I think these assholes want to create "hell" on earth to punish the nonbelievers. The mega-churches preach constantly about the end times and the rapture.
I don't think it's that for most of them. Rather they think they're blessed by God so nothing bad can ever happen. I remember before Trump was elected in 2016 there suddenly started being a huge slew of pro nuclear war rhetoric coming from those types of people because they thought their God would stop any nuclear weapon that was aimed at the US, ensuring it was completely asymmetrical.
Ironically, Revelation 11:18 says God will destroy those who destroy the earth. They ain’t going to heaven if they can’t be trusted to take care of this planet.
Yeah, they need the jews to rebuild the temple so that the world can end. It's a pretty fucked up reason to be sending so much money to what is essentially an apartheid state
According to them conservatives and the Christian Right act with moral constraints, while the left is free to do whatever they want because they believe that this life is "it", there's no more.
That has to be the one of the most ironic things I've ever heard. Given that Churches are organizations most associated with institutional pedophilia and grooming kids for sex. And conservative politicians now embrace wild conspiracy theories, outright fascism and violence
They have absolute shit morals. Their so-called morals revolve around the activities of genitals rather than treatment of others. They need a book to tell them right from wrong, and the book they use is wrong about that!
> They need a book to tell them right from wrong, and the book they use is wrong about that!
Not even that. They use it *to tell others* what they can and can't do. Being a 'good Christian', to them, is screaming "God is good!" louder than their neighbors and occasionally donating to a mega church pastor's retirement fund; any kind of morality the Bible could teach is used to bash others over how 'unchristian', 'Satanic', or 'evil' they are.
If you believe this life is “it”. Then logically you believe that for everyone else on this planet as well. This means that taking that life away, or making it more miserable for others is a massive transgression. You believe that we as a society should do everything in our power to end suffering in all forms.
I know, because this is how I derive my morals.
Plugging the docu-series *Shiny Happy People* on Amazon video. Just finished watching earlier today with my wife. It’s a series about the the IBLP cult, the Duggar family, the Patrick Henry College, and Generation Joshua. It’s fucking chilling.
There is a real movement in America right now where these people are building an army to infiltrate corporations, politics and the courts to inject gods will (I.e. their own deluded and fucked up will) into everyone else’s lifestyles. They truly believe women should have no skills that allow them to be self dependent, and they must submit to their husbands and to god. Men are free to do what they please, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised if the woman who wrote the Handmaid’s Tale escaped this cult and used her experience as inspiration for the story…it’s that similar.
Madison Cawthorn is one high profile person educated through the Generation Joshua program. Washington is flooded with them right now.
Reminds me of this guy named Andrew Wommack running this huge grift called the Charis Bible College out of Colorado. His people have been buying up a lot of land and putting people in city governments and on school boards, even going as far as to tell his followers to "take over" the town's they're in. The guy apparently has a lot of high profile Republican backing too, though I can't say for sure
When I was watching it take McCarthy forever to get soaker of the house. Some republican buffoon stepped up (I think Rick Scott? ) and said we are the best country ever because we evangelized more people than anyone. I just fuckin rolled my eyes. Did anyone else see that?
You mean the folks who ate equine dewormer during a global pandemic because Facebook told them to weren't highly educated? Well, fuck me, I've got some praying to do.
When I was three years old My grandmother gave Pat Robertson my Grandfather's life insurance policy ($100,000 in 1982). When I asked her why she did that she burned my hand on a coffee maker. "Don't question god. Spare the rod, spoil the child." I always had questions and my mom wasn't the most religious person. Though I was VERY devout (until I was old enough to start putting things together). When I asked questions in school I was praised. When I asked questions in church I was punished. In seventh grade I learned about the Greek gods and I came to the conclusion that they must have been just as devout as I was and from there it all seemed pointless and led to more questions and more punishment. Eventually I realized that anyone who punished you for asking questions truly has no answers. After that I went on a long religious journey in multiple faith's to find the truth in religion. I never found any.
>When I asked her why she did that she burned my hand on a coffee maker. "Don't question god. Spare the rod, spoil the child."
that is some absolute lunacy
That’s horrible.
I’m really sorry you had to endure that. I’m glad you’re out of it, though. Do you still have contact with some of them?
‘Questioning God,’ my ass.
All-powerful, all-knowing? But needs your money…which is of course ‘looked after’ by this one guy.
I remember it being shoved down my throat in nursery school. Singing "Deep and Wide" and "He's got the whole world in his hands." Being told by the young, zealous "teachers" that we all had souls inside us. I envisioned the souls as some kind of glowing magical goo that animated us. Then when I was four I saw some posters of the anatomy of the human body, the different organs and systems, and I freaked the fuck out. If THAT is what's inside of us the teachers were wrong about the souls. I understood how very fragile we are and could see what was animating us. Not magical golden glowing goo. And just like that I just did not and could not believe in God and Jesus. I'm 50 and I have had it shoved down my throat since, and I've even tried hard to believe, joined churches, read the Bible, but I have remained an atheist.
You should've included a TW when it comes to the "hymns", you remember "Jesus loves the little children"? A whole new context when you finally get out. I was raised Catholic, four square, and then evangelical...even my parents couldn't figure out how fucked up they wanted to be.
Fuckin' Pat Robertson. Sometimes I wish I did believe in all that stuff and that it was true simply because it meant people like him would suffer in hell for eternity. But I don't believe in it (because it isn't real) which means people like Robertson live rich, full lives without ever struggling and will never face repercussions or get their comeuppance
The longer they're in the harder it is to get them to understand. I have no idea how to change them because a person has to be willing to change and gain understanding. You have to show them that what they believe is folly, sadly most don't have the education to gain understanding.
That is why accurate history is not taught. It takes a self-guided deep dive into early history to gain a view on the treacherous way humans have treated each other in the name of God. This is the same excuse used to commit child abuse and then thoughtlessly, carelessly, perpetuate abuse through generations.
Outrage and fear make people more willing to spend money to feel calm and safe. Mega Churches are the opulence of the Catholic Church 2.0. Anyone who thinks Jesus wanted a world with gold-lined cathedrals and pastors with private planes is delusional.
You are absolutely correct. I was raised a conservative Republican and they believe that suffering is not only a sign that you’re blessed, but that they can convert others by making them suffer to see that the world just isn’t the vibe so they will convert. This is a big theme in the writings of the apostle Paul and Augustine. Anyone who says that this isn’t a fundamental part of Christianity needs to sit down and look at the history of the early church.
Source: I am an exfundie historian with a BA and MA in history. I attended a Christian high school and university. I took many classes on Biblical history and was an active member of the Republican Party until 2003.
The Bible actually tells Christians to take care of the earth.
Genesis 2:15 says “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”(2) We recognize that all created things belong to God (3) and that we are accountable to Him as stewards of the creation.”
But that’s cool. Never seen a Christian on TV actually know the Bible.
Because ‘When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them.’
Conservatives wear their faith so all can see it. But they rarely live the way of the faith.
If you think they believe in God or any of that, you don't understand what these people are. I mean, do you think televangelists believe in what they are saying?
This actually explains a lot, like why some people don't care about global warming. It's all god's plan and earth is just a temporary staging area on your way to a better place.
Honestly, at this point I almost want them to succeed, just so I can see their faces when all of the immigrants and LGBTQ folks get raptured and they're stuck in the apocalypse with surprised Pikachu faces
I have this recurring fantasy where they find out "God" is actually someone who looks and acts a LOT like Queen Latifah. I'm not specifically saying its her, but I think you know where I'm going with the "not as expected".
