Posted on 03/06/2006 11:29:39 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
The last Freeper Research Project on Freeper personality types is currently being compiled and will be posted soon.
Meanwhile, we are embarking on a new survey to determine what Freepers believe is the end of all that there is.:
Teleology is the study of final causes, the end results.
Freepers’ answers will no doubt be strongly related to personal religious beliefs - but this is not a religion thread!
Here we are simply doing a survey of Freeper views on the subject.
Please consider the following list of beliefs and end time scenarios and then post which of them would apply to you, or if you believe something else - then please give a short description of what you believe.
If you spot an error in my definitions, please let me know.
Thank you so much for your participation in this survey!!!
Christianity (paraphrased from this webpage)
Historical Premillennialism: The Antichrist appears on earth before the seven year Tribulation begins. Rapture follows tribulation. Christ and his Church return to earth to rule for a Millennium. The forces of evil are conquered. The faithful live during the thousand years in Jerusalem, while occupying spiritual bodies. After the millennium, all people are judged and the faithful spend eternity on a new earth (not in heaven).
Dispensational Premillennialism: (a.k.a. Dispensationalism) The Tribulation precedes the second coming of Christ, and the subsequent establishment of the millennial kingdom -- a thousand-year golden age on Earth under the authority of Christ. Afterwards, in a brief, final battle, Satan is permanently conquered. The Final Judgment follows the millennium.
Pre-Tribulation Rapture: (or "pre-trib") The Rapture happens just before the Tribulation, so that believers will not have to experience any of its disruption and pain.
Post-tribulation Rapture: (or "post-trib") The faithful experience the full horrors of the entire Tribulation and are raptured only at the end of the 7 years.
Mid-Tribulation Rapture: (or "mid-trib") The Rapture happens 42 months into the Tribulation. Up to that time, the Antichrist brings peace to the world. After 42 months, events take a sudden turn for the worse.
Pre-wrath Rapture: That the church must experience most of the Tribulation, and then be raptured towards the end of the Tribulation period.
Partial Rapture: The faithful born-again believers are raptured just before the Tribulation. Newly born again believers are raptured during or at the end of the Tribulation.
Amillennialism: (Also known as Nonmillennialism). The Kingdom of God is present in the world today through the presence of the heavenly reign of Christ, the Bible, the Holy Spirit and Christianity. Both good and evil will continue in the world until the current Church Age ends suddenly as Christ returns to the sky above the earth. The Rapture follows. The Redeemed are transported to heaven where they will adopt spiritual bodies. The majority of humanity will be sent to Hell at this time for eternal punishment. The world will be abandoned. History is no more.
Amillennialism, Roman Catholic: These anticipate Jesus coming to Earth and gathering the Church together. But they generally do not use the term "rapture."
Postmillennialism: (Also known as "Christian Reconstruction", "Kingdom Now Theology" and "Dominion Theology.") These believe “that the kingdom of God is now being extended in the world through the preaching of the gospel and the saving work of the Holy Spirit, that the world eventually is to be Christianized, and that the return of Christ will occur at the close of a long period of righteousness and peace, commonly called the millennium.”
Preterism is a belief that the events prophesized in the New Testament have already happened. The great war of Armageddon in the book of Revelation occurred in the late 60's and early 70's CE when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, many Jews were killed and the rest were driven from Palestine. When Jesus talked about the end of the world, he did not mean that the physical world would be no more.
No Millennialism: These interpret the contents of the books of Daniel and Revelation as having no prophetic information for our future.
Islam - On a day of reckoning, God will resurrect and judge the dead, send the righteous to heaven and the evil to hell. This will be preceded by a Muhammed-like holy warrior, the Mahdi (twelfth imam) – who defends Islam from the antiChrist, beasts, etc.
Buddhism - Buddha’s teachings will disappear and all will fall into ruin to be replaced by Maitreya and his teachings.
Hinduism All will fall into ruin followed by the appearance of an avatar (Kalki Avatar)
Atheism:
Cyclic The universe expands by strictly naturalistic means, collapses, and then expands again etc. Endless Expansion The universe never quits expanding but reaches maximum entropy killing everything anyway
As a reminder – this is a survey thread only. Do not argue for or against doctrines here, that should be done on the Religion Forum.
In any event, my answer to your survey would be: It never ends. There will always be something.
It will all end when you meet Chuck Norris.
LOLOL, GSlob!
Oh dear AntiGuv, you owe me no apology! I am thrilled to hear from you and thank you for your views.
I personally learn towards
Endless Expansion The universe never quits expanding but reaches maximum entropy killing everything anyway
This not only works on the cosmic level, but also explains my waistline.....
LOLOL, pcottraux!
LOLOL! And thank you for sharing!
Ok, my vote is the easy way out- PreTrib Rapture. I really am not in the mood to battle plagues and pestilience tonight. So if GOD is reading this thread, zap me up first... And I don't want the zap to hurt at all :) (how much more selfish can I be?)
Joking aside, put me down as a Pre-Trib Dispensational Premillennialism (try saying that three times fast. No, actually, don't).
Thank you for accepting my apologies so graciously! :)
To elaborate just a bit, although the closest answer to my views would be the last (Atheism: Endless Expansion) what I actually believe is that the universe that we know is not a closed system. That there is a grander 'multiverse' beyond it, within which our universe is situated. Since I regard this grander reality as ultimately "all that there is" I see no reason to presume that a time will come when none of it is any longer.
Yep, that's my vote. He will return. Perhaps in my lifetime, perhaps not.
I'm no expert, but I believe that is not correct. Hindus (Vedas) have a cyclical view of time. The universe is created and destroyed over a set period of time, over and over. It may be that an Avatar appears at the end of a cycle, but that would only be one milestone, so to speak - not a cause. The end of the universe is inevitable, and is contained within the birth.
That would be the end, not the 'fall into ruin'. According to Hinduism, that is where we are right now.
I was talking to a dear friend the other night about this very subject. She said her pastor has now come to the conclusion that he's Pan-Trib. Pan-Trib? Yes. Whatever pans out....
It wasn't said in mockery, but think about it...there's nothing we can do about God's perfect timing.
BUT....for the sake of this survey, I used to be a pre- but have DEFINITELY moved more towards Mid. I don't see HOW or WHY we're so special during this generation to be spared suffering for Christ.
The tribulation, IMNSHO, is for the NON believers, not us.
Boy. I'm going to bed. That was far too long-winded for a short answer. :)
Hope your new computer COOKS tomorrow night!! I LOVE getting a new one! And thanks for praying for the little guy..
It won't hurt, I'm sure. Thank you for sharing!
Ok I will bite on this. I will say I believe in Amillennialism, Roman Catholic. Even though as a convert from the Evanglical faith to Catholicism you are pretty right that in the big things there is not much difference between the Catholic view and Amillennialism: (Also known as Nonmillennialism. As to the specifics of how it will end I must admit that alot of what the preterism people say is valid to me also and in fact some bits(not all) can be reconciled with the two views I have mentioned above. So as to certain passages esp in Matthew I incorporated some of those viewpoints while still maintaining an orthodox Catholic Amillennialism view
I tend to follow the Catholic teachings towards the end of it all (or perhaps the begining of it all, depending on how you look at it...)
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