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I put the odds of my 88 year old father in law dying in the next 12 months at about 80%. My 76 year old brother at about 40%. I have just extended my employment another year when I really wanted to retire. For various reasons I have found it necessary to get on the board of my HOA (may dog have mercy on my eternal soul, and prevent me from murdering anyone with my bare hands). Putler is cornered and dangerous, so who knows how that will shake out. Unfortunately I expect 2023 to be a continuation of the curse of Living in Interesting Times. And here in the US, 2024 is another presidential election year, hooray!
I know Thoreau thinks this will all cease to be a problem if I'd just stop listening to the news. Odd thing is, I stopped that years ago ... events just keep happening, only now I don't always see them coming, lol
I put the odds of my 88 year old father in law dying in the next 12 months at about 80%. My 76 year old brother at about 40%. I have just extended my employment another year when I really wanted to retire. For various reasons I have found it necessary to get on the board of my HOA (may dog have mercy on my eternal soul, and prevent me from murdering anyone with my bare hands). Putler is cornered and dangerous, so who knows how that will shake out. Unfortunately I expect 2023 to be a continuation of the curse of Living in Interesting Times. And here in the US, 2024 is another presidential election year, hooray!
I know Thoreau thinks this will all cease to be a problem if I'd just stop listening to the news. Odd thing is, I stopped that years ago ... events just keep happening, only now I don't always see them coming, lol
The news has nothing to do with it, except for the "news" I've gotten on a personal basis.
There's a huge tendency these days to latch onto negativity, cynicism, drama, and misery. It's pushed in the so-called "news" outlets, feeds talk radio, and sells newspapers. Misery loves company. And the more we choose to suffer, the more we can complain and cry together.
Give me a break. If you separate yourself from all of that, you can focus instead on positives, and what we can be thankful for and appreciative of. That's probably the biggest difference between previous generations 60 years ago and beyond, compared to now.
Death is guaranteed, so the more you live everyday, the less death can affect you. Some people are dead way before they ever leave us, and those numbers are increasing over time. That can be reversed, so drop the excuses. Get some responsibility and accountability.
this is a really, really good post.
excellent insights.
Right. Since we're in the Religion & Spirituality thread, does anyone believe - or at least wonder - whether this 'cursed year' and prior years leading up to the present time indicates biblical last-day events? How many of us actually believe that 'time' WILL eventually run out for us all and that the return of Jesus Christ is, as each day goes by, getting more and more closer? Here are a few Bible texts:
2 Timothy 3:1-5 - 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Matthew 24:3-14 - 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.
5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
[color="Navy"]Since we're in the Religion & Spirituality thread, does anyone believe - or at least wonder - whether this 'cursed year' and prior years leading up to the present time indicates biblical last-day events? How many of us actually believe that 'time' WILL eventually run out for us all and that the return of Jesus Christ is, as each day goes by, getting more and more closer?
No.
There are perfectly adequate cause-and-effect explanations for everything that is happening that aren't made clearer by claimed prophetic significance. More importantly, correct diagnosis leads in the direction of correct and effective solutions, and spiritual diagnoses just continues to cater to the church's fantasy that converting more people or imposing more Christian strictures on society generally will magically fix things.
The church has held forth the notion for its entire history that all the world's problems are at root in need of spiritual solutions. I don't suggest for a hot minute that some spiritual solutions couldn't have positive fallout, especially where it induces actual self-reflection and aspiration to the great virtues. But what I have seen way too much of is just basically magical thinking. We don't have to take any action to reduce carbon emissions because "god is in control", for example. We don't have to consider the moral and ethical implications of things like landlording or paying people less than living wages and not caring about adequate health care as any sort of right because being a Christian makes most people more diligent and responsible and healthy. Stuff like that.
Jesus himself plainly stated that he would return within the lifetimes of at least some of those in his present day. That was 2,000 years ago and counting. The scriptures plainly state that (1) no one is saved apart from Jesus and (2) god is not willing that any should perish. Yet here we are 2,000 years on and Christianity is not even culturally claiming more than a third of the world population and the world is in arguably an even worse place than it was two millennia ago. Within two decades or so Christianity will not even be the largest world religion anymore. With all this being true, in what universe would I give serious consideration to whether or not Christian prophecy is responsible for world events?
[color="Navy"]Right. Since we're in the Religion & Spirituality thread, does anyone believe - or at least wonder - whether this 'cursed year' and prior years leading up to the present time indicates biblical last-day events? How many of us actually believe that 'time' WILL eventually run out for us all and that the return of Jesus Christ is, as each day goes by, getting more and more closer?
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
I definitely think end times is possible; whether or not it’s actually happening is hard to say. There have always been wars and famines. However, the increase in natural disasters as well as the increase in technology in our daily lives (which has resulted in even more problems wrt to peace on Earth) is concerning. And, then, the way a lot of people behaved when COVID became a pandemic was just plain scary. So, yeah, it certainly feels like the beginning of end times.
One thing I have noticed: I feel like things have gotten a little better now that Christmas is approaching. I’ve been wearing my cross every day and I am making an extra effort to live by it. I’ve always tried to live by it but, as the scripture verses that you posted suggest, I feel like an extra effort is necessary now.
Thank you for posting the scripture verses. I find that the above snippet ^^ is particularly helpful as we navigate these challenging times. As gentle arts pointed out, it could have been worse. If we are in end times, things will definitely get worse and we need to remember to stand firm in our faith and practice kindness and charity even in the face of great maleficence.
Wherever you mind is going to go - whatever direction you're choosing - there you will head.
It's no surprise that the conspiracy folks are full of doom, because that's all they feed on. Garbage in, garbage out.
Seeing all the good that's available, and improvements, is just a turn away, but you have to snap out of it (humanity's ways), and chose the better path. The world will pull you down if you latch on to it, and the collective negativity and misery.
It all comes down to personal responsibility. You're part of the problem, or part of the solution.
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