kulahan
7 hours ago
One mildly interesting fact that MANY Christians get wrong:
There is no lead-up to the apocalypse. The Messiah will return "like a thief in the night" and "nobody, except my Father, knows the hour of my return" (I probably butchered those two quotes). Either way, the Bible is pretty clear (as was Jesus): there will be zero indication the apocalypse is coming. None. It'll just... start.
fluoridation
6 hours ago
The book of Revelation also cites various signs that are metaphorical enough to be applied to just about anything.
It's pointless to cite the Bible to defend a theological position, because someone else can cite a different part that can be interpreted to say the exact opposite.
fred_wilson
2 hours ago
> The book of Revelation also cites various signs that are metaphorical enough to be applied to just about anything.
If someone plans to, they should first read Revelation 22:18–19.
And Revelations isn’t the only prophetic work. Try Ezekiel.
> It's pointless to cite the Bible to defend a theological position
Understandable, but citing the Bible is fairly important in theology, though it should be done within context.
Sure, Judaism was word of mouth a long time, and that’s great. I personally can’t remember much, so I think referencing text is fine.
fluoridation
2 hours ago
>If someone plans to, they should first read Revelation 22:18–19.
See, that's when you use literal reading. "I'm not adding anything to the text, I'm just interpreting it."
>And Revelations isn’t the only prophetic work. Try Ezekiel.
Ezekiel is clearly about events in our past, though.
>Understandable, but citing the Bible is fairly important in theology, though it should be done within context.
Meh. There's no internally consistent Christian theology that cites the Bible and doesn't involve generous amounts of cherry picking.
eru
2 hours ago
That's why the Catholics have a guy in charge who infallibly tells you how to interpret the damn thing. Instead of having every Tom, Dick and Harry have a stab at misunderstanding scripture.
fluoridation
an hour ago
Not that that stops individual Catholics from having their own opinions anyway. It's fractal cherry picking.
akerl_
an hour ago
It's a good thing there's always exactly one pope.
o11c
10 minutes ago
Okay, where's the "falsehoods programmers believe about ..." article for popes?
gnabgib
an hour ago
Well that's provably false.. there've been three popes[0] and zero popes happen now and then (2025[1], 2013[2], 2005, 1978..)
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism
iamthejuan
6 hours ago
Signs were given, not dates.
bloppe
6 hours ago
The homeless man currently yelling outside my window is an equally authoritative source of information about the apocalypse as the Bible, and he thinks it's coming soon.
kulahan
5 hours ago
A billion people don't believe there's some truth to what the homeless man outside of your window is saying, and someone leading a legitimate-enough revolution that they're put to death by the King of Rome is probably a tiny bit more believable.
But I get what you're saying either way. I just think it's an interesting factlet.
eru
2 hours ago
Who's the King of Rome? The Romans famously got rid of their kings long before anyone ever thought of Christianity, and later it took until the fall of the Empire before anyone was both a king and in charge of Rome.
potatoman22
37 minutes ago
After the Roman Republic, they switched to having an emperor. Jesus was crucified during this Roman empire. The kings of Rome were around 600 years before this. They meant the emperor, not the king.
sbuttgereit
3 hours ago
argumentum ad populum and argument from authority in one sentence... :-)