Pat Robertson and other evangelicals believe that recent disasters mean we are probably in the beginning of the end times. I attach this article with no editorial comment.
The Millennial Star
Pat Robertson and other evangelicals believe that recent disasters mean we are probably in the beginning of the end times. I attach this article with no editorial comment.
This is a common millennialist spirit. I doubt it, for a wide variety of reasons. But before we point fingers too much, recall that many Mormons thought this in the late 19th century.
Heck – I know a lot of Mormons who believe this now. I once had an Elder’s Quorum president who used it to sell his products, since he worked for Emergency Essentials.
Well, someday some generation is going to think it, and be right.
Interesting how he still advocates for Chavez’s assassination.
Yeah, he’s a bit of a fruitcake. It is interesting how fundamentalists of all stripes (especially Islamic) look to natural disasters as a sign of who God is angry at. As I mentioned somewhere recently, among Christians and Jews, I’d have thought the Book of Job would have put a stop to this nonsense. Of course the millennialist fervor adds a bit to it. Everyone looks to wars and disasters as a sign. It seems to me that those are common enough as to be unhelpful. (Although I have at times entertained the eery similarity between global warming, over fishing, and the prophecy about wormwood in Revelation – although there are plenty of unparallels)
I thought it was a total hoot a few weeks ago when BBC World Service broadcast an interview with a guy in New Orleans who had been at the Superdome and was talking about how 9/11, the Asian tsunami, and Katrina were three of like four signs of the end times — one more to go! I thought, “Wow, if Europeans already think the U.S. is out of step, I wish I could hear what they are thinking now!”
I’ll agree with Ivan. I think this sort of thought is the majority belief in the Church currently and has been since its inception.
Clark Goble #5: It is interesting how fundamentalists of all stripes (especially Islamic) look to natural disasters as a sign of who God is angry at.
If that’s true, then He must be really ticked off at Muslims, since hundreds of thousands of them died in last December’s tsunami and last weekend’s earthquake in Pakistan.
I think it’s easy to make fun of these evangelical leaders. Pat Robertson says so many wacky things that it’s difficult to take him seriously. But as I was driving around Mississippi this weekend, I turned on the radio. The top stories? Earthquake in Pakistan, floods in Guatemala, wars in diverse places. And all while I was in a ruined, flooded city with most of its residents absent and homeless. It certainly felt like the end times this weekend. But of course I probably would have felt the same in 1926 when Miami was completely destroyed by a hurricane of 1906 when San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake and the fires that followed. As Susan M points out, someday the prophecies of doom will be correct, and who will we make fun of then?
Mike Parker, a lot of Muslim religious leaders said the tsunami was punishment against the Muslims in those areas for allowing hedonistic westerners to vacation on their shores. I would be curious what those same mullahs say about the recent earthquakes in Pakistan where there were no hedonistic westerners vacationing.
The stuff we are seeing now is nothing compared to what the apocalyptic passages of Scripture predict, not a drop in the bucket. Whats happening now is a combination of normal natural course of events in a fallen world mixed with human stupidity (e.g., living below sea level and not evacuating, building mud brick houses and other unsafe construction in earthquake-prone areas, etc.).
I don’t know about end times, but in light of the bird flu, I think we would all be wise to make sure our food storage is in order. Scary stuff.
J. Stapley –
Well, I haven’t done an emperical study, so I don’t know if a “majority” believe that, but I’m sure a large percentage does. I know a lot who do, but I don’t know if they constitute a majority or not.
Heck, I half-believe we are really near the end times (I vacilate back and forth from day to day, though I try to “live my (spiritual, celestial kingdom oriented) life as though it were tomorrow AND live my (secular, career oriented) life as if it won’t happen for another 1000 years”).
I always thought that as Mormons we shouldn’t care how close we are to the end times. We should live our lives the same regardless of how close they are, since no one knows when the end will be.
That’s true Paul. I think it the eschatological attitude. At the same time how we prepare ought depend upon what the likely problems are. But I do agree that Bird Flu is worrisome.
BTW – for those interested, there is a blog dedicated to recent news about Avian Flu