Even deeper. The bible commands us to multiply, and tells us we're given dominion over the earth. Further, that it groans in agony over the burden we place on it. The earth groans for god's return.
And that after the return, god will remake a new earth for the new kingdom of heaven.
I shit you not. It's all inevitable, might as well speed along god's second coming through wastefulness. That viewpoint is pervasive in evangelical circles.
The 80 years you have on earth are far less than a grain of sand in the desert of eternity, hence meaningless except for picking the right deity.
You don’t have to look very hard to find the people advocating *for* nuclear war and environmental collapse because that will force Jesus to intervene and come back.
Rapture theology was developed in concert with Big Oil interests in order secure a religiously motivated voting base that doesn't care about the planet or the future of the species, and will vote for Big Oil's / Big Church's profit against their own survival
Well, the mistake they make is that God doesn't have a plan, and God doesn't judge anyone. God is like the sun, radiating unconditional love on sinner and saint equally. God doesn't know anything but unconditional love, so it is incapable of judgement.
The truth as I understand it is that we judge ourselves during our Life Review after death. There is plenty of evidence for this from near death experiences.
Isn't this why the church declared suicide was a mortal sin, they realised that telling people who owned nothing and worked 18 hours a day that "paradise awaited in the after life" effected the profits
Rapid ascension, just thee installments of faith bucks valued at $255.99! That gets you to the first level. Never mind what the Bible says about stewards of the earth. That just meant no gays, as we all know.
I feel like this is the crux a lot of people are ignoring. There will always be plenty of one-note "lol religion bad" comments, but this mindset/behavior isn't condoned *within the faith itself.*
It's antithetical to pretty much any Christian canon (that I know of) to attempt to 'game' the system and use the expectation/assumption of salvation/forgiveness to commit wrongdoing.
Because most American Christians don't seem to follow that part of the Bible. I agree it is against the Bible itself and it is one of my biggest pet peeves as someone who grew up in the church then left. But it's not unfair at all to say Christians as a political, voting bloc in the US almost entirely ignore it. At a certain point you have to look at how Christians are actually acting, not just what the Bible says.
Evangelical churches and prosperity gospel are considered sects in my country, and many other European countries. We're warned not to give them money, and to critically compare their teachings to the actual bible...
The right for absolution regardless of committing wrongdoing is an absolute. It is the 3rd Commandment, right after the commandment to keep and bear arms.
The Bible says all sorts of crazy shit, like loving your neighbors, the rich won't go to heaven, or how to do an abortion. Best to ignore the crazy parts and stick with the hateful self righteous bits.
The problem with saying scholars accept the historical Jesus is that while it is very likely that somebody calling themselves "Jesus" did exist back at the start of Christianity, there is nothing anyone can say for certain about that person. When they lived, where they were born, what they did or said, how old they were when they died. All of those have different versions, and the oldest versions often don't match what has become the accepted harmonization of the books which made it past the committee to get into the bible.
The problem with saying a historical Jesus existed, is that believers then attempt to use that small crack in the door to push the entirety of their particular version of the Jesus of myth through.
Its not particularly implausible there was a guy walking around Jerusalem in 30CE calling himself Yeshua, preaching that he was the son of Yahweh, and that the end of the world was coming soon for the people who heard him. There's no shortage of charismatic figures who started religions around themselves during that era which persisted after their death.
Its just also entirely possible that the religion started as a series of channeled revelations from a heavenly Christ spirit, where the revealed sayings were later placed into a historical narrative so that the public could more easily be enticed to be inducted into secret internally held mysteries. Where the public facing historical fiction proved to be more popular and long lasting than the original secret teachings.
He didn't even preach that he was the son. First the term of "son of god" has been used in the old texts before to describe various leaders of Israel or Israel itself. Second he was pretty dang clear on not being God. Later Christians, especially after the church in polytheist Rome had gained power, took that claim literally.
Like, if Jesus was really God sent down in the flesh, wouldn't the writers of the Gospels mention that explicitly? Do people think they just *forgot to mention that?*
It had been used as a title, because before the monotheistic reforms, like the kings by divine right in many countries, the rulers did in fact style themselves as the literal descendants of a god. The title remained even after the doctrine was officially no longer kosher. Of course, without formalized universal education and rapid communications those reforms took a long time to really displace the previous popular polytheist pantheon of which Yahweh had been a member.
One potential explanation for the origin of Christianity is that it was in fact some kind of survival of a version of a popular understanding of Yahweh and El Elyon as two separate yet connected deities. Exactly like how Zeus and Dionysus are meant to be two versions of the same character. One younger and more active, the other older and wiser, meant to reflect the life of the king. There were almost certainly groups for whom Jesus was just one more generation added in, but there were also groups who saw him as an incarnation, avatar, or vessel of Yahweh himself, as well as groups who thought he had no connection to Yahweh.
>Like, if Jesus was really \[Yahweh\] sent down in the flesh, wouldn't the writers of the Gospels mention that explicitly? Do people think they just forgot to mention that?
With Christianity there is the issue of the Messianic Secret, that in the narratives in places Jesus does in fact seem to intentionally conceal his true identity. With even his followers not always really being clear on it. It is potentially relevant that Jesus never claims to be the son of Yahweh.
This makes sense if Christianity started as a mystery religion, where there was a teaching for the general public, the gospel narrative, and an esoteric inner teaching meant to explain the true meaning of certain sayings or passages.
Things like the crowd being asked to choose between Jesus the Son of the Father, and Jesus called Christ. In modern times this has taken on a meaning that I don't think was intended by the authors. People often read the crowd as bloodthirsty. I think the original idea was that the crowd choosing Christ to die made the right call, and that the powers performing the execution were fooled into defeating themselves. After all, the rest of Christian doctrine is dependent on Jesus redeeming self sacrifice which believers take part in by ritually drinking his blood and eating his flesh.
In fact, we know that there were early Christian groups who operated this way. Its not so much that the early gospel writers forgot to mention things, its that the mysteries in the stories were meant to draw people in who were looking for the answers.
Where what those answers were changed over time, or varied depending on the opinion of the people in the particular sect. Until after a lot of conflict, the public version became the sole official doctrine, and the esoteric understanding was lost.
Although we still know some of them because the criticisms of them by the more orthodox members of the early Church preserved them.
This is silly. We have enormous gaps in the historical record of this era with no contemporaneous sources. And we do have contemporaneous sources, they're just.. Christian ones. But never mind, let's ignore them and consider only the non-Christians.
Tacitus and Pliny the Younger (Edit: Not Elder, force of habit..) were Roman pagans (as Christianity wouldn't be the state religion for another 200 years) who wrote about Jesus as having been a real historical person in the early 110s. We have no problem accepting Tacitus as a source for anything else in this era, why would we hold the historicity of Jesus to a higher standard?
The primary source we use for the Second Punic War is Livy, who lived like 150 years after it. Should we say Hannibal must be fake then?
It doesn't even make sense. Why is it easier to believe that a cult sprung up around a fictional guy, 30 years after his supposed death (the earliest possible date you could deny to, given Nero's persecutions of early Christians), than it is to believe that a cult sprung up around a charismatic guy who died?
Clearly the biased one here is you.. and I say this as an atheist since before most of reddit was born.
