Recently, I've been thinking a lot about the end of the world, in Christianity's terms: "The Rapture" and "The End Times". I also have been studying the biblical book of Revelation, apparently written by St. Paul the Divine.
It appears that many Christians will say nowadays, "We're in the End Times..." because of numurous earthquakes/natural disasters, or new presidents (e.g Barack Obama which some people classify as the Anti-Christ) and pandemics like the swine flu (which is a load of rubbish I think, nothing more than a single pixel blown up by the media). Thousands of people today believe that we are apporaching Jesus' second coming very, very soon.
I've heard pastors preaching in the past, and they'll say to the congregation, "Well brothers and sisters, we've all read the end of the book, and we win!" It sickens me to hear that statement. I always thought to myself, "Do we really win?" These Christians that sat beside me in church services strongly believed that every word printed in the Bible was sacred and undoubtedly true. There couldn't even be the possibility that Bible was false, and I had grow up to believe the exact same, until about a year ago, but that's a different story.
Okay, let me begin by summing up an event that will apparently take place here on Earth in "x" number of years.
In a place called Armageddon, there is said to take place an incredible battle between good and evil; Jesus and the Devil. Armageddon is actually a real place and still exists today, not far from Jerusalem. The Devil and his evil army of rulers and kings of the world will swarm over the plains of Armageddon. From the sky on white horses, Jesus will come with his good army of angels and will slaughter the Devil in an epic war. Jesus will then cast the Devil into a lake of fire and there will be no evil on Earth for 1000 years.
So what we have here is a battle against the forces of good and evil. I'm not sure I can bring myself to believe it though; the idea that everything inscribed within the Bible will definately happen. Not only does this feeling of mine concern this particular event, but it also applies to the entire book of Revelation, and the entire Bible.
In many ways, I fear what the Bible prophesizes. I fear that I will not go to heaven, that I will burn in hell and that what I've pushed away will turn out to be the truth. That's what I despise about religion, about putting your faith in something. You really do have to put your faith in it. You have to believe that what you've questioned and the deductions you've made are correct. It's like taking a leap in the dark; you don't know if you're really falling off a cliff to your impending doom, or if you'll land safely on your feet.
Why do we have to believe anything? Why do we have to know everything? Why must there be anything to know, or believe? Sometimes, I wish that it was as simple as, "we live, then we die..." instead of having to trust in something that you can never quite prove to the most infinite extent. If God exists, why the hell does he have to put you through so much crap? Why does he have to test us? Why does he want us to do all these things? Why is it that He suddenly decided, "Oh, let's create the whole universe, knowing that sin will enter the world and the Lucifer will try to do everything in his power to stop my son Jesus from dying on the cross to save humanity from their sins, so they can come to heaven with me."? What on Earth was Gods motive?
And I'm tired of being told, "God works in ways we can't understand". To me that just sounds like an excuse that Christians use to patch up the faults and parts of their religion that they don't understand.
To me, christianity is just a made up concept that people have blindly copied from their ancestors and chosen to keep it alive. I can't take anymore of it.
If God did exist and he did have a "motive", then I think he created the universe just to make everybody suffer. Yes, it means that God is cruel, even evil, but I think it's the only logical explanation. Suffering gives our lives meaning. If we were purely happy all the time, how would we create meaning? What challenges would there be for us to overcome?
ReplyDeleteI remember going through the same mental and emotional torments you describe.
ReplyDeleteAll any of us can do is think as clearly as we can, and bet our lives on whatever seems right. I don't know what any God could reasonably expect beyond that.
Every time I hear a Christian say, "What if you're wrong?" what I really hear is someone asking me to be a coward - coercing me to act out of fear, rather than follow my own reason. Psychological terrorism, I call it.
I can tell you from experience that the lingering fear of damnation will eventually cease altogether.