some other sort of social apocalypse. I just don't look forward to it, nor indeed look for it despite being advised in scripture to do the later.
Originally posted by FMF No, I am not somehow 'misrepresenting' my perception of people who constantly decry the state of the world and talk about how they welcome it being brought to some kind of supernaturally triggered "end". I see it as "pessimism". You are free to disagree, of course, but my point of view is an honest one and clearly expressed, and not a misrepresentation at all.
I don't know anyone like this, and I doubt if you do, either.
You are making this up out of whole cloth in order to denigrate people who are actually trying to make this world a better place, despite your obsessive labeling of their efforts as "pessimism". Your claim that people who are not "optimistic" about the future, especially the future of the "first world" as "being imbued with negativity, cynicism and defeatism" is ridiculous in the extreme. Your charge that I sit around rubbing my hands together while thinking that 'I hope the world ends in my lifetime' is merely the same self-serving tripe you spout here about Christians daily. We do see where the world is heading and we do NOT "welcome it". We are trying every day to give people hope, to realize that this world is worth fighting for to our last breath, and NOT to just give in to the type of fear-mongering that YOU say we espouse. You lie about us to further your own agenda about us. The "pessimism" you decry in us is your OWN desire to stop us from giving people hope to survive and to thrive. You show every day how you know NOTHING about me or what drives me to get out of bed every day. You perpetually try to knock down my efforts to help others by laughing it up and running it down. And frankly, I am tired of it. You can either lend a hand, or get out of the way, but you are certainly not going to stop me from doing what I do every day to improve the lives of people in my community who need it the most.
And you dare to call that "pessimism". Your motivation eludes me.
Originally posted by Suzianne Your claim that people who are not "optimistic" about the future, especially the future of the "first world" as "being imbued with negativity, cynicism and defeatism" is ridiculous in the extreme.
Not so, Suzianne. My claim is that people who are imbued with negativity, cynicism and defeatism are "pessimistic" and this includes those Christians who predict and welcome the imminent end of the world... which means, lest we forget - according to your elaborate beliefs in supernatural causality - the destruction of billions and billions people who are happily living their lives in a world many of them believe is getting better for them. This doomsday death wish is, in my view, pessimistic, selfish, fatalistic, and misanthropic, all words I have chosen quite deliberately.
Originally posted by Suzianne We do see where the world is heading and we do NOT "welcome it".
sonship has welcomed the imminence of end of the world as we know it. galveston75 has welcomed it and says it will happen soon. Both you and roigam have predicted it will happen in your lifetimes. roigam has explicitly welcomed it. Didn't you welcome it too? Didn't you once say something along the lines of it can't come soon enough as far as you are concerned?
You show every day how you know NOTHING about me or what drives me to get out of bed every day. You perpetually try to knock down my efforts to help others by laughing it up and running it down. And frankly, I am tired of it. You can either lend a hand, or get out of the way, but you are certainly not going to stop me from doing what I do every day to improve the lives of people in my community who need it the most.
Originally posted by Suzianne Your charge that I sit around rubbing my hands together while thinking that 'I hope the world ends in my lifetime' is merely the same self-serving tripe you spout here about Christians daily.
And where did I make this claim? Rubbing your hands together?
Originally posted by Suzianne You are making this up out of whole cloth in order to denigrate people who are actually trying to make this world a better place, despite your obsessive labeling of their efforts as "pessimism".
I am only attributing "pessimism" to Christians I see as being pessimistic. I am not attributing "pessimism" to Christians I see as optimistic and not preoccupied with doomsday and the supposedly righteous destruction of billions of people.
FMF: ...people who constantly decry the state of the world and talk about how they welcome it being brought to some kind of supernaturally triggered "end".
Originally posted by Suzianne I don't know anyone like this, and I doubt if you do, either.
Well here, for starters, there's sonship. galveston75. roigam. RJHinds. sumydid. I think josephw has stated he welcomes the onset of 'the end times', but he can correct me if I am wrong. There have been others too.
Originally posted by robbie carrobie the same self-serving tripe you spout 😵
I had a JW leaflet pushed through my door this week.
Ignoring the cringy hand-drawn depictions of people (presumably other JWs) living an idyllic lifsteyle on a tropical island with palm trees etc, there was a notable lack of the social pessimism and end of the world misanthropy which is usually present in the Watctower publications.
Are you guys changing messaging strategy and taking a more upbeat tact?
Originally posted by Suzianne I don't know anyone like this, and I doubt if you do, either.
You are making this up out of whole cloth in order to denigrate people who are actually trying to make this world a better place, despite your obsessive labeling of their efforts as "pessimism". Your claim that people who are not "optimistic" about the future, especially the future of the "fi ...[text shortened]... nity who need it the most.
And you dare to call that "pessimism". Your motivation eludes me.
Why does this rant (as that's how it reads) generalise Christians as "we" and "us" and why do you personalise yourself as the heroine, or is it the victim? I ask because clearly not all christians view the the world in the same way, even in this forum, but you seem determined to try and position this exchange as FMF versus you and all Christians.
Originally posted by divegeester [Suzianne] you seem determined to try and position this exchange as FMF versus you and all Christians.
I was a Christian for many years ~ a period of my life I continue to be very positive about ~ I live among Christians and always have. Many of the wisest, most admirable, most generous and optimistic, and most thoughtful and thought-provoking people I have ever known have been Christians.
OK, so. Now then. I think Suzianne realizes that she isn't one of them. That may be the cause of her regular paranoid rants and also things like that completely ridiculous message she sent me which she wanted me to keep secret. Just because Suzianne behaves the way she does, it does not mean I see "all Christians" in the same way. Far from it.
Originally posted by FMF I was a Christian for many years ~ a period of my life I continue to be very positive about ~ I live among Christians and always have. Many of the wisest, most admirable, most generous and optimistic, and most thoughtful and thought-provoking people I have ever known have been Christians.
OK, so. Now then. I think Suzianne realizes that she isn't one of them ...[text shortened]... behaves the way she does, it does not mean I see "all Christians" in the same way. Far from it.
I was a Christian for many years ~ a period of my life I continue to be very positive about ~ I live among Christians and always have. Many of the wisest, most admirable, most generous and optimistic, and most thoughtful and thought-provoking people I have ever known have been Christians.
Strange then that nothing you say on here lends any sort of credence to this. 🙄
Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk Strange then that nothing you say on here lends any sort of credence to this. 🙄
Well, the fact that you don't believe it will be what makes it "strange" for you.
As a Christian, do you expect the world to "end" in your lifetime? 100 years? 200 years? Do you find yourself optimistic or pessimistic - or a bit of both - in your estimation of the current state of the world and its sustainability?
Originally posted by FMF Well, the fact that you don't believe it will be what makes it "strange" for you.
As a Christian, do you expect the world to "end" in your lifetime? 100 years? 200 years? Do you find yourself optimistic or pessimistic - or a bit of both - in your estimation of the current state of the world and its sustainability?
I have no idea. I am optimistic about the future due to my faith in God regardless of what it may hold.
The future....
21 Mar '17 04:591 edit
Back to Top