honorentheos wrote: do you see anything significant in current events that is foreshadowing some cosmic shake-up of the status quo?
And second, is it wrong for humans to try and change events if doing so might postpone the second coming (if you're inclined to believe in such)?
I am not finding anything in my Christian beliefs which would clarify what action would postpone or hasten the second coming. I do not believe the event is connected with horrid destruction. It will be a blessing. I understand the book of revelations images of destruction to be referencing the problems we have lived through for the past two thousand years.
But there are many sources for the image of worldwide destruction. There is a rock in space aiming at a close encounter with our planet. All respectable sources I have read have scientists calculating a clear miss. My brother has voiced suspicions of a white wash. If not a miss,it would be one sort of the end of the world. It would not be magical. Scientifically that event does happen just not frequently. Its destructive potential, varying with the size of the rock, could be immense.
I was watching the pbs presentation on Dust Bowl last night. I was surprised by the frequented expression, "it is the end of the world". These people knew Christian folklore images but I think the gut reaction, this is the end of the world, came from fear and darkness at hand. I was thinking about that emotional reaction today. It is a dark November day with a wind rising and leaves racing up the street. I was remembering my encounter with Mt St Helens eruption. I was 200 miles down wind and obviously safe. I went to a hill top to observe expecting to see a cloud on the horizon from the eruption. Instead I saw what looked like the Missouri river in flood upside down in the sky. Drawn behind the flood was a curtain of black engulfing the entire west. My hair stood on end and I could not suppress the feeling . My God, It is the end of the world!
I;28
"Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim drunkards,
to the fading flower his glorious beauty
set on the head of a fertile valley
to that city the pride of those laid low by wine.
see, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong.
Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind.
Like a driving rain and a flooding downpour.
he wil throw it forcefully to the ground,
that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards."
In the Bible the images of the end of the world start with defeat in war and captivity. It is something with both creative and destructive potential. It is an image which does not get used up in one instance, but looks for new meaning in new events.
So what marvels or recreations can be possible to fill that ambiguous image, end of the world?