Got Philk? said:
Apparently, I work with them. They listen only to contemporary Christian music(nothing wrong with this). The other day, I went to my boss' house to watch some football. He started asking me about U2 and the concerts I went to. I didn't know it would lead to this, but he asked if it is like people say. I said, "Like what." He said, "Like a Church service." I answered, it is what you make it to be. I find some value to it, but it's not Church to me.
So he goes on, "You know, my brother thinks he's the anti-Christ. And I thought about it, and it could be true. He's so vague on where he stands in his faith, but he's so respected. And he has so many followers."
Needless to say, I'm looking for a new job.
Don't you just hate that?
He's not *that* vague about it! And they are "fans" not "followers"! Hmph!
But that's typical of that sort of Christian...I've heard "so and so must be the Anti-Christ" about everyone from Reagan to Mikail Gorbajav(sp?)(because of his birthmark!)...basically anybody famous, influentual, misunderstood or plain just disliked! Not too long ago I heard of someone trying to publish a book on George Bush being the Anti-Christ. Not that I'm a fan of Bush, but come on...!
Then there's some New Ager notion of a "being of love and light"
that some folks have fastened on as being the coming Anti-Christ...
Someone told my brother last year that they were traveling in Europe and could "sense" that the Anti-Christ was there...as a baby!!!!!!!
What really gets me is the label gets slapped on people who are doing good in the world as well as people who are not so good (I'm convinced that somewhere out there is someone who was
disappointed that Mother Teresa was not the Anti-Christ).
I personally think that these people misunderstand the meaning of the term "Anti-Christ", leading them to hang the word on anyone they might have a problem with, no matter what that person might actually be saying or doing.
Most , if not all of the problem stems from not reading (or not comprehending) what they read about the subject in the book of Revelations, or the Bible in general. I learned this as a child--after winning a "bible trivia" competition a respected member of my church came up and complemented me on my win. She mentioned in passing that she hadn't read Revelations "because it was so hard to understand". I was shocked! A devout and influentual member of the congregation hadn't read (what was to my church) such an important book!?!
I've since come to see that that sort of thing is more common than not. Many Christians never read the Bible at all or only the passages that the preacher directs them to during the sermon.
This leads to people being told that the Bible says all sorts of things that it actually doesn't. I've heard some doozies!
If Jesus came today and did what he did back then he would be labeled "The Anti-Christ".
I could rant on, but this thread has already been derailed enough!