The Ethics of Prophesy

[PsychoticEpisode]

Some prophesies involve a lot of death & destruction yet I can't help wondering if I should be happy or scared shitless if one of the more deadly ones came true.

Pretend I'm a religious guy for a moment. I belong to the X religion. My religion tolerates the Y religion. I'm regularly besieged by the Y's who constantly test my faith. Somewhere in my holy book it is prophesized that X will fight Y in a deadly battle and this will be a precursor to my god actually making an appearance where he/she will destroy what's left of bad people and whisk the rest of us off to bliss.

Should I wish this to happen? Will I want it so much that my religion will on my behalf, interpret any big battle or war to be the X vs Y death match? If I am wrong would it be proper for me to admit my error and to maintain my belief that X and Y will duke it out sooner or later? Most of all, if I really wanted it to happen should I mind if my religion provoked the other side into starting the X vs Y war?

In order for my god to appear, the prophesy must be fulfilled even though it means I could die along with many others during the time it is played out. Regardless, I should be thrilled if X and Y go to war. There's a chance I'll see god while I'm alive. Then again I get to see my god when I die. Why is seeing god while I'm still flesh and blood more important than seeing him/her in an afterlife?

 

[Michael]

Add to this many people have this "feeling" that the end times are here (or very close). I think the open ended aspect of Revelations is a good selling point. I'm going to use that should I ever become a Prophet Could you imagine if you were to say: There will be a war between X and Y AND it will happen 900 million years from now ... awwwwhhhh that's kind of boring. War War WAr War!!!!

 

[Vega]

A prophecy is constructed so that the symbols can be interpreted to represent whatever historical events happen to be occurring at the time one is living. This is precisely what has been done with Revelation ever since it appeared, and it is still being done today.

Upon analyzing the text of Revelation, there is something rather remarkable. It appears that the author had actually been drugged and, while in that drugged state, was shown pictures in a book by individuals who were wearing costumes and putting on a ceremony for the author’s benefit.

John begins his story by telling us that he was at prayer. From a further description, it seems that he was conducting his ritual outdoors during daylight hours. Suddenly, a loud voice resounded behind him. The voice commanded him to write down everything he was about to see and hear, and to send the message to the seven Christian churches in Asia [Turkey].

From Revelation, It's observed that John reacted with strong emotions to what was going on around him. He was especially prone to weeping on relatively little provocation. He seemed unable to distinguish between ritual and apparent reality. This raises questions about his mental state. A careful reading of Revelation indicates that John’s mind may have been influenced by drugs administered to him by the creatures. Modern psychiatry has discovered that a number of drugs can be used to deeply implant messages in a person’s mind.

Most Christians believe that the little scroll offered to John was an actual document, the contents of which the author magically came to know by eating the scroll. Our clue that it was probably paper, or something else, saturated with a drug lies in John’s testimony that the scroll was sweet to the taste but caused a bitter reaction in the stomach.

 

[Michael]

Wow - I had no idea.... interesting to say the least.

 

[Adstar]

Some prophesies involve a lot of death & destruction yet I can't help wondering if I should be happy or scared shitless if one of the more deadly ones came true.

It is not required that one have an emotional response to a Prophecy being fulfilled. There is not need to be Happy or Scared.

Pretend I'm a religious guy for a moment. I belong to the X religion. My religion tolerates the Y religion. I'm regularly besieged by the Y's who constantly test my faith. Somewhere in my holy book it is prophesized that X will fight Y in a deadly battle and this will be a precursor to my god actually making an appearance where he/she will destroy what's left of bad people and whisk the rest of us off to bliss.

Should I wish this to happen?

Why should you wish something to happen if you know it will happen? Wishing for something to happen gives the impresson that there is doubt within one that it will happen. If one has faith then one knows it will happen when their God wills it to happen. So wishing for it to happen is a waste of emotional energy.

Will I want it so much that my religion will on my behalf, interpret any big battle or war to be the X vs Y death match?

Maybe. Where there is a demand there will be a supply. (especally if your the type who is prepared to fork out a lot of money and hounor to the person who is telling you what you want to hear)

If I am wrong would it be proper for me to admit my error and to maintain my belief that X and Y will duke it out sooner or later?

Your "Wrong"?? You stated before that it would be your "religion" (which i assume you mean religious authority)that would declare the battle to be the fulfilment of the X vs Y death match. Therefore it was not you who mis-interpreted the battle.

Most of all, if I really wanted it to happen should I mind if my religion provoked the other side into starting the X vs Y war?

Not if you thought that it was ok for your religion to take steps to provoke the battle. It all depends on what your religion teaches in relation to this.

In order for my god to appear, the prophesy must be fulfilled even though it means I could die along with many others during the time it is played out. Regardless, I should be thrilled if X and Y go to war.

Once again why should you take any emotional response to the coming of the war?

There's a chance I'll see god while I'm alive. Then again I get to see my god when I die. Why is seeing god while I'm still flesh and blood more important than seeing him/her in an afterlife?

I don't know. Is it important to see God while one is still alive if one is going to see Him after death anyway???


All Praise The Ancient Of Days