5 Comments so far

1. Batocchio on February 7, 2007 3:41 am

   Thanks for the link! The Enigma machine story really is quite interesting. As for the other… I keep thinking, given the mental capacity of those who ardently believe in an imminent End of Days, that event should be retitled, “The Rupture.”

2. Little Miss Know it All on February 7, 2007 2:31 pm

   No problem on the link, I enjoy what you have to say, and I don’t mind sharing.

   Well, I have to watch what I say, because I have grandparents who strongly believe in it, and good friends too. However, as a teacher of mine said, we had thousands of years and study of the Old Testament prophecies on messiah, and we got those wrong. We were looking for a military king, instead of the king of the heavens. What makes us think we have it exactly right this time? And no where does the bible say that we have to know the where, the how or the when of Christ’s return, in fact, it tells us not even Christ knows that. It just tells us to be prepared–and in my mind, that means knowing that you are ready for it, whether it is now, next year or 1000 years away. By living Christ’s life now on earth, by following in his footsteps, we are preparing ourselves for his return. Just how imminent that return is remains to be seen.

3. Batocchio on February 7, 2007 8:07 pm

   Written by: Little Miss Know it All
   Posted on: February 7, 2007 at 2:31 pm

   I wouldn’t ever slam Jesus or Christianity. Some of the people who claim to be Christians, on the other hand… I also wouldn’t slam a general belief in the Book of Revelation, even though all the scholarship I’ve read on it describes it as a genre, coded so that its readers wouldn’t get in trouble, “The Beast” refers to Nero, and so on… but since you’re talking about the military king messiah of the Old Testament, I suspect you’re familiar with all that, and I’m not the Biblical scholar in my family, anyway. There’s certainly room for different (and very personal) interpretations of the Bible; it only becomes a concern for me when an interpretation justifies violent or domineering behavior, for instance - but that’s really about the person or the movement, not the faith or the book (or Book) itself.

   I did read an article or hear an interview late last year about the growth of the whole “Rapture” movement and its origins, and it’s pretty alarming stuff when taken to an extreme. “Preparing one’s self” and trying to live a good life is one thing. Cheering on, or actively seeking to bring about Armageddon, is quite another.

4. Little Miss Know it All on February 8, 2007 11:37 am

   Something happened with your comment, makes it look like I wrote it…so I just wanted to first clear up that Batocchio wrote the previous comment.

   But I agree. God’s timetable is His timetable, and as Sovereign over all creation, only He can fulfill it. We cannot help it along–and by trying to, we are trying to elevate ourselves to the level of God. We cannot do it, and when we try, we only create more trouble. Its just another example of the hubris of man, trying to “help” God along.

5. Batocchio on February 9, 2007 12:11 pm

   Sorry, my fault… I just copied your sig and the comment time and put it in italics to try to make it clear I was responding to you and which comment. It’s habit for me from Haloscan where there’s a long thread. I probably didn’t need that here, or could have used the “Little Miss Know It All @ 2″ format, since you got them numbers and all. Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with your coding!