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End Times vs Prosperity Gospel vs Pope Francis: All "Christians"?

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posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 01:54 PM
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This is a question....

I am very familiar with religion, especially the history of the Western Religions and in particular the Abrahamic sort: Jew, mainstream Protestant (how I was raised; and this includes Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians/Anglicans, etc. - we were High Anglican/Episcopal), Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, etc. (Oh, and also, I'm familiar on a basic level with Islam. To about the extent of Wahabbi vs Baha'i....)

It's the "Evangelicals/Christian Conservative Right" that I'm kinda muddy on telling apart. About to the same degree as telling whether an average US American is from Georgia or Boston - regional dialects and pronunciation....

Anyway - the "End Times" folks are, I gather - people like Harold Camping and other "Pentecostal" groups (aren't they the snake-handlers, and tongue-speakers, too?) - and then there are the Jesus Camp and the Homeschoolers and the Southern Baptists and the AME and the SDAs and JWs and Mormons....and it all get's really confusing.

I'd appreciate it if members would share here what particular denomination of what religion you were taught culturally, and how it is unique from others? If you don't know about any others, would you please just tell us what is yours like?

For my part - I think Pope Francis is wonderful. I was raised Episcopalian, in the choir, mom did the acolyte team, etc. Just never believed the 'mythology', and left when I was a teenager. Other than that, my curiosity is a spontaneous offshoot of a recent thread regarding "the Great Trib" - it made me wonder about the different "world-views", and how they collide.

Which denomination most closely suits you?
I'd go with Unitarian Universalist, myself, if I were to 'seek out' a club to join. Which would only happen in a desperate situational set of circumstances. I'm mostly a solo 'seeker.' The Dalai Llama makes me feel calm and hopeful, too. So does the Pope this time.




edit on 4/24/2016 by BuzzyWigs because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:06 PM
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a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I don't play well with others.

Hence the reason why I'm a solo rebel without a cause... Otherwise known as a baby-eating heathenistic heretic to the theist folk.

But the hubby likes to sometimes join me on my pirate adventures of sin and moral decay (he's kinda crazy that way). And to think the poor guy wanted to be a priest before he met me.




posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:07 PM
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End times are BS in my opinion.

I say that as a Quranist Muslim.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:07 PM
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a reply to: BuzzyWigs


Anyway - the "End Times" folks are, I gather - people like Harold Camping and other "Pentecostal" groups (aren't they the snake-handlers, and tongue-speakers, too?) - and then there are the Jesus Camp and the Homeschoolers and the Southern Baptists and the AME and the SDAs and JWs and Mormons....and it all get's really confusing.

Not quite my friend. The snake handlers and poison drinkers are too extreme, even for the fundamentalists. No self-respecting evangelical would be caught dead among them. The rest is close enough though.

edit on 4/24/2016 by Klassified because: be



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:15 PM
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originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
This is a question....

Which denomination most closely suits you?
I'd go with Unitarian Universalist, myself, if I were to 'seek out' a club to join. Mostly a solo 'seeker', though.



None of the above. I find organized religion very similar to the climate change cult, goverment (public sector organized crime) and of course (private sector) organized crime.

Cheers - Dave



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:16 PM
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a reply to: CranialSponge

I don't play well with others.


Turns out, neither do I. *sigh*
LOL!! Love ya, CranialSponge! I still have dibs on that chair, right? Mom and I are talking about going to Canada....with some serious undertones....

anyway - Mr Sponge wanted to be a priest? Really?




edit on 4/24/2016 by BuzzyWigs because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:18 PM
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a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I was raised as a United Methodist.
My first wife was Roman Catholic, but she was not active.
My second wife was Roman Catholic.
My two children from my second marriage were baptized in the Catholic Church and I promised to raise them in the faith. I am living up to my promise... as a single dad.
I don't think any of the main religions or their offshoots are correct about the God/man relationship. That is my opinion and since it is about religion, I don't intend to try to justify it.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:20 PM
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a reply to: butcherguy

Thank you. No justification is asked for, so no worries. It's merely my curiosity about the ATS group, is all.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:26 PM
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originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: butcherguy

Thank you. No justification is asked for, so no worries. It's merely my curiosity about the ATS group, is all.

I am happy to help and will be happy to answer other questions if you have some.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:26 PM
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I probably identify more with Druidism. I like the idea of respecting nature, holistic healing practices,and their desire to learn.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:29 PM
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a reply to: Hazardous1408


End times are BS in my opinion.

I say that as a Quranist Muslim.


Okay, thanks for that! So, as a Quranist Muslim (is that like a Bible Christian?) what other Christian ideas do you see as BS, or are there any that you see as other than BS (whether or not you agree with it)?



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:33 PM
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a reply to: BuzzyWigs

You really haven't done much research into homeschooling lately have you? It is actually a growing thing in progressive parenting circles and minority parenting circles for much the same reasons that religious parents first picked up on it -- the public schools suck for a variety of reasons and parents who care about their kids and want them to learn have two choices: homeschooling or private schooling.

www.slate.com...

