Incredible End-Times Article by Joseph Farah!

[billiefan2000]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36274

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by billiefan2000
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/a...RTICLE_ID=36274 Your link doesn't work.

[Nyarlathotep]

A bunch of circular arguments and fitting statements to events in a post hoc manner. I was especially amused by his "best reason" to believe that the end of the world is nigh.

For many reasons, I believe Jesus is returning soon. But I'm especially drawn to II Timothy 3:1-5, which describes the state of the world in the "last days." Tell me if this doesn't sound like our world:

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.



As you have been told a million times already, people have been characterizing their own times as having such conditions as long as man has been around. when was this golden age that people didn't love money, when children always obeyed their parents, when people didn't gossip etc? Because that time period was apparently left out of every history book I have ever read (and I have read quite a few) And as for the "Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god" part, even if you accept God as a given (which is a whole different argument) clergy throughout history have been characterizing people as having that trait. All in all I think it speaks to the basic nature of humanity than to the existence of a god or to whether that gods wrath is upon us.

[Dragonrock]

Blah blah blah, typical end of the world garbage, nothing new. He basically just regurgitates what others have said before.


But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

What makes this more acurate today than 50 years ago? How about 100? Did you know that before the days of Dr. Kellogg our society was much more open about sex? You don't consider slavery to be one of the worst things humans have ever done? Humans have problems today, but they had problems yesterday and will continue to have problems tomorrow. The world is no worse of than is has been. The only difference is that you live here today and the selfish nature of humans makes you think that this time must be very important because you are here.

Now, billiefan, you may ignore this and continue your habit of preaching by just posting links and not reading the replies.

[Dragonrock]

D*mnit Nyarlathotep, I was posting that.

[Nyarlathotep]

Originally posted by Dragonrock
D*mnit Nyarlathotep, I was posting that.

That's okay. It's the same thing said two different ways. Maybe one of them will click with Billiefan.

I'm not holding my breath but at least the odds of it occuring have gone from one in a billion to one in 500 million.

[hgc]

Tell us billiefan, are these the end-times? What's your opinion? Got one, other than "incredible end-times article?"

Remember, we don't have rules on the JREF forum against giving a date-specific prediction, so fell free. Please provide your reasoning.

[Dragonrock]

Originally posted by Nyarlathotep


That's okay. It's the same thing said two different ways. Maybe one of them will click with Billiefan.

I'm not holding my breath but at least the odds of it occuring have gone from one in a billion to one in 500 million.

Once billiefan responded directly to me, it was cool, I felt blessed. Granted mine was the first response and I was being a smart-ass, but she was responding to ME!

[Upchurch]

Interestingly, Orthodox Jews have long taught that the world would last for 6,000 years before the Messiah would come and usher in a 1,000-year period of restful human history.

{snip}

From the time of Adam, we've got genealogical records to show that 4,000 years passed until the time of Christ. From Jesus' time until the present age represents another 2,000 years for a total of 6,000 years or six days. The problem is, the author is mixing mythologies. Orthodox Jews may or may not believe that the world would last for 6,000 years before the Messiah came (I don't know), but the calculation of how long the world existed before the time of Christ was done by a Catholic monk.

Again, I'm no scholar of Judism, but is there any reason to believe that Orthodox Jews agree with this Catholic calculation?

Regardless, if they are going with the calculation that the world began in 4004 BC, then the 6,000 year mark would have been in 1997 AD. The Messiah is now almost seven years past due.

[Dragonrock]

I would like to point out that even though it's the end of the world as we know it, that I feel fine.

[Nyarlathotep]

Originally posted by Dragonrock


Once billiefan responded directly to me, it was cool, I felt blessed. Granted mine was the first response and I was being a smart-ass, but she was responding to ME!

Actually, Billiefan responds to me better than half the time. Until the questions get too hard, anyway. But I think it was you who once referred to his having a "tough question alarm" and I think you painted a pretty accurate image with that phrase.

Maybe we shouldn't have started with the tough questions right off the bat, eh?

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Dragonrock
I would like to point out that even though it's the end of the world as we know it, that I feel fine. How long have you been waiting to use that one? :D

[Andonyx]

Originally posted by Upchurch


Again, I'm no scholar of Judism, but is there any reason to believe that Orthodox Jews agree with this Catholic calculation?



Essentially...yes.

The math is full of approximations, but it is the 58th century in Judaism.

So to make everything agree with the Judaical side of things, Jesus is gonna have to be late by about 207 years by Christian standards.

See here for more.

http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Andonyx


Essentially...yes. Fair enough, but I still contend that the messiah is late.

