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If you had big plans this weekend, David Meade regrets to inform you that the world will be ending Saturday.
Meade, a Christian numerologist and self-described "researcher," says Sept. 23 is foretold in the Bible's Book of Revelation as the day a series of catastrophic events will begin, and as a result, "a major part of the world will not be the same," the Washington Post reports.
The Bible prophecies a woman "clothed with the sun" and a "crown of 12 stars" giving birth to a boy who will "rule all the nations" while she fights off a seven-headed dragon. The woman, Meade says, is the constellation Virgo, which on Saturday will be positioned under nine stars and three planets, per Popular Mechanics.
The baby boy will be the planet Jupiter, which will be moving out of Virgo on that night.
According to Meade, who says he studied astronomy at an unspecified university in Kentucky, the great change in our world will be the result of the arrival of Nibiru, a planet famous in conspiracy circles but which astronomers say doesn't exist.
http://wnep.com/2017/09/20/researcher-says-this-saturday-will-be-the-end-of-the-world/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/17/the-world-as-we-know-it-is-about-to-end-again-if-you-believe-this-biblical-doomsday-claim/ (soft paywalled)
(Score: 4, Disagree) by jmorris on Thursday September 21 2017, @05:51AM (17 children)
Evolution my boy, evolution. The Bible has proven its fitness to serve as a basis for a major civilization's moral and social code. All of the proposed replacements since the later portion of the Enlightenment have crashed and burned. Badly.
Considering the body count most of the failures have ran up, and the one our current failing attempt is likely to achieve soon as it collapses, we might want to consider the wisdom of Chesterton's Fence and attempt to understand the social technology embodied in it before the next attempt to modify our society away from the proven pattern in it. Because it is a veritable certainty that come the collapse of the current West's societies there will be a major religious revival, there is ALWAYS a major revival when things go to tits up.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:12AM
Ha ha ha ah ha! I cannot wait to see what the Eth makes of this! Jmorris is a jew? And an "observant jew"? Wow, shit just got real. Bible suck, y'all. It says you cannot charge interest, because that is usury. So all capitalists are going to hell. But we knew that already, right? So where does jmorris go? Hmmm.
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:19AM (2 children)
Not in things that really matter, no.
Case at point, the religious sentiment revival pales in significance when compared with the fact a certain part of my body experiences only a minor revival when seeing some tits up.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday September 21 2017, @01:24PM (1 child)
At least you are smiling during adversity.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday September 21 2017, @02:05PM
Adversity? What adversity? Without that thing I needed to take care of, I'm left with so much spare time in my hands (grin)
Ah, it's the religious sentiment revival you were talking about. Well, I see no reason to waste my time worrying about it, posting on S/N is evidently more profitable (double grin)
(and no, I'm not smiling. Just triple grinning - as you most probably know, cynics use to do that)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @06:26AM (9 children)
The past participle of "to run" is "run", not "ran".
Also, the founders of the U.S. were Deists at best, drew on the lessons of ancient governance and philosophy, and even stated that the United States is explicitly not a Christian society; on 11 April 1823, Thomas Jefferson wrote the following to John Adams:
(Score: 2, Disagree) by jmorris on Thursday September 21 2017, @07:42AM (8 children)
I think everyone is missing the point here. But lemme me take the bait a moment and respond to the false point raised since it is a very common misconception that needs killing off anyway. The Founders were not Deists. Glenn Beck agrees with NeoReaction on one point, the importance of old books. Him and David Barton take it one step farther though and don't content themselves with reading old books on Gutenberg and Google, they collect the actual old books, manuscripts, journals, proclamations, etc. LOTS of them. Enough to remove all doubt as to the actual religious beliefs and practices of the Founders. I mean what are ya gonna believe, what your professor said about the Founders or what they actually wrote in their own handwriting?
Almost all were mainstream (for their day) Protestant, sect mostly varying by geography which makes sense considering how they were founded. Jefferson was somewhat doubtful in some writings, less so in others, he varied a lot, especially after falling under the influence of French Revolutionary thinking. But most of what you were taught about Jefferson is as wrong as the modern rewrite of all of the Founders. Try this [wallbuilders.com] as a corrective. Paine drank the French Kool-Aid and went full retard, you should read some of the other Founders flame him, in fact you can do just that [wallbuilders.com]. Oops, so much for Franklin being a Deist too.
Now to the point you all are missing. I was being careful to speak of the Bible as social technology, not religion. It doesn't really matter if it is "True", what matters is the code it embodies "works" better than the others tried before or after. Evolution isn't about "Truth" it is about "better".
The French Revolution unleashed rivers of blood, a near world war and France is on the 5th Republic now. We must judge it a failure.
Then Marx tried, and again we got rivers of blood. Hitler? More rivers of blood. While our current Secular Humanist / Progressive / Socialist civilization finishes rotting into collapse, Islam seem to be making a play... not yet rivers of blood there but some serious streams already. And of course we can look elsewhere around the world to see where many others have tried variations of the 20th Century's replacement social tech and find only misery, death and horror. DOES. NOT. WORK.