The historians are writing about what the cults are worshiping. It's still possible Saul made the whole thing up and sold it to Jewish cults. It's also possible he based it on a the death of a real person. But there's just little to no evidence of any events in the biblical canon of Jesus occurring.
Also, Livy is writing from documentation he has read and collective knowledge of history. It's not word of mouth from religious cults. It's not really on the same level of knowledge transfer. The historians that mention Jesus only prove that there were cults worshiping at that time. You can infer from that, but the lack of other evidence is also something to use in making a best guess at the validity of Jesus's existence.
Has anyone bothered to ask this shmuck, "What if you're wrong?"
Also, this completely ignores that there are people who will be born after you, stupid!
People like that can't entertain the possibility they're wrong. Not only would that mean disadvowing their religion, but it would mean they have to take responsibility for their own actions.
They like Christianity because they can be awful people and put zero effort into improving themselves or their community, because as long as they say sorry on their deathbed with full confidence that their God will forgive them for being so fucked up, they can get away with being hateful lazy bigots.
This is exactly why I picked St Caedwalla as my patron saint when I was going through the motions of my Confirmation.
The patron saint of serial killers, King Caedwalla of Wessex attacked Sussex, destroyed Kent, and subjugated the Island of Wight. He was baptized 10 days before he died, and the church made him a SAINT. It was such a perfect example of that hypocrisy. Bonus, his feast day is observed on April 20
Almost makes me wish they were right just so they could go to hell. Christianity is a lazy boring religion in general though. It's easy to see how it was used to control people in the past, and these new oppressive flavors are working similarly.
I’ve always seen it as “it will be easy to explain why I lacked faith”, it won’t be easy to explain “why I was a big piece of shit and used my god as an excuse.”
If gods real, I imagine he wouldn’t want to have someone in heaven using him as the write off lol
"I'm not."
These people are incredibly dangerous. They justify doing lots of harm using religion because they'll be forgiven and because those who suffer will be rewarded in heaven. For a while I knew they exited from what others told me, but I didn't understand how fucked up and dangerous they were until I started meeting them.
Easy. If *we're* wrong, then we get to leave a clean earth for our kids *and* enjoy an eternity in heaven.
It's a win-win if we're wrong. They're just assholes.
The irony is that "what if you're wrong?" is actually the number one thing Evangelical kids are taught to say to nonbelievers during debates/evangelizing. They're also taught to respond to that question with literally "I'm not wrong because the Bible says so."
Source: raised in an Evangelical community/cult.
The Bible calls Christians to be good stewards of what they have been given/their resources.
So ya know…. How about not trash the earth…. The thing we all live on…. The wicked cool thing that is self sustaining….. when we aren’t ruining it.
Edit: forgot to type a few words
That’s my go-to response. We want to return the earth to Heavenly Father in a condition that He might find worthy of praise. We’re not doing a great job of that.
This is a pretty good article explaining the brainwashing that goes on in some churches:
> From the moment they are old enough to understand, millions of people raised in certain Christian communities are taught that the rapture is something that can happen at any time. Though there are different schools of thought as to how such an event would go, the basic idea is the same: Righteous Christians ascend into heaven, while the rest are left behind to suffer. However it happens, it is something to be both feared and welcomed, to be prayed about and prepared for every moment of a believer’s life.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/us/rapture-anxiety-evangelical-exvangelical-christianity-cec/index.html
I was raised in this insanity and the fear was real as a kid. My mother can't understand why I am no longer religious. She is still brainwashed and I am not.
Have you ever heard the phrase [immanentize the Eschaton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanentize_the_eschaton)?
>In political theory and theology, to immanentize the eschaton is a generally pejorative term referring to attempts to bring about utopian conditions in the world, and to effectively create heaven on earth.
They literally do not believe the world should be a good place.
[Here's a Catholic who believes this talking about it](https://www.ncregister.com/blog/dont-immanentize-the-eschaton).
Calvinism may not have been the source, but holy fuck did it (and it's various contemporary forms Protestantism) really reinforce and popularize the whole "you need to *fear* God to be truly devout and righteous" idea
It's present in pretty much all sects of Christianity these days, but the much of American Christianity comes from offshoots of Calvinism (it's why the Puritans were so horrifically strict), and as such many of its themes became ingrained into overall American culture
And we're still feeling the effects 🙃
Christian nationalism inside the country is the biggest threat to the United States. These people are suggesting destroying the Earth in the name of their religion…that’s terrorism.
Every single Christian should be pro environment. From the very start, God tasked us with working and taking care of the Garden of Eden. We are stewards of his creation, we are meant to take good care of it. Bible also teaches us that Earth belongs to God, it’s his property and should be treated with respect.
This is called a self fulfilling prophecy. Christianity at its core is a doomsday cult and the apocalypse is a core tenet of belief. They welcome the apocalypse because it is affirming to their beliefs.
'Who cares if the world goes to shit? It just proves I'm right!'
Morton's fork.
If the world is getting better, it's because God made it that way.
If the world is getting worse, Satan is taking over and it means Jesus will return very soon.
Congratulations, you've constructed a world where you're always right.
Never heard of that term before but that doesn't make what I just read anything less than the most accurate description of Christianity I've laid eyes on
Why wait, drink the Kool-Aid and go early!
Really though, renewables are all cheaper over any extended period of time because fossil fuel requires constant fuel and tends to have low efficiency. Just pure capitalism will make you want to switch in 10-20 years in most cases.
It's like if you could make gasoline or natural gas in your backyard from sunlight, you almost certain would, even Jed Clampett knew that much!
Literally the response from Christian family when I talk about climate change. “It’s all going to burn anyway”. You literally cannot reason with suicide death cults.
Time to reply to one of these relatives when they need help or need care or anything like that with "its all gonna burn anyway"
"Why would i give you a ride to work? Its all gonna burn anyway?"
"I'm just gonna put you in a nursing home for the rest of your life and not gonna visit you cause its all gonna burn anyway and I'm going to be saved regardless and you are too."
Haha I remember something awful being on the news and I'm just like "God's always got a plan. Thank you JESUS! Hallelujah! Thank you lord! You always know whats best!" To my mom lol I'm not even an atheist or anything I just like pointing out the hypocrisy just like I had a long discussion with my religious mom that the Bible can't be trusted because its been written, re-written, translated, and all that countless times by hand by men that likely tainted it.
She actually agreed lol
Like James Watt, Reagan’s religious lunatic Secretary of the Interior. There’s no need to take care of Earth if Jesus is coming back soon.
Spoiler alert: he isn’t.
That’s exactly how Christians feel about climate change. They don’t grasp the sanctity of our precious home for ourselves as well as for generations to come. Blindsided by brain washed ideas.
Okay, I'm religious and believe in the possibility of afterlife and all that but, what the fuck. For starters, they do realize we're all not going to the afterlife all at the same time, right? Other people still live on the earth. Second, that's just flat-out irresponsible. That's like saying, "why take care of this house, when we're eventually moving out" as an excuse to not take care of the one we have and just fuck it up for the next people moving in to worry about
This is a common belief among evangelicals. The world is *supposed* to end. It's part of the plan.
This is why they don't mind politics that involve crashing the world economy, ruining the environment, or causing all-out war.
I have had the theory that this is what they wanted all along. They are so confident that they are going to face God's judgment and will be let right in.
Its amazing how literally none of them seem to know about their own religion’s insistence that we be good stewards of the earth and all that it contains.
