Here on Christmas eve, some thoughts from this former Christian. I fell from the faith in 1964 at age 16 under the influence of Ayn Rand, the Beatles and my own spring breeze-inspired mystical experience of the unity of all reality. My opinion of the true Christianity is that based on the Sermon on the Mount - not on the Revelation of John (which John still unknown) on the Isle of Patmos who wrote (or has been interpreted as having written) that Armageddon must start in the Middle East in order to hasten the End Time, the return of Christ, and the death and/or damnation of all Jews and gentiles who don't convert Christianity. Those who emphasize Revelation are really John-ists. And that is just what most Evangelical Christians are. John, not Jesus, is their Christ.
Evangelical Christians joined the military en masse during the presidency of evangelical George W. Bush, and were promoted to higher and higher positions in the military. A lot of them really were itching to go on a crusade against infidel Islamists - great way to start Armageddon, since Muslims surround Israel.
Has the end of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in the military saved us from these people? According to Senator John McCain, conservative Christian ministers and others the recent declaration that homosexuals need not hide their sexual preferences any more means that many Christians may leave the military as soon as they can, or refuse to enlist in the first place.
Good riddance! That's one way to shrink our the U.S. Empire's military! And I bet the real Jesus, and all his manly disciples, would say the same thing! The U.S. is the new Rome, after all. But going broke a lot faster than the Roman Empire which last 500 years. The U.S. Empire is on the way down after only 65 years. I give it another five to ten.
Now if only we knew Jesus REAL birthday so Christians could celebrate it then, instead of co-opting the solstice holidays!
1 comment:
Revelation is cited so often by warmongers, I actually read it a year ago.
Turns out most of what's purported to be in Revelation...just isn't there!
Even if you to stretch the symbolism, it's hard to see any of it in there. Nothing about the return of the Jews to Israel, or mass conversions, or nuclear wars.
I also read The Book of Revelation: A Catholic Interpretation of the Apocalypse.
It seems that the dominant Catholic (and I believe, Eastern Orthodox and mainline Protestant) interpretation of Revelation is that John was writing about his own time.
The Beast 666 ... apparently, that's a reference to Nero.
Both Hebrew and Roman letters correspond to numbers. And in both Hebrew and Roman, Ceasar Nero spells 666.
I suggest peaceniks bone up on Revelation -- and its dominant interpretations -- so as to counter "dispensationalist" Christians who use Revelation to justify future mideast wars.
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