There is a reason Europe had the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution and China or India didn't. Some cultures are more compatible with reason and science than others.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday September 21 2017, @08:00AM
LOL.**
---
**I wish those people could temper their compulsion to tell others: "You must think this way. This is The Truth! It will set you free!". Not gonna happen very soon, does it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @08:46AM (2 children)
jmorris, you refute yourself at your very beginning. Barton? And you believe him when he says he has collected "actual old books"? Have you seen the movie, "National Treasure" with Jon Voight, well known Trump supporter? This may be better evidence than what you offer here. Glenn Beck: less crazy is still crazy. Or: "Glenn Beck, the Mormon Alex Jones!" Can't trust those professors! They are the ones who actually have studied the stuff, in kind of a peer reviewed way, and stuff.
(Score: 3, Touché) by jmorris on Thursday September 21 2017, @03:19PM (1 child)
I have read enough old books myself to know the U.S. academy is defective and an active menace to those seeking knowledge. Started with the Progressives and Woodrow Wilson's misfits when he ran Princeton. Try it sometime for yourself. There is no excuse anymore, Gutenberg and Google provide instant access to tons of old books. Read a modern biography and then read one written before the 20th Century. Do it for any of the Founders. Deconstruction is what they call it, if you know where to look they admit to what they are doing.
So lemme get this straight. When Beck and Barton display a modern copy of a book with the collected sayings of Washington then show an old copy of the same title with additional content, your mind would prefer to believe the old book is a carefully manufactured fake. When they show the edited copies of Alexis de Tocqueville's _Democracy in America_ promoted to modern students, that admits it is cut and then points out the pattern in the edits to make it fit Prog ideas better, that is fake? The hundred plus handwritten notes, proclamations, etc. they have shown are all fake. Even when they are showing stuff they haven't managed to buy personally, that nice lady from the auction house is an actress and is part of the scam too.
Because Beck is nuts and going broke they haven't built the permanent museum they keep planning, but have had a couple of open house events where folks can get in to see the collection of artifacts (not just books) they are collecting. Nobody has spotted a fake artifact and raised a ruckus yet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @06:58AM
Going? Jesus! Will there be a full-scale model of the Ark in this museum? Give it up, jmorris, God has afflicted you with the pestilence of a conservative mind. You best just suffer in silence rather than encouraging mockery and derision. And maybe you can be reborn as a donkey in your next life, if you are lucky.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by letssee on Thursday September 21 2017, @10:21AM (1 child)
Do you really *believe* this? That the enlightenment only could happen in europe because of the 'working' moral code form the bible?
The bible has caused impressive rivers of blood in the past, and still does. I wouldn't really call it a 'working' system.
Can I tell you a secret? It's all about the money. It always was and it always will be.
Also, it took a chinese emperor dying at an inopportune moment to prevent europe being colonized by the chinese instead of the other way around. Lots and lots of coincidences in world history.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @04:11PM
It's pretty well established that everyone who tried to invade Europe got decimated by Europe's impressive array of diseases.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @07:41PM (1 child)
Do we need further proof that jmo is just a walking talking breathing propaganda machine? I mean Glenn Beck agrees so wowowowowowwo! Talk radio is garbage, anyone forming their opinions based on the rantings of talk radio hosts is lacking serious critical thinking skills. "All heil capitalism! May the pyramid scheme never end, and may I one day reach the higher levels. Oh, and please send me some new military boots for Jesusmas the old ones are wearing out from all the face stomping."
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @12:05AM
Impressive set of meaningless and inflammatory jibberjabba! jmo ad hominem! I think Glenn Beck sucks! People I don't like are garbage! People who disagree with me can't think critically!
Mmm, yes. I can tell from your post that the size of your critical thinker is incredible.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @08:42AM (1 child)
And what is wrong with a secular moral and social code? Because whether most people admit it or not, they are using it. Strange how people cherrypick verses from the bible and use the most convenient interpretations possible to suit their own beliefs; it's like the bible doesn't matter much at all and people don't really need it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday September 21 2017, @03:45PM
Agreed. But up to the late 18th Century they were picking one closely based on the Biblical; one that was known to work. Slow change, discard the failures (by deliberate action or by failure/death), propagate the successes, in short evolution. Starting with the French Revolution and Marx it was Revolution, throw out -everything- and build an entire social order and moral code based on reason. The evidence from that experiment says that either our reason or our knowledge is not yet up to the task.
They weren't interested in examining the old to see what worked, why it worked, what would be the non-obvious consequences of changes in area A to B, none of that. They simply ripped and replaced. But even if we did, I doubt we have the knowledge required to make massive changes and avoid hosing ourselves. Arrogance is deadly, we have been thinking about these things in a methodical way but a short time, we should admit our limitations. Our Science and Reason are nowhere near ready to provide a total philosophical system. It makes for dangerous times, we know enough to be unwilling to follow the old stable codes and are still too ignorant to replace them.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday September 21 2017, @04:43PM
...are...are you fucking serious? Compare the Bill of Rights and the Ten Commandments. Tell me why we don't have formalized chattel slavery despite everything Paul says about "obey your masters as Christ."
J-Mo, you complete goddamn historical illiterate...you want a "Biblical" world? Go to Iran. The Koran isn't a lot different in that regard. THAT is what you're advocating when you say shit like "[t]he Bible has proven its fitness to serve as a basis for a major civilization's moral and social code." Just...lie down and shut up. I'm embarrassed *for* you that you'd say something that ignorant, since it's clear you have no shame.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...