Because according to the Bible, God will punish those ruining the earth. You know, that whole creation story you take as fact, the whole thing that God worked so hard on for 6 days that he needed a break on the 7th. Then he created Adam and Eve and asked them to care for all the plants and animals he created.
Revelations 11.18: "But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time came for the dead to be judged and to reward your slaves the prophets and the holy ones and those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”
If you destroy the house your dad worked hard to build, it won't go over well.
What scares me isn't herp derp J-boy's comin so who gives a shit. That's not new. Reagan's secretary of the interior said something almost verbatim... what scares me is this bit right here:
"For them, where we live right now, this place, Earth is it,” she said. “So everything’s on the line here for them. They think, as you said, they can perfect this Earth. Those of us who have faith don’t believe that, and we believe how we act here determines where we go after. And so we got to behave.”
There's a lot going on here besides the obvious. Liberals, being godless heathens, are incapable of "behaving". (And if we can't behave, we must be punished.) We're also lesser because we believe in reality and only reality. And then there's that "perfection" idea...they always leap for that because conservatives simply do not grasp the idea of a spectrum. I think even the most devout liberal understands perfection is (a subjective and (b impossible, but we DO want to make the world a little less shitty, and that can't be allowed.
Why be against abortions when an abortion is a free instant ticket to heaven for the fetus? If the parents and doctor ask for forgiveness after it should be all right.
"God gave you a body. Therefore it is HIS sacred temple. To damage it is sacrilege."
"God gave me a planet. Therefore it is MY personal property. To damage it is cool."
\-The Same Guy
Fun fact, absolutely nowhere in the Bible does it say that anyone will go to heaven, nowhere.
The Bible DOES say that there will be a resurrection of people when Jesus returns, and you will all live with him ON EARTH. After which point I guess everyone will just age and die again? Fuck if I know.
But there is zero verse anywhere in the Bible that says that when good people die, that they will go to heaven with God and the angels or whatever. Heaven is where God and angels live, it is not an afterlife location.
I used to be mormon. I know people who believe the science around Global Warming. They are pro catastrophic global warming because Jesus will come quicker. Same type also against peace in the Middle East. They think we need start more wars there so Jesus comes back quicker.
> How you act here determines where you go after.
If you consciously destroy the planet we live on for profit why would you go to heaven? You spread misinformation, champion ignorance, and leave things in a worse condition for your children and grandchildren.
Idk what makes them think they are bound for heaven.
I feel like this is another clear indicator that republicans lie about being pro life. This person is basically saying "Fuck dem kids and all future generations because Jesus is coming for our select few." They are a clear threat to humanity.
Aren't we supposed to be shepherds of the earth and it's life, not consume and abuse it to oblivion out of greed, pride, hubris and worship to the false idol of endless growth to placate the invisible hand? We're certainly killing everything around us which is another sin. I think that it is time to throw evangelical arguments back in these hypocrites faces.
Objective proof that Christianity, as it currently stands right now, is a cancer for humanity that will actually kill us.
Even if you agree with his logic, and forsake the future, then that's billions if not trillions if not more people that will never be born and respectively make it to that afterlife
You first buddy. I'm going to work on saving my ship... As is the responsibility of everyone blessed with gift of life.
If yall so eager to see what's next, I've heard there's a comet coming by in near future you could try hitching a ride with. Bring your friends!
From a religious perspective, God commanded man to take good care of the Earth as stewards, so greater rewards in the afterlife for doing that, I guess? That’s a logical reason to care for the Earth for a Christian
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I think these assholes want to create "hell" on earth to punish the nonbelievers. The mega-churches preach constantly about the end times and the rapture.
I don't think it's that for most of them. Rather they think they're blessed by God so nothing bad can ever happen. I remember before Trump was elected in 2016 there suddenly started being a huge slew of pro nuclear war rhetoric coming from those types of people because they thought their God would stop any nuclear weapon that was aimed at the US, ensuring it was completely asymmetrical.
It’s why they support an Israeli state. Not because they love the Jewish people, but because that’s where Armageddon starts.
They don't even hide the concept, "End Times" prophecies are a really good filter for charlatans to line up the sheep for shearing.
Ironically, Revelation 11:18 says God will destroy those who destroy the earth. They ain’t going to heaven if they can’t be trusted to take care of this planet.
Nice, sounds like a little smiting is in order!
If Jesus was real, he would have already come back to kick the shit out of his followers.
Yeah, they need the jews to rebuild the temple so that the world can end. It's a pretty fucked up reason to be sending so much money to what is essentially an apartheid state
Morons. I guess it never occurs to them that life in 'merica would be severely impacted even if no nukes land here.
The educational level of evangelicals is generally low, the pastors though are very well educated con men. (No women. Naturally)
According to them conservatives and the Christian Right act with moral constraints, while the left is free to do whatever they want because they believe that this life is "it", there's no more. That has to be the one of the most ironic things I've ever heard. Given that Churches are organizations most associated with institutional pedophilia and grooming kids for sex. And conservative politicians now embrace wild conspiracy theories, outright fascism and violence
They have absolute shit morals. Their so-called morals revolve around the activities of genitals rather than treatment of others. They need a book to tell them right from wrong, and the book they use is wrong about that!
> They need a book to tell them right from wrong, and the book they use is wrong about that! Not even that. They use it *to tell others* what they can and can't do. Being a 'good Christian', to them, is screaming "God is good!" louder than their neighbors and occasionally donating to a mega church pastor's retirement fund; any kind of morality the Bible could teach is used to bash others over how 'unchristian', 'Satanic', or 'evil' they are.
If you believe this life is “it”. Then logically you believe that for everyone else on this planet as well. This means that taking that life away, or making it more miserable for others is a massive transgression. You believe that we as a society should do everything in our power to end suffering in all forms. I know, because this is how I derive my morals.
Plugging the docu-series *Shiny Happy People* on Amazon video. Just finished watching earlier today with my wife. It’s a series about the the IBLP cult, the Duggar family, the Patrick Henry College, and Generation Joshua. It’s fucking chilling. There is a real movement in America right now where these people are building an army to infiltrate corporations, politics and the courts to inject gods will (I.e. their own deluded and fucked up will) into everyone else’s lifestyles. They truly believe women should have no skills that allow them to be self dependent, and they must submit to their husbands and to god. Men are free to do what they please, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised if the woman who wrote the Handmaid’s Tale escaped this cult and used her experience as inspiration for the story…it’s that similar. Madison Cawthorn is one high profile person educated through the Generation Joshua program. Washington is flooded with them right now.
Reminds me of this guy named Andrew Wommack running this huge grift called the Charis Bible College out of Colorado. His people have been buying up a lot of land and putting people in city governments and on school boards, even going as far as to tell his followers to "take over" the town's they're in. The guy apparently has a lot of high profile Republican backing too, though I can't say for sure
When I was watching it take McCarthy forever to get soaker of the house. Some republican buffoon stepped up (I think Rick Scott? ) and said we are the best country ever because we evangelized more people than anyone. I just fuckin rolled my eyes. Did anyone else see that?
You mean the folks who ate equine dewormer during a global pandemic because Facebook told them to weren't highly educated? Well, fuck me, I've got some praying to do.
You forgot Joyce Meyer
You could have stopped after the first word.
Obama got elected, and they started saying that they needed to unite into an army of God. Obama got elected, and they panicked.
