Is it normal that eschatological whackos scare me?

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People who take literal interpretations of the Book of Revelation, the eschatological stories of Islam, or any other religion scare me, not just because they subject you to bizarre fire-and-brimstone sermons, but because I think that they can be dangerous to society in some ways. Some of the conservative Christians I've talked to (and some of the ones in my family) think that there's no point in taking care of the environment, addressing the Holocene extinction, fixing the economy, solving problems regarding social justice, or even paying off their own fucking debt and taking care of their children because they think that "the end is near, [they] can hear the four horsemen a-galloping" and despite their trashing of his planet, they think that Jesus or whoever is just gonna come back any day now and save their asses. It scares me, because it's not just a small group of crazies or anything, but a significant proportion of the American population that thinks this way.

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83% Normal
Based on 12 votes (10 yes)
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Comments ( 7 )
  • VirgilManly
    9 years ago

    For Scatological whackos the end really is always near.

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  • Avant-Garde
    9 years ago

    Normal, though, some of the Christian theories on Biblical Prophecy has been interesting. The interesting thing is that according to the Jews, the Torah's (makes up Bible's Old Testament) scriptures were never meant to be taken as being literal. They were supposed to be used as examples.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      9 years ago

      True. From a purely intellectual standpoint, the various interpretations and theologies surrounding the Bible and the Koran are fascinating. The thing which bothers me the most is the lengths that some will go to defend a literal interpretation of Jonah and the whale when that story is such an obvious satire with an accompanying didactic purpose.

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  • thegypsysailor
    9 years ago

    I've been around 68 years and I've never heard any of this before, especially the "no point in taking care of the environment, addressing the Holocene extinction, fixing the economy, solving problems regarding social justice, or even paying off their own fucking debt", so I rather doubt that a significant proportion of the American population thinks this way.
    There are plenty of nut jobs out there but this is a new kind of crazy to me.

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    • Ellenna
      8 years ago

      Maybe you need to come ashore more often?

      I've been hearing this sort of crap from millenial christians for years: a lot of it started after Israel was established as a state because that's part of the "end time prophecies", and that was just before I was born. My father went on so much about the end of the world being nigh that I just tuned out as a child and I had a good laugh at people who were freaked by the alleged 2000 bug or who spout any of this rubbish.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      9 years ago

      http://www.pewresearch.org/daily-number/jesus-christs-return-to-earth/

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  • beele
    9 years ago

    It's entirely normal to fear radicals in any sense I think.

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