There would have to be enough of a trend to make it worthy of Slate's time to castigate people who do it. You know conservatives aren't reading Slate regularly, and the article isn't aimed at conservatives, but at progressive homeschooler and "unschoolers." Oh and Slate castigates them for "wanting to be too much for their kids" among other things. How dare you love your children so much?

articles.chicagotribune.com...< br />
Yes, and I supposed you could argue that these African-Americans are only homeschooling for fundamentalist reasons in part, but that's not the case for all.


"Families feel like the American education system does not teach African-American children," said Porter-Ollarvia, a Country Club Hills mom of three. "A lot of times in textbooks, you'll see 'Dick run, Dick go,' Jane and Jack and Jill. But you won't see African-American names like Zarifah and Muhammad. And a lot of times our children need to see their names and have a point of reference and see themselves in the books."

Home-schooling experts say more African-American families are choosing to school their children at home, opting out of public schools, which critics say may be not only failing their children, but also in some cases shortchanging them of their history.


In this case, homeschooling allows them to free themselves of failing schools and to concentrate on matters important to them in their curriculum.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:34 PM
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a reply to: MOMof3



I probably identify more with Druidism. I like the idea of respecting nature, holistic healing practices,and their desire to learn.

Yep - me, too. That's where I've arrived, after my upbringing and then decades of study and exposure and trial and tutoring -
an eclectic collection of Eastern and Western, Aboriginal and Imported traditions.....

picked and chosen by myself. I'm cool with it.

I'm more familiar with those ideas (nature, holistic, etc) - in particular Wicca - than I am with "Conservative Christian Right" thinking.
Hence I'm asking them....or at least the rest of us about their understanding of the differences.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:36 PM
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a reply to: BuzzyWigs



Mr Sponge wanted to be a priest? Really?


Yup, and a catholic priest at that !

Our loving relationship is proof that non-believers and believers can and do get along quite nicely together... there's no need for all this ridiculous divisive crap so many people get brainwashed into.

Love is all ya need !




posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:37 PM
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originally posted by: CranialSponge
a reply to: BuzzyWigs



Mr Sponge wanted to be a priest? Really?


Yup, and a catholic priest at that !

Our loving relationship is proof that non-believers and believers can and do get along quite nicely together... there's no need for all this ridiculous divisive crap so many people get brainwashed into.

Love is all ya need !





That's true. My best friend from college is a devout Catholic and her husband is an atheist. They agree to raise their daughter in the faith and he goes his own way otherwise on matters of faith which is to say he has none. She lets him go with that and is pretty much resigned to that and will enjoy the time they have here.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:38 PM
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originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
...and it all get's really confusing.


I just fix that by reading Proverbs 18:10:

The name of Jehovah is a strong tower.

Into it the righteous one runs and receives protection.*


* = Lit., “is raised high,” that is, out of reach, safe.

It makes things really easy (Jehovah God couldn't have made it any easier or clearer given the unavoidable activities of Satan and his organization in setting up counterfeit religions), the others don't like that name one bit just like Satan.









posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:40 PM
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a reply to: CranialSponge


Our loving relationship is proof that non-believers and believers can and do get along quite nicely together... there's no need for all this ridiculous divisive crap so many people get brainwashed into.

Love is all ya need !


Yes, we need minds that are open and respectful and educated.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:41 PM
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a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I was baptized at 9yr old in a Southern Baptist Church in 1960. I loved reading the teachings of Jesus, but since 16yrs old, I have nothing good to say about the churches. Just one, and it was an all black one that I had the privelege of attending in Mississippi. It was tiny and way out in the woods. I had goosebumps the whole service and songs.



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:46 PM
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My background is Church of England, but then you've got to allow for the fact that the C of E is the classic coalition of different parties (thank you, politics of Queen Elizabeth's time).
I was brought up in a parish which was at the "High", or Anglo-Catholic, end of the church, featuring "sung mass", incense, the English Hymnal (which has a section of longer hymns "suitable for use in procession"), and so on.
This upbringing did nothing to make me a Christian, except in the most superficial sense. When I did become a Christian, after a period of late-teens atheism, I got taken to churches at the more Evangelical end of the C of E, which has been my home ever since.
But that's "evangelical" in the more traditional sense, of focussing on the gospel. The American "Conservative Evangelical" is living in a slightly different world, partly because American political "conservatism" has features which the European conservative does not recognise.

The C of E is still regarded as the "default" church of the nation. Hence the story told, as a joke at their expense, during the First World War. An army sergeant was processing new recruits, and asked the obligatory question "What is your religion?" One of the recruits said "I'm afraid I don't have any religion". "In that case", said the sergeant, "I'll put you down as C of E."



posted on Apr, 24 2016 @ 02:48 PM
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a reply to: whereislogic

Thanks very much for contributing! May I ask that you type something about the videos, or provide links to text-based information about them....because not everyone can watch videos.

This is instructional stuff - and I'd hate for it to be ignored.....

Basic facts/ideas of JWs? I know "no birthdays", and 144,000.....and Watchtower magazine thing and they come by on holidays without advance notice or an appointment.....
they're different from Mormons, though.


edit on 4/24/2016 by BuzzyWigs because: (no reason given)




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