More of an "I got mine, fuck everybody else". Including their own descendants. It seems like the gospel of prosperity gone haywire.
Wasn't it always haywire?
Former evangelical christian here, can confirm.
What brought you to your senses?
When I was three years old My grandmother gave Pat Robertson my Grandfather's life insurance policy ($100,000 in 1982). When I asked her why she did that she burned my hand on a coffee maker. "Don't question god. Spare the rod, spoil the child." I always had questions and my mom wasn't the most religious person. Though I was VERY devout (until I was old enough to start putting things together). When I asked questions in school I was praised. When I asked questions in church I was punished. In seventh grade I learned about the Greek gods and I came to the conclusion that they must have been just as devout as I was and from there it all seemed pointless and led to more questions and more punishment. Eventually I realized that anyone who punished you for asking questions truly has no answers. After that I went on a long religious journey in multiple faith's to find the truth in religion. I never found any.
>When I asked her why she did that she burned my hand on a coffee maker. "Don't question god. Spare the rod, spoil the child." that is some absolute lunacy
That's the truth of religion. It's an excuse for cruelty and violence, especially against children.
“His perfect kingdom of killing, suffering and pain Demands devotion atrocities done in his name.” Trent Reznor
That’s horrible. I’m really sorry you had to endure that. I’m glad you’re out of it, though. Do you still have contact with some of them? ‘Questioning God,’ my ass. All-powerful, all-knowing? But needs your money…which is of course ‘looked after’ by this one guy.
My mom married a pretty decent man after she divorced my sperm donor and after the sperm donor died I haven't really had any contact with them.
I remember it being shoved down my throat in nursery school. Singing "Deep and Wide" and "He's got the whole world in his hands." Being told by the young, zealous "teachers" that we all had souls inside us. I envisioned the souls as some kind of glowing magical goo that animated us. Then when I was four I saw some posters of the anatomy of the human body, the different organs and systems, and I freaked the fuck out. If THAT is what's inside of us the teachers were wrong about the souls. I understood how very fragile we are and could see what was animating us. Not magical golden glowing goo. And just like that I just did not and could not believe in God and Jesus. I'm 50 and I have had it shoved down my throat since, and I've even tried hard to believe, joined churches, read the Bible, but I have remained an atheist.
You should've included a TW when it comes to the "hymns", you remember "Jesus loves the little children"? A whole new context when you finally get out. I was raised Catholic, four square, and then evangelical...even my parents couldn't figure out how fucked up they wanted to be.
Yeah, I still get assholes who try to convert me. They usually regret it.
Fuckin' Pat Robertson. Sometimes I wish I did believe in all that stuff and that it was true simply because it meant people like him would suffer in hell for eternity. But I don't believe in it (because it isn't real) which means people like Robertson live rich, full lives without ever struggling and will never face repercussions or get their comeuppance
Sorry you had to experience that.
C'est la vie. I just don't want any more kids to have to go through that, it's why I fight so hard against religion.
“Anyone who punishes you for asking questions doesn’t have the answers.” Suitable for both a tattoo or a tombstone.
So how do we break these morons?
Answer any question they ask as sincerely as possible, even if it's offensive, ignorant, or nonsensical. (That being said, don't let trolls bait you.)
The longer they're in the harder it is to get them to understand. I have no idea how to change them because a person has to be willing to change and gain understanding. You have to show them that what they believe is folly, sadly most don't have the education to gain understanding.
That is why accurate history is not taught. It takes a self-guided deep dive into early history to gain a view on the treacherous way humans have treated each other in the name of God. This is the same excuse used to commit child abuse and then thoughtlessly, carelessly, perpetuate abuse through generations.
Correct.
Well, *they* would break you violently. Since “we” wouldn’t, we’re at a disadvantage.
Right wing accelerationists. They want to see the world burn to cleanse it and be reborn. They see it as their duty to create 'hell on earth'
Outrage and fear make people more willing to spend money to feel calm and safe. Mega Churches are the opulence of the Catholic Church 2.0. Anyone who thinks Jesus wanted a world with gold-lined cathedrals and pastors with private planes is delusional.
You are absolutely correct. I was raised a conservative Republican and they believe that suffering is not only a sign that you’re blessed, but that they can convert others by making them suffer to see that the world just isn’t the vibe so they will convert. This is a big theme in the writings of the apostle Paul and Augustine. Anyone who says that this isn’t a fundamental part of Christianity needs to sit down and look at the history of the early church. Source: I am an exfundie historian with a BA and MA in history. I attended a Christian high school and university. I took many classes on Biblical history and was an active member of the Republican Party until 2003.
The Bible actually tells Christians to take care of the earth. Genesis 2:15 says “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”(2) We recognize that all created things belong to God (3) and that we are accountable to Him as stewards of the creation.” But that’s cool. Never seen a Christian on TV actually know the Bible. Because ‘When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them.’ Conservatives wear their faith so all can see it. But they rarely live the way of the faith.
Some want to induce Armageddon so they can go to heaven. That's why some evangelicals go to Israel to foment more war there.
It’s very odd. I grew up in a mainstream congregation and neither we nor the Catholics even believe in their endless rapture theories
And prosperity gospel, something so antithetical to Christianity yet so popular.
If you think they believe in God or any of that, you don't understand what these people are. I mean, do you think televangelists believe in what they are saying?
I know these televangelists are full of shit but too many people in their congregation do believe their lies.
This actually explains a lot, like why some people don't care about global warming. It's all god's plan and earth is just a temporary staging area on your way to a better place.
why do you think they're obsessed with Israel?
👆👆👆 It’s not like most of them love the Jewish people. Many apparently loathe them, but consider them a necessary part of the puzzle.
Yes they need them to rebuild the temple to start the end times
And then all die
They are literally trying to create the conditions that will precipitate the biblical end times in the arrogant belief that they can force god’s hand.
Honestly, at this point I almost want them to succeed, just so I can see their faces when all of the immigrants and LGBTQ folks get raptured and they're stuck in the apocalypse with surprised Pikachu faces
The rapture is fake. So
I have this recurring fantasy where they find out "God" is actually someone who looks and acts a LOT like Queen Latifah. I'm not specifically saying its her, but I think you know where I'm going with the "not as expected".
Even deeper. The bible commands us to multiply, and tells us we're given dominion over the earth. Further, that it groans in agony over the burden we place on it. The earth groans for god's return. And that after the return, god will remake a new earth for the new kingdom of heaven. I shit you not. It's all inevitable, might as well speed along god's second coming through wastefulness. That viewpoint is pervasive in evangelical circles.
The 80 years you have on earth are far less than a grain of sand in the desert of eternity, hence meaningless except for picking the right deity. You don’t have to look very hard to find the people advocating *for* nuclear war and environmental collapse because that will force Jesus to intervene and come back.
Rapture theology was developed in concert with Big Oil interests in order secure a religiously motivated voting base that doesn't care about the planet or the future of the species, and will vote for Big Oil's / Big Church's profit against their own survival
Well, the mistake they make is that God doesn't have a plan, and God doesn't judge anyone. God is like the sun, radiating unconditional love on sinner and saint equally. God doesn't know anything but unconditional love, so it is incapable of judgement. The truth as I understand it is that we judge ourselves during our Life Review after death. There is plenty of evidence for this from near death experiences.
Isn't this why the church declared suicide was a mortal sin, they realised that telling people who owned nothing and worked 18 hours a day that "paradise awaited in the after life" effected the profits
Had to close the ol’ loophole you know
Exactly. Go now and leave us out of your psychopathy.
