Discoteque said:
hey hey hey - the pastor of my church was just elected president of the SBC! 
However, I *do not* consider myself Baptist. Anyway - why do you think this, Melon? I'm just curious. I can see their influence here in the southern U.S., but nationally?
The South, like any part of the U.S., is not an island. What makes the South particularly powerful, however, is their political influence. Look at the presidents and presidential-candidates of the last few years. Look at the cabinet of our current president. Look at the make-up and platform of both the Republican and Democratic parties. We are, needless to say, very much influenced by the thoughts and perceptions of the South, whether what they believe transcends borders or not.
What scares me is the rise of the fundamentalist SBC, which doesn't bother just because they are "fundamentalist." It bothers me that the leadership of the SBC systematically invaded the Baptist religion, which, by nature, accepted decentralized independence of faith over uniformity. It was the Baptist church, needless to say, that must be credited with the "separation of church and state" back in the early 1800s.
I'm frightened over the reality that the SBC thrives on ignorance of history and ignorance of religion in general. Their translations on the Bible are not reliable by most independent Biblical scholars--but they will tell you that they are "99.9% accurate." What they don't tell you is all of their scholars are all the same SBC followers. Individuals like Jerry Falwell try and reiterate that the U.S. was "founded on Judeo-Christian values," despite the fact that our Founding Fathers were generally agnostic or Unitarian, and out of all of our presidents, were probably the most anti-religious. You have groups like Focus on the Family that, on the outside, look "family friendly." Heck, Dr. James Dobson is always on the television or the radio being all nice and telling us nice stories about how to raise our children, right? His group is also an active Republican PAC that carries out the largest "homosexual conversion" quackery worldwide (such methods were dismissed in the 1970s by secular American doctors). He is, by no means, a simple "family friendly" individual.
Regardless of whether you agree with me specifically on the above, our greatest evil currently is the evil of ignorance. The people whom we are told to respect are flat out lying to us, and most of us are falling for it. Doesn't that trouble any of you?
I agree with what you said, Melon, and I'll add a few more. From several books I've read that speculate on who the AC is, and what he might be like, some characteristics might be:
- He'll be in a high political office (possibly in the UN);
The UN? Yes, I've heard of that, but the UN does not trump national policy. The U.S. has every right to ignore the UN without consequences. But what organization does transcend national policy? The WTO.
[*]he'll be very charismatic, very engaging;
Admittedly, this is a given. Do you imagine a cold, distant, stiff individual conquering our minds and hearts? Even Hitler, for all his evil, must be described as charismatic.
[*]he will seem very loving and gentle, but it's just be a coverup for his "true" evil self;
Again, this is another given.
[*]he'll be very good-looking, appealing to both women AND men;
A guess. There is nothing to back this statement up, but is only a testament to our superficiality.
very knowledgeable about a great many things (i.e., people will wonder how he knows all this stuff?);
[*]he may know many languages fluently, which will appeal to the world;
Again, a testament to our stereotypes.
[*]he may be a homosexual and may "illegalize" the father-mother-kids family unit, to go against what God intended with Adam and Eve;
This bothers me. In fact, I think homophobia and intolerance towards gays is a sign of great evil being disguised in "piety." Adam and Eve are creation myths, pure and simple, and perfectly correspond with creation myths of non-Judeo-Christian cultures of the same period. These were created during the era of "oral tradition" to overthrow the matriarchal tribal culture, which exulted women and homosexuals, while degraded heterosexual men. As enough time passed, these myths were written down as "truth," where no one was the wiser.
Regardless, we also have Jesus' own example. The "lepers" of Jesus' day were omitted from salvation by the Pharisees through no fault of their own, but Jesus rejected such legalism. It is also our challenge to reject legalism within our plain view.
[*]he will create a great lie about what happened to the millions of people around the world who disappeared in Christ's rapture;
Read my "Popular Apocalypticism" thread in this forum. It shows the true origins of "the rapture," and it isn't Biblical.
[*]he will have the power/charisma to create a false peace with a 7-year "truce" between Israel and Palestine....but after 3.5 years, he will break this truce and wreak havoc on the world;
"7" and "3" are very symbolic numbers, now aren't they?
[*]he may even have the power to exert a type of hypnosis to "blind" people to the Truth;
You don't need "hypnosis." Just send people through the American educational system, and they'll never know the difference between truth and fiction.
[*]he will probably control the world's media and banking facilities (which are even now merging to create fewer, but more powerful, corporations);
This is silly.
[*]he will literally make life a living hell on earth...things like the Inquisition and the Holocaust will seem like a picnic in the park in comparison;
Well, he'll need people to carry out his Holocaust, now won't he?
[*]he will do everything in his power to crush the Jews and Christians;
Not necessarily. I believe he'll be aided by self-righteous Christians, who will destroy those sects, Christian and non-Christian, they deem to be "evil."
[*]he may bring back types of unusual punishment such as concentration camps, public beheadings and medieval-type tortures
Again, aided by people, of course.
[*]and of course, he will control everything we buy and sell by forcing people to take a mark on their hand or their forehead--and to make a pledge acknowledging that *he* is God.
And God shall know our hearts, if such a thing would happen. I doubt He is so petty that He'll damn those forced unto marks.
I must warn you, though, the first coming of Christ was expected (by the Pharisees) to usher in a warrior Christ to exult Israel and smash all enemies, exulting Israel to the greatest kingdom ever. What do many sects expect the second coming of Christ to be? A warrior Christ to destroy our enemies, exulting His followers to the greatest "kingdom" ever, Heaven. We must be on-guard not to be misinterpreting the Bible, and seeing such ideas as "the Rapture" going about, which was invented as a counter-Reformation technique by a Jesuit priest, I fear it is too late. Ignorance shall be our downfall, and
we shall be the ones to usher in our own demise. Ask yourself this: does the "Apocalypse" seem like the creation of a "loving" God or a "vengeful" God?
Melon
BWAHAHAHAHAHAH 
Sloppy exegisis and an ignorant populace. A truly frightening combination.
