A Conspiracy Theory.
You may want to have a look at this site for background on the comic's somewhat political motivation, but the comic's funny either way!I know! Another post already! I wouldn't normally, but I wanted to mention this here, as long as no one minds a conspiracy theory that I found sort of interesting.
It goes like this:
While there's probably not any direct communication between the major players in the current Iran nuclear conflict (for the sake of simplicity, let's call them the "United States of America" and "Iran"), both groups are using the conditions that exist and manipulating them towards the same religiously-motivated end: Armageddon.
Now, before you laugh it off, think about this: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad desires to call back the 12th Imom, named Mahdi, who supposedly fell down a well as a child sometime in the first century. It is believed that it will take massive loss of life to call him up from the well.
Actually, here's an article that sort of explains his beliefs in more detail, but if you want the quick and dirty, a good quote is:
He sees his main mission, as he recounted in a Nov. 16 speech in Tehran, as to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance."
According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.
What does that remind you of?
It's pretty well-known that there are extremist Christians who are interested in speeding about the coming of end times as well. It's also pretty well-known that our President is a pretty Christian dude. The conspiracy theory takes its stretch at this point:
It asserts that President Bush and possibly many members of his staff are aiming to bring end times about as well. In the Bible, there's an event, given as a precursor to Armageddon, in which 1/3 of the world's population dies rather abruptly.
I'm sure by now you can see where this is going: Iran wants to trigger a game of nuclear football to bring about the end times, and it is asserted that other major players (ie. the US) wants to bring them about as well - we're all heading toward an event of catastrophic proportion.
I can certainly dig up more information if people would like, but that's the gist of it.
What do you dudes think? It's interesting, to say the least! The more I think about it, the creepier it gets!
Posted by Jered at 14:36
6 comments
6 Comments:
That only makes partial sense - yes, in the Bible there is an event in which 1/3 of the population dies (it occurs at the beginning of the Anti-Christ's seven-year reign). However, that event is preceded by the rapture of the church. The rapture is something that everyone knows cannot be sped up.
That'd be basically like telling God to hurry up because we're bored and he doesn't need to take so long in the bathroom.
I put this on Jordan's blog, but I want it here as well. =)
I think the extremists believe that, by making the event where 1/3 of the population dies occur, they can "force God's hand" and trigger the rapture.
While the Bible says that no one shall know the time, I think that's very open to interpretation. Just because we suddenly have a time-table on when 1/3 of the remaining population dies doesn't mean we can predict the moment of rapture, so the Bible can still be correct.
I'm not necessarily sure I buy the conspiracy theory, but I certainly think that humans will play a role in how it comes about - regardless of whether some of us trigger it intentionally or not.
It's really hard to say. I think the notion that Iran/US nations are trying to bring forth the end times, well it's quite silly! Aside from the fact that our personal plans don't apply to God, He'll pretty much do whatever He wants whenever He wants to do it, or has the freedom to do so. No one is going to "force" Him to bring the end times!
Now that's not to say that He couldn't use someone or conflicts to do so. I certainly think events of today could possibly be heading us in that direction, but there's no way to really know until it really happens -- unless you're God and I don't know it!
Something will trigger it, no doubt, but likely not intentially. However, I do think a more interesting action would be to try to "disprove" God, i.e. try to prevent said events from happening. Sure, anyone could try to act out predicted events from the bible. However, if you believe it to truely be prophecy, then it should be impossible to prevent it, no?
It probably needs to be noted (even though you guys already know) that I'm not a literalist when it comes to the Bible. Within reason, I don't think its words are infallible and I'm very open to various interpretations.
So, I'm not so sure! Iran and its leadership are undeniably hoping to do exactly that. Like I said, the stretch of this theory is that our nation's leadership is also looking to bring about the Christian version of end times. I'm not sure I buy that end of it, but it really only takes one.
Of course, I don't mean to imply that God could be swayed by the intentions of man. I also don't mean to imply that I know for certain we're headed in the direction! What I do mean to imply is that, if the time's right, God's not going to care if some of the people in power are acting under the hopes that he takes advantage of a situation that they guided with the hopes of setting things up.
I think I'm really okay with trying to prevent this kind of situation, for the record. Maybe that's out of selfishness, but maybe it's because I don't believe that people should be gunning for everything that the end times implies.
I also think that the people who would try to set up an event like this might find themselves surprised when that whole rapture thing hits.
There's been debates for ages on how literal the bible is or isn't. But I believe it all has to be taken in context. A perfect example is in revelations, where it talks about a big earthquake. I think it's pretty clear, what that's supposed to mean there.
I do believe eventially though, we'll reach that point. When that point in time is? I have no idea, but events are certainly set in motion, there's just no way to tell what kind of timeframe they are in. Are the actions of today's world leaders a precursor to the end times? I certainly think so. How soon? There's no way to really know -- until it actually happens!
Interesting debate going on here...interesting theory. All I've got to say is- no wonder the 'stop' button on that broken microwave is working now!
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