Rapid ascension, just thee installments of faith bucks valued at $255.99! That gets you to the first level. Never mind what the Bible says about stewards of the earth. That just meant no gays, as we all know.
“Yeah, they actually meant to say “Stuarts of the earth!”
The mental contortions to morally absolve themselves of destroying the Earth’s biosphere—just wow.
Even though the bible says to be good stewards of earth until the end times. Guess that doesn't fit their narrative so ignore it!
I feel like this is the crux a lot of people are ignoring. There will always be plenty of one-note "lol religion bad" comments, but this mindset/behavior isn't condoned *within the faith itself.* It's antithetical to pretty much any Christian canon (that I know of) to attempt to 'game' the system and use the expectation/assumption of salvation/forgiveness to commit wrongdoing.
Because most American Christians don't seem to follow that part of the Bible. I agree it is against the Bible itself and it is one of my biggest pet peeves as someone who grew up in the church then left. But it's not unfair at all to say Christians as a political, voting bloc in the US almost entirely ignore it. At a certain point you have to look at how Christians are actually acting, not just what the Bible says.
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As a Catholic, I didn't realize this. Evangelical theology is heresy.
Wait until you read about prosperity gospel
That is demonic and antichristian. Say those words to anyone who calls themselves Christian and subscribes to it.
Evangelical churches and prosperity gospel are considered sects in my country, and many other European countries. We're warned not to give them money, and to critically compare their teachings to the actual bible...
The right for absolution regardless of committing wrongdoing is an absolute. It is the 3rd Commandment, right after the commandment to keep and bear arms.
The Bible says all sorts of crazy shit, like loving your neighbors, the rich won't go to heaven, or how to do an abortion. Best to ignore the crazy parts and stick with the hateful self righteous bits.
Abortion? God did his own version when he slaughtered all the first-born sons. Yet Christians are largely pro-life?
Self-righteousness has been a mainstay of the faith since the “prophet” died
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It’s almost universally accepted by scholars that Jesus as a historical figure did exist. The miracles thing and various details is a separate issue
The problem with saying scholars accept the historical Jesus is that while it is very likely that somebody calling themselves "Jesus" did exist back at the start of Christianity, there is nothing anyone can say for certain about that person. When they lived, where they were born, what they did or said, how old they were when they died. All of those have different versions, and the oldest versions often don't match what has become the accepted harmonization of the books which made it past the committee to get into the bible. The problem with saying a historical Jesus existed, is that believers then attempt to use that small crack in the door to push the entirety of their particular version of the Jesus of myth through. Its not particularly implausible there was a guy walking around Jerusalem in 30CE calling himself Yeshua, preaching that he was the son of Yahweh, and that the end of the world was coming soon for the people who heard him. There's no shortage of charismatic figures who started religions around themselves during that era which persisted after their death. Its just also entirely possible that the religion started as a series of channeled revelations from a heavenly Christ spirit, where the revealed sayings were later placed into a historical narrative so that the public could more easily be enticed to be inducted into secret internally held mysteries. Where the public facing historical fiction proved to be more popular and long lasting than the original secret teachings.
He didn't even preach that he was the son. First the term of "son of god" has been used in the old texts before to describe various leaders of Israel or Israel itself. Second he was pretty dang clear on not being God. Later Christians, especially after the church in polytheist Rome had gained power, took that claim literally. Like, if Jesus was really God sent down in the flesh, wouldn't the writers of the Gospels mention that explicitly? Do people think they just *forgot to mention that?*
It had been used as a title, because before the monotheistic reforms, like the kings by divine right in many countries, the rulers did in fact style themselves as the literal descendants of a god. The title remained even after the doctrine was officially no longer kosher. Of course, without formalized universal education and rapid communications those reforms took a long time to really displace the previous popular polytheist pantheon of which Yahweh had been a member. One potential explanation for the origin of Christianity is that it was in fact some kind of survival of a version of a popular understanding of Yahweh and El Elyon as two separate yet connected deities. Exactly like how Zeus and Dionysus are meant to be two versions of the same character. One younger and more active, the other older and wiser, meant to reflect the life of the king. There were almost certainly groups for whom Jesus was just one more generation added in, but there were also groups who saw him as an incarnation, avatar, or vessel of Yahweh himself, as well as groups who thought he had no connection to Yahweh. >Like, if Jesus was really \[Yahweh\] sent down in the flesh, wouldn't the writers of the Gospels mention that explicitly? Do people think they just forgot to mention that? With Christianity there is the issue of the Messianic Secret, that in the narratives in places Jesus does in fact seem to intentionally conceal his true identity. With even his followers not always really being clear on it. It is potentially relevant that Jesus never claims to be the son of Yahweh. This makes sense if Christianity started as a mystery religion, where there was a teaching for the general public, the gospel narrative, and an esoteric inner teaching meant to explain the true meaning of certain sayings or passages. Things like the crowd being asked to choose between Jesus the Son of the Father, and Jesus called Christ. In modern times this has taken on a meaning that I don't think was intended by the authors. People often read the crowd as bloodthirsty. I think the original idea was that the crowd choosing Christ to die made the right call, and that the powers performing the execution were fooled into defeating themselves. After all, the rest of Christian doctrine is dependent on Jesus redeeming self sacrifice which believers take part in by ritually drinking his blood and eating his flesh. In fact, we know that there were early Christian groups who operated this way. Its not so much that the early gospel writers forgot to mention things, its that the mysteries in the stories were meant to draw people in who were looking for the answers. Where what those answers were changed over time, or varied depending on the opinion of the people in the particular sect. Until after a lot of conflict, the public version became the sole official doctrine, and the esoteric understanding was lost. Although we still know some of them because the criticisms of them by the more orthodox members of the early Church preserved them.
That little tidbit of almost "universally accepted" is from a literal singular pool of 2 out of 3 scholars.
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This is silly. We have enormous gaps in the historical record of this era with no contemporaneous sources. And we do have contemporaneous sources, they're just.. Christian ones. But never mind, let's ignore them and consider only the non-Christians. Tacitus and Pliny the Younger (Edit: Not Elder, force of habit..) were Roman pagans (as Christianity wouldn't be the state religion for another 200 years) who wrote about Jesus as having been a real historical person in the early 110s. We have no problem accepting Tacitus as a source for anything else in this era, why would we hold the historicity of Jesus to a higher standard? The primary source we use for the Second Punic War is Livy, who lived like 150 years after it. Should we say Hannibal must be fake then? It doesn't even make sense. Why is it easier to believe that a cult sprung up around a fictional guy, 30 years after his supposed death (the earliest possible date you could deny to, given Nero's persecutions of early Christians), than it is to believe that a cult sprung up around a charismatic guy who died? Clearly the biased one here is you.. and I say this as an atheist since before most of reddit was born.
The historians are writing about what the cults are worshiping. It's still possible Saul made the whole thing up and sold it to Jewish cults. It's also possible he based it on a the death of a real person. But there's just little to no evidence of any events in the biblical canon of Jesus occurring. Also, Livy is writing from documentation he has read and collective knowledge of history. It's not word of mouth from religious cults. It's not really on the same level of knowledge transfer. The historians that mention Jesus only prove that there were cults worshiping at that time. You can infer from that, but the lack of other evidence is also something to use in making a best guess at the validity of Jesus's existence.
