Cashless society= Armageddon/ Anti-Christ

[Drooling Iguana]

To be honest, . . . I'd also like the ability to pay for things by just using an iris/fingerprint scan. It's much harder to loose (or have stolen) an eye or a finger, and you wouldn't have to remember your wallet. But yes, I bet MANY Christians would never use that sort of payment media because it is TOO close to "the mark".

If someone duplicates your credit card, you have the card company classify it as invalid and issue you a new one. What are you supposed to do if someone finds a way of duplicating your fingerprints or retinal scans? Get new hands and eyes?

[Stark]

That's why implanted certificates are better, since they can be changed. Biometrics are silly.

[Alerik the Fortunate]

Any guess on how many years from now until talk of the rapture is seen by virtually everyone as complete lunacy?.


-Kevin

Actually, yes. If we survive past 2055, we should have good chances. Most people who believe that the Book of Revelation is future prophecy and that it was not primarily fullfilled in the fall of Jerusalem around 70 a.d. believe that "this generation" that shall not pass away refers to those living at the time of the refounding of the nation of Israel in 1948. This means that to know the outer envelope of the end of the world, one must merely estimate the length of a generation. Some would say 70 years, putting it at around 2018 at the outer limit. But some would say 100 years is allowable. Allow for 7 years of tribulation (there is debate concerning the actual timing of the "rapture" in the whole end times tribulation process), we end up in 2055. There are some who would count from 1967 for the filling out of Israeli territory, or alternately, allow even 120 year generations. So there's perhaps another 20 to 40 years beyond that that it could be plausibly extended by the desperate. So essentially, by the turn of the 22nd century, virtually every tenuous claim to end times generation will have expired if we haven't destroyed ourselves yet. However, there may arise a popular, new, radical reinterpretation presenting an entirely new timeline of events for the faithful (hopefully a much less popular one). There will be some danger, though, in the third quarter of the century as some, who see their time running out, will see it as their divine duty to provoke the return of Christ by enacting their version of prophecy. The sad fact is there will probably be some in power even, who would willingly exterminate all life in the universe rather than admit they could be that wrong, because, essentially, God wills it.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Most people who believe that the Book of Revelation is future prophecy and that it was not primarily fullfilled in the fall of Jerusalem around 70 a.d. believe that "this generation" that shall not pass away refers to those living at the time of the refounding of the nation of Israel in 1948.

If that's the case, then how come I've never heard that until just now?

[Alerik the Fortunate]

Sorry. Hasty generalization. But it is a common explanatory structure. I'll find a link to something in just a few minutes.

[Alerik the Fortunate]

http://www.raptureready.com/rap101.html

This is a sample. I don't know how representative it really is, but I did grow up with reasoning quite along these lines, and while I did grow up in a fringe group, I think it's similar enough to those that have some sway over the relative mainstream.

[K. A. Pital]

What are you supposed to do if someone finds a way of duplicating your fingerprints or retinal scans? Get new hands and eyes?

Minority Report.

[Alerik the Fortunate]

Of course, the real sign according to many, will simply be the lack of believers.

[Pezzoni]

Actually, yes. If we survive past 2055, we should have good chances. Most people who believe that the Book of Revelation is future prophecy and that it was not primarily fullfilled in the fall of Jerusalem around 70 a.d. believe that "this generation" that shall not pass away refers to those living at the time of the refounding of the nation of Israel in 1948. This means that to know the outer envelope of the end of the world, one must merely estimate the length of a generation. Some would say 70 years, putting it at around 2018 at the outer limit. But some would say 100 years is allowable. Allow for 7 years of tribulation (there is debate concerning the actual timing of the "rapture" in the whole end times tribulation process), we end up in 2055. There are some who would count from 1967 for the filling out of Israeli territory, or alternately, allow even 120 year generations. So there's perhaps another 20 to 40 years beyond that that it could be plausibly extended by the desperate. So essentially, by the turn of the 22nd century, virtually every tenuous claim to end times generation will have expired if we haven't destroyed ourselves yet. However, there may arise a popular, new, radical reinterpretation presenting an entirely new timeline of events for the faithful (hopefully a much less popular one). There will be some danger, though, in the third quarter of the century as some, who see their time running out, will see it as their divine duty to provoke the return of Christ by enacting their version of prophecy. The sad fact is there will probably be some in power even, who would willingly exterminate all life in the universe rather than admit they could be that wrong, because, essentially, God wills it.

The sheer number of times the Jehova's witnesses have been wrong, and then revised their claims.... And been wrong again, combined with the fact that they are still going strong suggests that when nothing happens, someone will come up with an alternative interperatation, and a new date.