[Dragonrock]

Originally posted by Upchurch
How long have you been waiting to use that one? :D

Like a hunter, a good smart-ass must be patient. It's always about timing.

[Andonyx]

Originally posted by Upchurch
Fair enough, but I still contend that the messiah is late.

Perhaps it's fashionable?

I hear the Christ is becoming very cosmopolitan....

[Ignatius]

Originally posted by Upchurch

Regardless, if they are going with the calculation that the world began in 4004 BC, then the 6,000 year mark would have been in 1997 AD. The Messiah is now almost seven years past due.

Actually, he did return about six years ago. I had a chance to interview him for the made up newspaper I work for. Here is a clip:
A very, very prestigious and important publication (http://Thenewenglandjournalofmedicine/completelytrue.html)


I caught up with Jesus in his small studio apartment in Darwin, MN.

Ig: Hi Jesus, real pleasure to meet you. So what brought you to this small town in Minnesota.

JHC: To be honest, it was because I heard that they had the largest ball of twine. I came here and, lo and behold, there is this huge ball of twine right in the middle of the town. I was like; “Holy Crap”…can I say “crap”?

Ig: You’re the messiah.

JHC: Right. So here they have this ball of twine and it is freakin huge. You just have to like a place like this. I guess one thing led to another and I just never left.

Ig: I like the twine too, but didn’t you return for a much bigger purpose.

JHC: Are you going to nag me about the rapture?

Ig: I don’t want to nag you about anything, but it seems like an important question and our readers are curious to know…

JHC: Look, when I left the world was a very different place and people were anxious to get the hell out of here. I promised to return and make things better because it is pretty easy to improve on a world where you work your ass off only to die young. I returned and realized that you people have it made! Check it out, I signed up for Dishnet and now I get a bazillion channels. I can sit here and flip channels and it takes me a whole hour to get through them all! And check this out, I pick up this telephone and a guy will just bring me a pizza! Can you believe that? You pick up and object and then within a half hour some young dude brings you a pizza. It’s even still hot! And the drugs you have now! In my day if you wanted a buzz you had to chew on some nasty tasting weed and…

Ig: (interrupting) Ok, moving on. What do you think about the situation in the Middle East right…

JHC: International news bores the hell out of me and takes up too many cable channels.

Ig: But surely you must have an opinion on Iraq and…

JHC: BOOOOOORING! (covering ears) LA!LA!LA!NOTLISTENING!LA!LA!LA!


I think all of you that mocked poor billiefan now owe her a serious apology. Also keep in mind that if His tv ever goes out, your heathen asses are toast.

[Pahansiri]

I did not read much of the article but just skimmed it and came across this one sentence/statement For just as Jesus' virgin birth in Bethlehem was foretold by the Hebrew prophets hundreds of years earlier,

The truth is the statements in the OT are in of course Hebrew.

The passage refereed to is: Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

This passage and translation was developed as it is seen today from Hebrew text but translated in Greek.

The word in the original Hebrew text is almah which means a young woman a maiden of marriageable age.

The word Hebrew for virgin is bthulah
There simply is no mention of a virgin in the original prophecy or for that matter was Jesus named Immanuel.

There are many “OT prophecy” concerning the “savior” that in no way apply to the Christ story.

[Jet Grind]

I'm not impressed, no extrabiblical evidence is put forward.

[Monketey Ghost]

Ignatius. You are an unholy monster.

It's good to know ya. :)

[Yahweh]

Originally posted by Dragonrock
Once billiefan responded directly to me, it was cool, I felt blessed. Granted mine was the first response and I was being a smart-ass, but she was responding to ME!
"She"?

[Yahweh]

But, as a journalist, I can't ignore hard evidence – no matter where it may lead me. And the more I study the prophetic scriptures of the Holy Bible and look at the condition of our world today, the more convinced I become that we are nearing that time. In fact, I think we are very close.
The hard evidence demonstrates that this is a 4.5 billion year old Earth which revolves around the sun, everything on the planet undergoes a process called Gradual Evolution via Natural Selection, the hard evidence mentions absolutely nothing about god(s).

For just as Jesus' virgin birth in Bethlehem was foretold by the Hebrew prophets hundreds of years earlier, so, too, was His return to Earth predicted. The only question is when.
There was no virgin birth, that was a mistranslation. Regardless of translation, virtually all other religions have their own "born of a spotless virgin" myth, what makes this one so special.

I could have sworn it Jesus of Nazareth...

Foretold? The birth of Jesus Christ was deliberately written in the Scripture to fulfill a prophecy from Isaiah..