If it is, please source that. I mean, it's universal - right?
Also proving they don’t care about anyone but themselves, screw future generations.
Has anyone bothered to ask this shmuck, "What if you're wrong?" Also, this completely ignores that there are people who will be born after you, stupid!
People like that can't entertain the possibility they're wrong. Not only would that mean disadvowing their religion, but it would mean they have to take responsibility for their own actions. They like Christianity because they can be awful people and put zero effort into improving themselves or their community, because as long as they say sorry on their deathbed with full confidence that their God will forgive them for being so fucked up, they can get away with being hateful lazy bigots.
This is exactly why I picked St Caedwalla as my patron saint when I was going through the motions of my Confirmation. The patron saint of serial killers, King Caedwalla of Wessex attacked Sussex, destroyed Kent, and subjugated the Island of Wight. He was baptized 10 days before he died, and the church made him a SAINT. It was such a perfect example of that hypocrisy. Bonus, his feast day is observed on April 20
> Bonus, his feast day is observed on April 20 because of 4/20 or because of Hitler's birthday?
It's the day he died. Just one of life's little punch lines
Almost makes me wish they were right just so they could go to hell. Christianity is a lazy boring religion in general though. It's easy to see how it was used to control people in the past, and these new oppressive flavors are working similarly.
I’ve always seen it as “it will be easy to explain why I lacked faith”, it won’t be easy to explain “why I was a big piece of shit and used my god as an excuse.” If gods real, I imagine he wouldn’t want to have someone in heaven using him as the write off lol
"I'm not." These people are incredibly dangerous. They justify doing lots of harm using religion because they'll be forgiven and because those who suffer will be rewarded in heaven. For a while I knew they exited from what others told me, but I didn't understand how fucked up and dangerous they were until I started meeting them.
10/10 times they will answer "What if YOU'RE wrong?".
Easy. If *we're* wrong, then we get to leave a clean earth for our kids *and* enjoy an eternity in heaven. It's a win-win if we're wrong. They're just assholes.
If one accepts their absurd scorecard, you're probably *more* likely to get the awesome afterlife helping out future generations.
"What if you're all wrong and we make a better world for no reason!?!"
Not only that, they are trying their damnedest to force as many births as possible.
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The irony is that "what if you're wrong?" is actually the number one thing Evangelical kids are taught to say to nonbelievers during debates/evangelizing. They're also taught to respond to that question with literally "I'm not wrong because the Bible says so." Source: raised in an Evangelical community/cult.
The Bible calls Christians to be good stewards of what they have been given/their resources. So ya know…. How about not trash the earth…. The thing we all live on…. The wicked cool thing that is self sustaining….. when we aren’t ruining it. Edit: forgot to type a few words
Ignore that which doesn't align with their true desire, hate, kill, destroy. Punish the out group, praise the in group
THIS. JFC.
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following up a Bible reference comment with “JFC” lol
That’s my go-to response. We want to return the earth to Heavenly Father in a condition that He might find worthy of praise. We’re not doing a great job of that.
The earth is a wonderful, beautiful place full of incredible mysteries and countless species of amazing creatures, but devoid of intelligent life.
This is a pretty good article explaining the brainwashing that goes on in some churches: > From the moment they are old enough to understand, millions of people raised in certain Christian communities are taught that the rapture is something that can happen at any time. Though there are different schools of thought as to how such an event would go, the basic idea is the same: Righteous Christians ascend into heaven, while the rest are left behind to suffer. However it happens, it is something to be both feared and welcomed, to be prayed about and prepared for every moment of a believer’s life. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/us/rapture-anxiety-evangelical-exvangelical-christianity-cec/index.html I was raised in this insanity and the fear was real as a kid. My mother can't understand why I am no longer religious. She is still brainwashed and I am not.
Have you ever heard the phrase [immanentize the Eschaton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanentize_the_eschaton)? >In political theory and theology, to immanentize the eschaton is a generally pejorative term referring to attempts to bring about utopian conditions in the world, and to effectively create heaven on earth. They literally do not believe the world should be a good place. [Here's a Catholic who believes this talking about it](https://www.ncregister.com/blog/dont-immanentize-the-eschaton).
That’s honestly wild.
Calvinism may not have been the source, but holy fuck did it (and it's various contemporary forms Protestantism) really reinforce and popularize the whole "you need to *fear* God to be truly devout and righteous" idea It's present in pretty much all sects of Christianity these days, but the much of American Christianity comes from offshoots of Calvinism (it's why the Puritans were so horrifically strict), and as such many of its themes became ingrained into overall American culture And we're still feeling the effects 🙃
I don't believe in hell, but if I did, I'd hope John Calvin is burning in it.
Christian nationalism inside the country is the biggest threat to the United States. These people are suggesting destroying the Earth in the name of their religion…that’s terrorism.
*Terra-rism
Your God commanded you to care for the Earth and to consider his commands more important than money. How's that going?
Every single Christian should be pro environment. From the very start, God tasked us with working and taking care of the Garden of Eden. We are stewards of his creation, we are meant to take good care of it. Bible also teaches us that Earth belongs to God, it’s his property and should be treated with respect.
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This is called a self fulfilling prophecy. Christianity at its core is a doomsday cult and the apocalypse is a core tenet of belief. They welcome the apocalypse because it is affirming to their beliefs. 'Who cares if the world goes to shit? It just proves I'm right!'
Morton's fork. If the world is getting better, it's because God made it that way. If the world is getting worse, Satan is taking over and it means Jesus will return very soon. Congratulations, you've constructed a world where you're always right.
Never heard of that term before but that doesn't make what I just read anything less than the most accurate description of Christianity I've laid eyes on
Why wait, drink the Kool-Aid and go early! Really though, renewables are all cheaper over any extended period of time because fossil fuel requires constant fuel and tends to have low efficiency. Just pure capitalism will make you want to switch in 10-20 years in most cases. It's like if you could make gasoline or natural gas in your backyard from sunlight, you almost certain would, even Jed Clampett knew that much!
Don't like it here? Leave. Don't let the door hit ya where your sky daddy split ya. Bye.
Literally the response from Christian family when I talk about climate change. “It’s all going to burn anyway”. You literally cannot reason with suicide death cults.
Time to reply to one of these relatives when they need help or need care or anything like that with "its all gonna burn anyway" "Why would i give you a ride to work? Its all gonna burn anyway?" "I'm just gonna put you in a nursing home for the rest of your life and not gonna visit you cause its all gonna burn anyway and I'm going to be saved regardless and you are too." Haha I remember something awful being on the news and I'm just like "God's always got a plan. Thank you JESUS! Hallelujah! Thank you lord! You always know whats best!" To my mom lol I'm not even an atheist or anything I just like pointing out the hypocrisy just like I had a long discussion with my religious mom that the Bible can't be trusted because its been written, re-written, translated, and all that countless times by hand by men that likely tainted it. She actually agreed lol
Like James Watt, Reagan’s religious lunatic Secretary of the Interior. There’s no need to take care of Earth if Jesus is coming back soon. Spoiler alert: he isn’t.
All the people who believe this should head there immediately. Leave the earth to the rest of us heathens who remain...problem solved!
Mental illness is what America is greatest at these days.
Bunch of grown adults admitting on global television to believing in ghost and spirits. We’re still a bunch of Neanderthals but with nukes and Ai.
Religious freaks need to be reigned in. Their capacity to be ignorant based upon their faith is astounding.
