The coming apocalypse....
JS, what I don't get is what he expects you to do. Join his church? March up and down the street wearing a hair shirt, and a sign that says "The End is Near"?
What would make him happy, convince him that you were indeed 'saved'?
I know a couple like this in my church. They often show end time videos at their cell group. I fail to get the mindset. What difference does seeing these videos make? I know the Middle East is a mess, and could blow at anytime. I know the Palestinians start to teach their kids to hate the Israelis while they are still sucking on their mother's breast. I know militant Islamists want to blow everyone else up. What is watching these videos going to do other than scare people half to death?
Jesus said no one knows the time when he will return, so we are to be 'prepared', but I don't think he meant for us to become doomsday preppers!
What would make him happy, convince him that you were indeed 'saved'?
I know a couple like this in my church. They often show end time videos at their cell group. I fail to get the mindset. What difference does seeing these videos make? I know the Middle East is a mess, and could blow at anytime. I know the Palestinians start to teach their kids to hate the Israelis while they are still sucking on their mother's breast. I know militant Islamists want to blow everyone else up. What is watching these videos going to do other than scare people half to death?
Jesus said no one knows the time when he will return, so we are to be 'prepared', but I don't think he meant for us to become doomsday preppers!
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
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JewelSong
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You know, I honestly do not know. I have asked him this very thing a number of times...I don't think he even knows.Sunsilver wrote:JS, what I don't get is what he expects you to do. Join his church? March up and down the street wearing a hair shirt, and a sign that says "The End is Near"?
Maybe if I was as miserable and stressed-out as he is?What would make him happy, convince him that you were indeed 'saved'?
Exactly. Which is kind of what I was asking when I started this thread. what IS the "mindset" of these kinds of people? What are they getting out of it? Maybe there is no real answer, but I certainly am curious.I know a couple like this in my church. They often show end time videos at their cell group. I fail to get the mindset... What is watching these videos going to do other than scare people half to death?
Jesus said no one knows the time when he will return, so we are to be 'prepared', but I don't think he meant for us to become doomsday preppers!
Has anyone ever confronted the couple in your church about their "doomsday" prophecies? Has anyone ever asked them why they do it?
"Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame
I can't really imagine the message being anything other than to be prepared, be aware, don't be deceived by the Antichrist, and also to bring others to repentance.
There's also an element of control. This is the couple who were angry at me for going to see a movie on Saturday night instead of being in their group. Oh, and I went to see the movie with a man who was not yet divorced from his wife. (Everything was final re. the divorce, and he had put his house up for sale, so they could split the proceeds, as required by the divorce agreement. He and his wife had been living apart for about 2 years already, too.)
They were also upset that I was going to a house church being run by someone outside the church. The husband told me I should stop running around to all these different meetings, and just stay home and read my Bible.
(He later denied saying it.) That was the point where I got so upset I quit going to their group! 
Funny that a couple with such fundamentalist views belongs to a church as liberal as mine. Ever heard of the revival that became known as "The Toronto Blessing"? Well, we're THAT church!
Quick little story that shows why I love this church so much... One of the things that never fails to make me wary of a church is criticism of other denominations, and insisting THEIR way is the only way. (Okay, if you've strayed away from the Bible, and want to have the cross removed from the church, as some of the United churches in Toronto were pushing for, that's a different story entirely!)
Anyway, here I am at a HUGE conference at the main 'campus' as they call the original Toronto Airport church, and there is a couple sitting beside me. The husband is wearing a clerical collar, and both are wearing special tags that denote them as part of the official prayer team for the conference. I sneak a look at his name tag, and recognize the name of an Anglican priest who has written a well-known book about the charismatic renewal in Canada!
How many churches do you know that would allow someone from outside their denomination to pray for people?
Our pastor also has many friends and contacts in the Catholic church, and at a recent conference in Rome, met a lady from the Pope's home town, who had prophesied over him when he was still just a lowly parish priest, and told him he would be pope one day!
There are many things in the Catholic doctrine our pastor disagrees with, but that does not cause him to refuse to have fellowship with them, as the Bible and Jesus's sacrifice on the cross are central to their beliefs.
Um, sorry...got a bit off topic there! But that's why people like your friend annoy me so much. If the end times are coming, Christians need to stick together and support one another, not tell someone 'you won't be saved unless you see things from MY point of view'!
There's also an element of control. This is the couple who were angry at me for going to see a movie on Saturday night instead of being in their group. Oh, and I went to see the movie with a man who was not yet divorced from his wife. (Everything was final re. the divorce, and he had put his house up for sale, so they could split the proceeds, as required by the divorce agreement. He and his wife had been living apart for about 2 years already, too.)
They were also upset that I was going to a house church being run by someone outside the church. The husband told me I should stop running around to all these different meetings, and just stay home and read my Bible.
(He later denied saying it.) That was the point where I got so upset I quit going to their group! Funny that a couple with such fundamentalist views belongs to a church as liberal as mine. Ever heard of the revival that became known as "The Toronto Blessing"? Well, we're THAT church!
Quick little story that shows why I love this church so much... One of the things that never fails to make me wary of a church is criticism of other denominations, and insisting THEIR way is the only way. (Okay, if you've strayed away from the Bible, and want to have the cross removed from the church, as some of the United churches in Toronto were pushing for, that's a different story entirely!)
Anyway, here I am at a HUGE conference at the main 'campus' as they call the original Toronto Airport church, and there is a couple sitting beside me. The husband is wearing a clerical collar, and both are wearing special tags that denote them as part of the official prayer team for the conference. I sneak a look at his name tag, and recognize the name of an Anglican priest who has written a well-known book about the charismatic renewal in Canada!
How many churches do you know that would allow someone from outside their denomination to pray for people?
Our pastor also has many friends and contacts in the Catholic church, and at a recent conference in Rome, met a lady from the Pope's home town, who had prophesied over him when he was still just a lowly parish priest, and told him he would be pope one day!
There are many things in the Catholic doctrine our pastor disagrees with, but that does not cause him to refuse to have fellowship with them, as the Bible and Jesus's sacrifice on the cross are central to their beliefs.
Um, sorry...got a bit off topic there!
But that's why people like your friend annoy me so much. If the end times are coming, Christians need to stick together and support one another, not tell someone 'you won't be saved unless you see things from MY point of view'!
Last edited by Sunsilver on Sun Oct 27, 2013 3:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
JS, I added a bunch of stuff to my post. Please have a look.
I hope we meet someday, too!
I hope we meet someday, too!
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.