The most dramatic evidence for His imminent return our generation has witnessed was the rebirth of the nation of Israel more than 50 years ago.
Israel existed for 1000s of years before it adopted its name.

Would it be called "Israel" today if it werent written in the bible?

Israel is effectively not a prophecy.

The Jews, God's chosen people, were, as prophesied, scattered over the whole earth for nearly two millennia beginning shortly after Jesus' death on the cross.
Nearly every race and religion is distributed all over the planet. Nothing remarkable about that.

In 1772, Edward Gibbons published "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," in which he cites early documents suggesting the Christian disciples of the first century were taught that Jesus would return after 2,000 years. We'll soon find out if they were right.
The author mentions the 1772 publication of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", if I'm not mistaken the Roman Empire fell shortly after converting to a Christian Theocracy. Oops I guess...

For many reasons, I believe Jesus is returning soon. But I'm especially drawn to II Timothy 3:1-5, which describes the state of the world in the "last days." Tell me if this doesn't sound like our world:

<blockquote>But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.</blockquote>

To me, that sounds like our world today.
That sounds like our world since the time of the Egyptians.

You know, speaking of vague passages, lets see my horoscope for the day...

From MSN Astrology:
Your initiatives will probably result in a few blunders today, Yahweh. You are probably going to dig in your personal resources but it won't have the results you were expecting. Indeed, the advices go unheeded! Even though it is a difficult task, you can't help imagining new strategies to motivate your entourage. You absolutely want them to comply with your objectives.
Lets see... blunders for today, I cant say there were any. But the wording is "Your initiatives will probably result in a few blunders", so its not really a miss.

I did have to dig into some personal resources, I bought Christmas gifts with the little money that I have. I didnt expect to have enough money, but Sister Yahweh helped me out. I bought "Finding Nemo", I dont know who to address it to...

Its true, I cant help imagining strategies for my future entourage (planning for the future), and I really do want people to comply with my objectives (I have opinions and I'd like people to seriously consider them).

Wow, that Horoscope is exactly me. It seems MSN has managed to crack the open the secret unifying the Astral Plane with the Material World. And it didnt cost me a cent, COOL!

(I'm a Scorpio by the way...)

Christmas represents a time of great hope for Christians. Of course, we're grateful that Jesus came about 2,000 years ago and died for our sins. Now we should be hopeful and expectant of His imminent return.
Christmas is my favorite Heathen Holiday, also.

Merry Christmas. And happy birthday, Jesus.
Happy Birthday, Sir Isaac Newton! We actually know you existed!



"Incredible End-Times Article"... color me unimpressed...

[Funkenstien]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/a...RTICLE_ID=36274


Sounds like someones got a "end times" book in the works!

[Funkenstien]

But, as a journalist, I can't ignore hard evidence – no matter where it may lead me. And the more I study the prophetic scriptures of the Holy Bible and look at the condition of our world today, the more convinced I become that we are nearing that time. In fact, I think we are very close.

Hard evidence? I hope this means a hard cover version of The Bible, because I sure as hell don't see anything else.

[Funkenstien]

Sorry for the triple post here, but isn't this the same rag that gives Hal Lindsey a column???

[crocodile deathroll]

billiefan2000, You are right on at least one count, it is an incredible article


Incredible:

So implausible as to elicit disbelief: gave an incredible explanation of the cause of the accident.

Yes I do it very very incredible, incredible nonsense.

[Flaherty]

Farah's article is a vacuous waste of bandwidth.

[xouper]

It seems GOD recently posted an announcement about the end of the world, in another thread right here on the JREF forum:

http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32522

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally posted by billiefan2000
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36274

I didn't read it, but I assume it is further evidence that you are an idiot?

[Zero]

Oh, that's great...after idiot Religious Right fanatics and their people in the Repugnican party spend two decades destabilizing the Middle East, encouraging glabal warming, and otherwise ruining our planet, they declare that the fruit of their labors are signs of their religious nutjobbery being true.

[Yahweh]

Originally posted by Zero
Oh, that's great...after idiot Religious Right fanatics and their people in the Repugnican party spend two decades destabilizing the Middle East, encouraging glabal warming, and otherwise ruining our planet, they declare that the fruit of their labors are signs of their religious nutjobbery being true.
And when people of other faiths labor, that supposedly means nothing (I guess it could be argued that those people of other faiths were being inspired by the Christian God)...

A paradox really...

