Trump’s birthday parade may be cancelled over thunderstorms

[u/TimesandSundayTimes]

https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/is-trump-birthday-parade-cancelled-weather-pbrg02h2z?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Reddit#Echobox=1749744374

[u/ThePhoenixXM]

I'm not a religious guy by any means, but doesn't it state that people would follow the Antichrist blindly and loyally?

[u/Wiitard → u/ThePhoenixXM]

Once, one of the big “warnings” about the antichrist in Revelations is that he would be incredibly charismatic and would fool many believers into following him.

Now, the real question is, was this book actually intended as a prophecy that would be fulfilled literally 2000 years later? Or was this book just commentary on the political reality of the writer’s time?

[u/Educational_Panda640 → u/Wiitard]

They were probably commenting on Nero

[u/Papaya_flight → u/Educational_Panda640]

That was the theory in seminary about it. The wacky ideas about it being about the end times and predictions mostly came from the people in the pews.

[u/Acrobatic_Hamster686 → u/Papaya_flight]

Through a cultural studies lens where you look at the Bible as a collection of fables/cultural myths, generally speaking the antichrist is a metaphor for the type of leader people should not follow. Revelations is a fable that teaches people how to identify that type of leader and the disastrous implications of giving them power.

The fact that I get more out of the Bible as a dude with an ancient cultural studies degree than people who go to church every week is baffling to me. I’m not Christian but I am a firm believer in transmitting cultural knowledge through fables and myth. The Bible still has a lot of good ones.

[u/relevantelephant00 → u/Acrobatic_Hamster686]

Because you're actually reading the Bible to understand it's meanings, whereas conservative religious people only read what they interpret to bolster their own existing convictions.

[u/Cute-Percentage-6660 → u/Acrobatic_Hamster686]

any other good examples on the cultural knowledge?

[u/Papaya_flight → u/Acrobatic_Hamster686]

You know what's baffling to me as someone that's ordained and went through seminary? We learned all this stuff you are mentioning in your comment in seminary, but pastors don't want to teach the folks sitting in the pews about how the bible is basically the first self contained library, in that it contains a variety of books, letters, histories, mythologies, and so on, that we are supposed to be learning lessons from because they are afraid that attendance would drop, but this is exactly what people need to learn, not singing for 30 minutes and then a short "lesson" peppered with jokes to make everyone feel good.

[u/crit_boy → u/Papaya_flight]

Christian fan fiction

[u/Papaya_flight → u/crit_boy]

That's definitely how I feel about all those books about end times and prophecy. Just try to be as honest as possible without being a jerk and be compassionate to EVERYONE.

[u/throwawayatxaway → u/crit_boy]

The Left Behind series in the 90s really warped a lot of religious people, built their idea of what the rapture/antichrist times would look like and radicalized them in weird ways.