The secular right seem to have their own end time fantasy, one where the people of the west have sort of nationalist awakening (all of a sudden, for some reason) and every uncorrupted westerner bands together and overthrows the leftist multiculturalists (all of a sudden, somehow) and the blood of our leftist overlords runs red in the streets, everyone cheers, and all non-westerners are deported or otherwise removed, and then... I guess we explore the stars or something.
@TYM - Quite right, a popular fantasy among brave and bold (yet pseudonymous) blog commenters (sigh...)
31 May 2021 at 13:10
Evan Pangburn said...
Alright, Bruce, I get the hint. This previously Tongueless Young Man miraculously put his tongue back in his own mouth. (all of a sudden, for some reason)
@Evan - Ha! I wasn't really aiming the barb at you, although I was aware it might be taken that way. But in these days, I regard it as something of a spiritual discipline to blog/ comment under your own name - so, welcome.
The return of Jesus is called our hope, it is the hope of our resurrection. We are to keep busy doing the masters work, expecting his return at any time.
Passive Christianity, I suppose, is neither hot nor cold and is destined to be spued out, rejected.
The hope of Jesus returning is integral to being a disciple of Jesus. The details Christians may argue but the resurrection doesn't take place until Christ returns in practically every verse that references our resurrection.
Lazarus was resurrected when Christ arrived and gave the command, come forth.
I regard Jesus as having fully accomplished his mission with the coming of the Holy Ghost.
On the other hand, the nature of mortal life on this earth seems to indicate that End Times are inevitable, sooner or later; due to the 'entropic' nature of this world, and the accumulation of damned souls and demons 'at work' here - among other factors.
@BC - It's common sense, if one cannot associate his given, real name with Christian thought, how can one expect to find the courage to deal with the trials and tribulations of being an end-time Christian?
1 June 2021 at 15:10
Evan Pangburn said...
Note to Bruce: Sorry, I realize the irony of me encouraging dropping pseudonyms while I forgot to log out of my pseudonymous account!
1 June 2021 at 15:31
When I read 'New Age' spiritual literature of the 1990s (approaching the millennium) I am very often struck by their conviction that a transition was approaching in which the level of consciousness of humans and the world itself was going to be raised in 'frequency' or 'vibration' (according to a scheme whereby high frequencies are better and more divine than low frequencies). We would all (like it or not) be raised-up in spiritual nature; and our task was to 'cope' with this. In fact, there was a millennial change, but in the opposite direction - by the massive expansion and interconnection of bureaucracies towards making a single global System - which excluded (by its very processes) the reality of the spiritual. An analogous fantasy among Christians relates to particular interpretations of End Times or Second Coming prophecies - and looks forward to mankind (or, at least, Christians of the right sort - members of the correct church) being 'rescued' en masse from the rising tide of sin and corruption in this world. We will be made more like God (theosis); or else set aside. This will accomplished by some kind of overwhelming, inescapable, global, cataclysmic 'event'. It is emphasized that this is done By God (not Man, indeed in despite of Man); and that our task is to cope with something that is (again) being done-to-us. These two prophecies/ predictions share an assumption of the passivity of you and me and Mankind in general; our helplessness in face of power and force beyond comprehension or any possibility of influence. As I said - we can only cope-with, adjust-to, make-the-best of things that are irresistibly compelled. Yet I would regard both of these (and other similar ideas) as passivity fantasies; and, as such, lethally harmful to the possibility of our salvation and resurrection. My understanding is that higher spirituality, salvation and theosis are alike in that we must consciously and actively choose them. We are free agents - and as such cannot be overwhelmed. We can not be damned, nor saved, nor raised in consciousness without choosing these. But if we are sitting back and waiting passively for something good to be done to us, done for us; then the default is that we will have chosen (unconsciously, by avoiding active decision) that which The World has chosen on our behalf. In New Age terms - that is the lower frequency consciousness that we see all around us; in Christian terms it is taking sides with the global totalitarian Establishment and their System or inverted values and unrepentant sin.
"Passive 'End Time' fantasies shared by New Age and Christians"
8 Comments -
The secular right seem to have their own end time fantasy, one where the people of the west have sort of nationalist awakening (all of a sudden, for some reason) and every uncorrupted westerner bands together and overthrows the leftist multiculturalists (all of a sudden, somehow) and the blood of our leftist overlords runs red in the streets, everyone cheers, and all non-westerners are deported or otherwise removed, and then... I guess we explore the stars or something.
31 May 2021 at 12:58
@TYM - Quite right, a popular fantasy among brave and bold (yet pseudonymous) blog commenters (sigh...)
31 May 2021 at 13:10
Alright, Bruce, I get the hint. This previously Tongueless Young Man miraculously put his tongue back in his own mouth. (all of a sudden, for some reason)
31 May 2021 at 13:27
@Evan - Ha! I wasn't really aiming the barb at you, although I was aware it might be taken that way. But in these days, I regard it as something of a spiritual discipline to blog/ comment under your own name - so, welcome.
31 May 2021 at 13:58
The return of Jesus is called our hope, it is the hope of our resurrection. We are to keep busy doing the masters work, expecting his return at any time.
Passive Christianity, I suppose, is neither hot nor cold and is destined to be spued out, rejected.
The hope of Jesus returning is integral to being a disciple of Jesus. The details Christians may argue but the resurrection doesn't take place until Christ returns in practically every verse that references our resurrection.
Lazarus was resurrected when Christ arrived and gave the command, come forth.
31 May 2021 at 13:58
@TTRR - "The hope of Jesus returning is integral to being a disciple of Jesus."
Well, not for *this* disciple of Jesus - being guided by the Fourth Gospel as my primary source of understanding.
https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2020/06/i-believe-in-end-times-but-not-in.html
I regard Jesus as having fully accomplished his mission with the coming of the Holy Ghost.
On the other hand, the nature of mortal life on this earth seems to indicate that End Times are inevitable, sooner or later; due to the 'entropic' nature of this world, and the accumulation of damned souls and demons 'at work' here - among other factors.
31 May 2021 at 15:44
@BC - It's common sense, if one cannot associate his given, real name with Christian thought, how can one expect to find the courage to deal with the trials and tribulations of being an end-time Christian?
1 June 2021 at 15:10
Note to Bruce: Sorry, I realize the irony of me encouraging dropping pseudonyms while I forgot to log out of my pseudonymous account!
1 June 2021 at 15:31