[Joshua's Gen]

Originally posted by Upchurch
The problem is, the author is mixing mythologies. Orthodox Jews may or may not believe that the world would last for 6,000 years before the Messiah came (I don't know),

http://www.crimsonstained.com/jp/QuoteJewish.png

http://www.crimsonstained.com/jp/QuoteChurchFather.png

but the calculation of how long the world existed before the time of Christ was done by a Catholic monk.

Well I do know he took all the OT chronologies and came to about 4,000 years from Adam unto Christ (OT meaning the chronologies in the JEWISH book of scripture)..

Again, I'm no scholar of Judism, but is there any reason to believe that Orthodox Jews agree with this Catholic calculation?

Regardless, if they are going with the calculation that the world began in 4004 BC, then the 6,000 year mark would have been in 1997 AD. The Messiah is now almost seven years past due.

Depends.
Do you count 2,000 years from the birth, or death of Christ?

Originally posted by Andonyx
but it is the 58th century in Judaism.

So to make everything agree with the Judaical side of things, Jesus is gonna have to be late by about 207 years by Christian standards.

See here for more.

http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

http://www.lamblion.com/prophecy/Jews-Israel/Jews-09.php

Originally posted by Yahweh
There was no virgin birth, that was a mistranslation.

That line has always amused me.

OK, so what it's really prophesying is 'a young maid shall give birth to a child' - wow, isn't that earth shattering? ;)

What would be the point of writing/prophesying that?


Israel existed for 1000s of years before it adopted its name.

Eh? They were called the 12 Tribes of ISRAEL, the children of ISRAEL post-exodus. Hardly thousands of years.

Nearly every race and religion is distributed all over the planet. Nothing remarkable about that.

Wow. Talk about watering down the truth of it all. They were uprooted from their homeland and dispersed for 1,898 years, not to undermine the fact the holocaust occured on the doorstep of Israel being reborn.

Not an everyday occurance. Yet they retained their scripture, their God, their customs.

I always liked this Mark Twain quote...

The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.

The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

[Zero]

Originally posted by Joshua's Gen


I always liked this Mark Twain quote...



You do realize that Twain thought that religion wasn't worth sour owl poop, right?

[Joshua's Gen]

A broken clock is always right at least twice a day.

[Zero]

Originally posted by Joshua's Gen
A broken clock is always right at least twice a day. Which is at least one more time than I'm expecting you to be right...:D

[Joshua's Gen]

:p

(Nice to meet you, BTW - I don't think I handed out the most courteous hello before, LOL :D *naturally gets upset when he perceives misinformation floating around*)

:)

[Camillus]

Originally posted by Yahweh
I could have sworn it Jesus of Nazareth...


It is Jesus of Nazareth; but he was (allegedly) born in Bethlehem, in a stable, after Joseph went there to be taxed. It's all in Matthew 2.1 and Luke 2.1.

Cheers

Charles

[Martin]

Originally posted by Joshua's Gen
Well I do know he took all the OT chronologies and came to about 4,000 years from Adam unto Christ (OT meaning the chronologies in the JEWISH book of scripture)..If only he'd known the trouble he'd be causing...That line has always amused me.

OK, so what it's really prophesying is 'a young maid shall give birth to a child' - wow, isn't that earth shattering? ;)

What would be the point of writing/prophesying that?None whatsoever. But does the prophecy end there?

[Barkhorn1x]

Originally posted by Upchurch
Fair enough, but I still contend that the messiah is late.

...and so was Mary!



;)

Barkhorn.

[Pahansiri]

Originally posted by Yahweh
There was no virgin birth, that was a mistranslation.

Posted by Joshua's Gen That line has always amused me.

OK, so what it's really prophesying is 'a young maid shall give birth to a child' - wow, isn't that earth shattering?

What would be the point of writing/prophesying that?


To answer the last question first.

What would be the point of writing/prophesying that?

Well there is honesty, accuracy, integrity.

As to OK, so what it's really prophesying is 'a young maid shall give birth to a child' - wow, isn't that earth shattering?

An analogy here would be if 20 years ago I said a basketball player would come who would have great stats and be seen as the best to play the game. Great jumper many points and shave his head and play in a northern city team. I also said his name would be Bill.

You would point and say Michael Jordan. I know I said Bill was the name but the Bible says Immanuel but that seems not to bother you should the Bill thing will be ok.

Now if I did it as the OT did it it would look something like this.


20 years ago I said a basketball player would come who would have great stats and be seen as the best to play the game. He could jump 4 miles in the air. Score 200 points a game, run at the speed of light. He was born of a virgin male. Great jumper many points and shave his head and play in a northern city team. I also said his name would be Bill.



There is a large difference between a young maiden giving birth to a child and a virgin giving birth to a child. Lets be honest.

Be well my friend.