Your 2015 Predictions

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
2015 will be identical to 2014 only more so: flipping the page of a new calendar signifies nothing. Expect markedly increased tensions between Israel and Iran; nuclear proliferation; currency devaluations; poverty and sickness; wars and beheadings and loss of constitutional freedoms of epic proportions. Mankind is depraved. The animosities and attack m ...[text shortened]... forum are a microcosm of the unrest and frantic search for happiness in the world. Thanks, Joe.

Thank you Bob. Spot on.

"The animosities and attack modes hidden beneath the surface of this forum are a microcosm of the unrest and frantic search for happiness in the world."

Originally posted by FMF
You put stuff out there in a public forum, so people are going to comment.

Try to address the topic for once. We don't need a forum psycho analyzer.

Originally posted by FMF
I have posted about the spiritual dimension many, many hundreds of times on this forum but I don't think my outlook necessarily has to comply with your definition of the term.

Didn't say it did.

Originally posted by josephw
Try to address the topic for once. We don't need a forum psycho analyzer.

My spirituality-related prediction for 2015 is that many of the Christians gathered here in this community and who post regularly will continue to espouse pessimism and negativity of the kind touched upon in this thread's OP. Throughout 2015 it will continue to be unclear as to whether this jaundiced take on the state of the world and the human condition contributes to people seeking solace or comfort from Christian beliefs, or whether the negativity is rooted in and nurtured by Christian beliefs.

Originally posted by FMF
My spirituality-related prediction for 2015 is that many of the Christians gathered here in this community and who post regularly will continue to espouse pessimism and negativity of the kind touched upon in this thread's OP. Throughout 2015 it will continue to be unclear as to whether this jaundiced take on the state of the world and the human condition contrib ...[text shortened]... rom Christian beliefs, or whether the negativity is rooted in and nurtured by Christian beliefs.

So what you're saying is is that the love of God is something to be considered negative and pessimistic. That the offer of eternal life is not worth taking. That the death, burial and resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ is something to be despised. That the hope for all humans is in Christ. That a realistic view of the pattern of human existence on this planet is an illusion.

Thank you for your negative and pessimistic prediction.

Originally posted by FMF
I do wonder sometimes whether negativity of this kind is what inclines a person towards Christian beliefs, or whether negativity of this kind results from Christian beliefs. Certainly, in civvy street ~ i.e away from this forum 😛 ~ the Christians I know are generally much more optimistic about life, the world and everything, than those who regularly post here.

Consider this a one-up from a Christian (though not a Merkin Moronic Fundie - after all, very few of us in the rest of the world are) who agrees that the world is getting (slowly, and back-and-forwardly, but steadilly) better, not worse.
As for the regulars in this forum - well, what did you expect? You ought to blame that on web forums (and therefore on Merkin teenagers), not on Christianity.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
What a laugh.
Do you know how stupid this prediction is?

You never know 🙁

Originally posted by josephw

So what you're saying is is that the love of God is something to be considered negative and pessimistic. That the offer of eternal life is not worth taking. That the death, burial and resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ is something to be despised. That the hope for all humans is in Christ. That a realistic view of the pattern of human existence on this planet is an illusion. Thank you for your negative and pessimistic prediction.

What on earth are you on about? I am referring to your OP which did not mention "God" at all and culminated in "... I think things will only get worse. Never seen it get better!

Originally posted by josephw
I've seen everything you've seen. Maybe more.

I doubt that. I really, really doubt that.

My life is good, but that doesn't negate the reality of life on this planet. Most struggle for survival.

Partly true, but your "most" is an ever decreasing proportion. There's still a lot of suffering in this world, but even so there's less of it than a hundred, or even fifty years ago. The only thing which has got worse is the domination over the world's politics of the USA's military and financial complexes. If we can get rid of those, we'll be a lot further than we are now.

]Just share your predictions. What harm can it do?

Right-ho.

We'll find a treatment for ebola - not a magic bullet which will cure it immediately, but a treatment which will make it comparable to most other serious diseases.

The new pope will continue to drag the Papist clergy, kicking and screaming like holy water-doused sub-demons, into the 21st century where the rest of European Christianity (including, it must be said, most of the European Roman Catholic laity) has been since the 1st of January, 2001.
The USA will, alas, have to wait until at least 2035. This includes USAlien atheists as much as, if not even more so than, USAlien Christians.

Muslims will continue to be pissed off by ISIS abusing the name of their religion. They'll continue to make disorganised stabs at it, but (more for political than religious reasons) it will take until 2016, maybe 2017, for them to coordinate their efforts.
Meanwhile, the USA will continue to support terrorism in the region, that is, the regimes in both Israel and Saudi Arabia.

More "terrorist" countries will join the International Court of Justice. Guess who won't?

The world economy will continue to slowly get better. Now if only we can keep it out of the talons of the servants of the Mammon, and remember that lesson this time, we'll be all right. (In other words, there'll be another crisis in 20 years' time, but not yet.)

Originally posted by Shallow Blue
Consider this a one-up from a Christian (though not a Merkin Moronic Fundie - after all, very few of us in the rest of the world are) who agrees that the world is getting (slowly, and back-and-forwardly, but steadilly) better, not worse.
As for the regulars in this forum - well, what did you expect? You ought to blame that on web forums (and therefore on Merkin teenagers), not on Christianity.

A newbie with histrionics.

Now we know your name.

Originally posted by josephw
lol

😵

Originally posted by Shallow Blue
Consider this a one-up from a Christian (though not a Merkin Moronic Fundie - after all, very few of us in the rest of the world are) who agrees that the world is getting (slowly, and back-and-forwardly, but steadilly) better, not worse.
As for the regulars in this forum - well, what did you expect? You ought to blame that on web forums (and therefore on Merkin teenagers), not on Christianity.

"... better, not worse." Any definitive examples from 2014?

Originally posted by josephw
Personally, I think things will only get worse. Never seen it get better!

It's an interesting observation. Does this apply to you personally?

Overall, the standard of living of the average person has steadily increased over the last century and a half or so. Wars are increasingly less frequent, disease is less common, hunger is almost eradicated, illiteracy is steadily decreasing. Did you know that the average person's life expectancy on Earth is now 70 years?

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
illiteracy is steadily decreasing.

Because I have a new born I have been reading to him daily anything and everything. For the USA only 19% of parents read to their children from birth to 12 years of age. 47% of parents do very little reading to their child. And the rest do not which is 34%, I bet this is much worse in 3rd world countries.