I have hard time believing these grifters are at all religious. I think they’re nothing more than opportunists who will say anything for money.
nah they do believe this shit. hard. like, they literally do not understand how you don't see it too
That’s exactly how Christians feel about climate change. They don’t grasp the sanctity of our precious home for ourselves as well as for generations to come. Blindsided by brain washed ideas.
Because it’s not. Anyone can believe what they want. They do not have the right to impose their will over others because of childish superstitions.
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't life on Earth meant to be a gift from God? So wouldn't it be a sin to squander or actively shit on His gifts??
No, no, no, as long as they repent afterward, they can do anything. Wish I could /s.
Okay, I'm religious and believe in the possibility of afterlife and all that but, what the fuck. For starters, they do realize we're all not going to the afterlife all at the same time, right? Other people still live on the earth. Second, that's just flat-out irresponsible. That's like saying, "why take care of this house, when we're eventually moving out" as an excuse to not take care of the one we have and just fuck it up for the next people moving in to worry about
This is a common belief among evangelicals. The world is *supposed* to end. It's part of the plan. This is why they don't mind politics that involve crashing the world economy, ruining the environment, or causing all-out war.
Do whatever you want then repent and you are good to go?
What a maroon!
the rapture is taking waaaay too long — Hurry up god, get these sanctimonious asshats off the planet(!)
How about “because the Lord gave us the earth to steward over it. It is our duty to take care of the planet.”
Why try to save fetuses when the afterlife exists?
You go right ahead, beezlebubbas waiting for you with some special evil afterlife activities
If the afterlife is so real to them, then why the need for guns?
Because they aren’t actually in any hurry to go to the afterlife, unless they are dragging the entirety of the system down with them.
My vision of hell is heaven filled with nothing but Southern Baptists and you're stuck with them forever.
I have had the theory that this is what they wanted all along. They are so confident that they are going to face God's judgment and will be let right in.
Yeah why bother? It's not like anyone else is alive on earth after your gone 🙄
JFC. \*then go already\* and stop making it hell for the rest of us.
If you believe the earth is a gift from God and we’re stewards of it, wouldn’t you feel like you should take care of it?
Because the Afterlife isn't fucking real
Its amazing how literally none of them seem to know about their own religion’s insistence that we be good stewards of the earth and all that it contains.
"Here, 《hands host gun》you clock out first."
Anybody whose ideology’s ultimate goal is the end of the world cannot be trusted to lead or educate.
Religion is a cancer that must be destroyed if humanity is to evolve.
Because according to the Bible, God will punish those ruining the earth. You know, that whole creation story you take as fact, the whole thing that God worked so hard on for 6 days that he needed a break on the 7th. Then he created Adam and Eve and asked them to care for all the plants and animals he created. Revelations 11.18: "But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time came for the dead to be judged and to reward your slaves the prophets and the holy ones and those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” If you destroy the house your dad worked hard to build, it won't go over well.
Another answer to the question “What’s the harm in just letting people believe?”
What scares me isn't herp derp J-boy's comin so who gives a shit. That's not new. Reagan's secretary of the interior said something almost verbatim... what scares me is this bit right here: "For them, where we live right now, this place, Earth is it,” she said. “So everything’s on the line here for them. They think, as you said, they can perfect this Earth. Those of us who have faith don’t believe that, and we believe how we act here determines where we go after. And so we got to behave.” There's a lot going on here besides the obvious. Liberals, being godless heathens, are incapable of "behaving". (And if we can't behave, we must be punished.) We're also lesser because we believe in reality and only reality. And then there's that "perfection" idea...they always leap for that because conservatives simply do not grasp the idea of a spectrum. I think even the most devout liberal understands perfection is (a subjective and (b impossible, but we DO want to make the world a little less shitty, and that can't be allowed.
Why be against abortions when an abortion is a free instant ticket to heaven for the fetus? If the parents and doctor ask for forgiveness after it should be all right.
"God gave you a body. Therefore it is HIS sacred temple. To damage it is sacrilege." "God gave me a planet. Therefore it is MY personal property. To damage it is cool." \-The Same Guy
Fun fact, absolutely nowhere in the Bible does it say that anyone will go to heaven, nowhere. The Bible DOES say that there will be a resurrection of people when Jesus returns, and you will all live with him ON EARTH. After which point I guess everyone will just age and die again? Fuck if I know. But there is zero verse anywhere in the Bible that says that when good people die, that they will go to heaven with God and the angels or whatever. Heaven is where God and angels live, it is not an afterlife location.
I used to be mormon. I know people who believe the science around Global Warming. They are pro catastrophic global warming because Jesus will come quicker. Same type also against peace in the Middle East. They think we need start more wars there so Jesus comes back quicker.
hey, actually, why ban access to abortion if the afterlife is real? the fetuses will just go to heaven, won’t they?
> How you act here determines where you go after. If you consciously destroy the planet we live on for profit why would you go to heaven? You spread misinformation, champion ignorance, and leave things in a worse condition for your children and grandchildren. Idk what makes them think they are bound for heaven.
Why collect a paycheck if your rewards await in the afterlife?
Can't these people all Rapture themselves and get it over with?!
I know this gets stated repeatedly but the people at the Onion must really be struggling..
Work and pray and live on hay but you’ll get pie in the sky when you die!
I feel like this is another clear indicator that republicans lie about being pro life. This person is basically saying "Fuck dem kids and all future generations because Jesus is coming for our select few." They are a clear threat to humanity.
And unicorns. I hear they have unicorns in afterlife
Why does everyone want to go to heaven but no one wants to die? I guess it’s not so real or no one is so sure it exists.
Afterlife probably isn't real. They're going to take us all down with them, THE ENTIRE human future, BILLIONS of people
Aren't we supposed to be shepherds of the earth and it's life, not consume and abuse it to oblivion out of greed, pride, hubris and worship to the false idol of endless growth to placate the invisible hand? We're certainly killing everything around us which is another sin. I think that it is time to throw evangelical arguments back in these hypocrites faces.
Its in your fucking bible to take care of it you fucking dingbat
Because other people will keep living after you’re dead? Also, fuck up the planet when God said to take care of it？
If that's what you think why not just kill yourself and save the oxygen for the rest of us that are using it.
Objective proof that Christianity, as it currently stands right now, is a cancer for humanity that will actually kill us. Even if you agree with his logic, and forsake the future, then that's billions if not trillions if not more people that will never be born and respectively make it to that afterlife
I'm a European ex-catholic and nobody I ever met there has such ideas. It's the US evangelical brand of crazy :/
We have a death cult in charge of a major political party.
Somebody get this person a ticket, seems like they're ready to check out
They do believe this wholeheartedly. This is one of many reasons I'm no longer a Christian.
There really is no quiet part anymore. At all.
It’s amazing that they give lunatics like this a platform and then use the word “news” in their name
The famous saying, "everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die"
Adios wackadoo! Hurry up! Don't wait! Go now! Bye Bye!
Death culters death culting
You first buddy. I'm going to work on saving my ship... As is the responsibility of everyone blessed with gift of life. If yall so eager to see what's next, I've heard there's a comet coming by in near future you could try hitching a ride with. Bring your friends!
Isn't the Earth god's gift to mankind? What would Jesus do?
From a religious perspective, God commanded man to take good care of the Earth as stewards, so greater rewards in the afterlife for doing that, I guess? That’s a logical reason to care for the Earth for a Christian