Or maybe an ancient book of myths isn't what you should base your world view on. Those people didn't know anything we don't know today. And doomsday prophecies are a dime a dozen and probably as old as humanity.
this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2024
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Unpopular Opinion
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The Bible spurred the thought, but I was reflecting on discussions I've had here and elsewhere.
I hate to break this to you, but christianity is a massive religion, and the opinion you've expressed here is common as hell among its followers. So, definitely not an unpopular opinion in general.
Yeah, it's unpopular on lemmy, but I don't think that counts for something like this.
To be fair, most Christians aren't "end of the world" doomers. Just the more extreme ones like Jehovah witnesses.
I think overall, this is an unpopular opinion.
Add this to the list. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events
I'm not a pre-millennial dispensationalist. I'm don't think about the book of Revelation as other than a general apocalyptic book way. Which means pretty much everything is not literal and very little is what it is described as.
I'm not predicting apocalyptic events per se. I'm certainly not putting dates on them. I'm looking at the world, thinking about a way out of the situations we're in, recognizing that things are not becoming simpler - they're becoming more complex daily. New problems are being generated faster than we're solving old problems, and I'm genuinely stymied.
Full disclosure, I was raised in the church which turned me into an atheist, but I'll meet you halfway and base my reply from the text you've quoted.
As a species, we have defiled the planet in all the ways you mention in addition to using its resources at an unsustainable rate. It's not that we don't know this; it's far worse than that. We do know it, but those most responsible don't care or think their money will protect them.
A secular explanation is described as the Great Filter
Sometimes I think we deserve it and then I remember it's only a relative handful screwing things up for everyone else.
I've heard of it, although I didn't have it in mind when I wrote the post.
The Great Filter might be our creativity and inventiveness far outpacing our ability to discern and fear long-term consequences. The whole idea of not "can we" but "should we" being somehow integrated into the pursuit of knowledge and technology.
IDK, but the increase in technology from steam engines and telegraphs to today occurred so fast that it is essentially the same people dealing with technology thousands to maybe millions of times more advanced.
The idea of Pandora's Box comes to mind as well. It's an "ancient myth," but that doesn't mean we can't learn from it.
Oh no, the end of the world!!! Again?
Hey, it's gotta happen SOMETIME
People have been predicting the end of the world for thousands of years, they've been wrong every time. This causes me to take further predictions with a pinch of salt.
I'm not making a theological prediction based on the Bible. I'm parroting what I read here on Lemmy everyday about global warming, political inequality and despotism, the rise of the oligarchy, plastic poisoning of the environment, the constant (mostly ignored) threat of nuclear weapons, and many other very tangible scientifically verifiable problems.
Humans had few tools capable of destroying the earth in the 10th century. Now we have many.
You know when the nights get longer that Winter is coming. Read the signs. What do you see happening?
I'm not talking about religious predictions exclusively, I'm saying that every single "end of the world" prediction so far has been wrong.
I don't doubt that the planet is in a pretty dire state, but resilience is one of humanities strongest traits and short of meteor strike or all out nuclear war, there's a good chance that at least some of us will survive.
I am intrigued by what you think 10th century humans had that could destroy the world though.
Slash and burn would probably be it. With enough humans though, the possibilities increase even with lesser technologies.
SIDE NOTE: If a post on "unpopular opinions" gets 70% downvotes, does that mean it's truly unpopular, and therefore successful?
I'm the top mod here, and I don't even know 😆
Should I post a poll to ask the community about getting rid of the voting guidelines?
Edit: Posted a poll and featured it in the community.
I think most people don't understand how this sub is supposed to work. It's very frustrating and I don't envy your job!
I do think clarification is in order. But I sure don't want to rock the boat; it's a community I want to have around!
It just kind of amused me. You don't have to follow up in any way, it was sort of rhetorical question.
I've been thinking about bringing it up for a vote for a while now and just kept forgetting. That side note was a reminder and seemed like a good jumping off point.
That's fine. In my case I mentioned a Bible quote, and that's going to get you downvotes no matter what you say.
Yeah, lol. Like, I'm an atheist but I'm also not a dick about it haha. You clearly weren't proselytizing with the post, so I have no problems with it.
The Bible is a work of fiction written and perpetuated by charlatans fooling idiots out of their money and agency. That anyone believes this garbage is truly mind-boggling.
which bible?