Evangelists, evangelicals, et al – does anyone agree with the following

[peacetalksforall]

Evangelicals who adore Bush believe the world is going to end.
But evangelists and their political and military leaders are very busy acquiring untold wealth and are trying to destroy us economically, environmentally and politically.
If evangelists and leaders need all that wealth, does it mean they believe the world isn’t really going to end?

I was extremely shocked to learn from the PBS special that they don’t even believe trees need to remain on the earth, that it is useless to preserve them? So if we don't need trees, why do they need wealth?

We know that the leaders are obsessed with controlling the masses and it appears they would not mind a few natural disasters or bio-pred problems to eliminate some of us. There are even theories that AIDS was planted. It appears that they do not hold any concepts of retribution or karma consciousness.

So who is right – the believers or those who are acquiring wealth – Robertson and his gold? CEOs and their military brass? Conglomerates of earth exploiters? Banking exploiters?

If I’m a thinking citizen of this country and I had no idea of the implications of their theology until Bush Jr was elected and if I’m been lucky to ask myself so many questions and others have been able to provide so many answers, but with the majority of citizens so slow to catch on, are we doomed no matter which of them wins?

I need to understand these strange people.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. They talk a lot about them in the Bible.

They are hypocrites.

[smiley_glad_hands]

2. You will never be able to understand them---

they are walking contradictions---whether in there faith or politics it doesn't matter. Logic ends where fundamentalism begins.

[LeahMira]

3. In a word... Calvinism.

If evangelists and leaders need all that wealth, does it mean they believe the world isn’t really going to end?

The end of the world is not so much the point. There is a Calvinist element in all American fundamentalism, and Calvin preached predestination. They believe their wealth is proof that they are pleasing to the lord and that they are destined for the pearly gates.

(Hmmm... pearly! Yep. Wealth again. All those pearls.)

Anyhow, they believe that if someone is poor, that person must be doing something wrong.

The trees? Well, according to the Bible, we are supposed to be fruitful and multiply and dominate the earth, or something like that. They believe trees were made for man's use. I guess they don't think about which use... like the use of trees producing oxygen for man to breathe. I guess creative thinking is not part of their repetoire... just doing as they think they were told. Oh well.

Frankly, what I don't get is why, if they all are so anxious to get to heaven, they are so worried about dying. You'd think they'd be for euthanasia.

[ablbodyed]

7. Euthanasia for fundies....

NOW THERE'S A GREAT IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Az]

4. Looking forward to the end of the world is a bad quality to have

in a man that can bring it about.

[doni_georgia]

5. ah, but what THEY really believe and what they SAY

are two different things.

They have to convince the average people that the world is going to end, so that the average people will part with their money by giving it to the evangelists. Really a no brainer!

[donhakman]

6. The end is neigh

Anyone remember Earnest Angely?
Crude but less ofensive than the new pompous evangelists.

..............
Natural cataclysm and cosmic catastrophe's aside we have the means to kill the planet right now.

The number of massive underground installations in the US would astound the new comer. They are virtually the new secret wonder of the world.

They are being built for a reason.

[mike1963]

10. "BAY-BEE"...................

is that fucking fruitcake still around?

[Az]

8. There is a question I devised to find the true believers

Medical advances in aging are leading to the possibility that we may essentially be able to stop the aging process. You have to understand what aging is to get the impact of this. Our cells divide and replicate themself regularly. Each time they do this they chop off a bit of their DNA called Telemeres. These are sort of like fuses for cells. When they get chopped off completely the cell stops being able to replicate properly. And that is when the aging process kicks into full gear.

If we could stop the cropping process, not only would we stop aging but our health would readjust back to the height of our adult life.

So here is the question. If you had the chance to take advantage of a medical process that could stop the aging process in this way and essentially live as long as you choose to, would you take advantage of it. Or would you allow yourself to die within the span of life you have unchanged by medical technology.

[Cleita]

11. Today, no, but it presents a facinating possibility for

space travel and exploring our galaxy without fear of dying or being impossibly old when you discover new worlds.

[Cleita]

9. It's as old as the first Pharoah, who claimed he was a god

and you were either with him or against him. You didn't have much of a choice back then because a strong king was also a military leader who kept raiders back and allowed you to go about the business of tending your crops. However, when this guy started getting too much gold and you got uppity about it, claiming he was a god made you back off. He only played on your superstitions and fears and it worked.

All those beliefs are in place in those people's minds and all it takes is opportunists to bolster those fears and supersitions to the point that no logic and proof of chicanery will make a difference.

[gumby]

12. JJ Bush?

Right-wingers have created a religion out of their own greedy, nihilistic, authoritarian ambitions.

When they gaze upon their self-reflection, they bray to the world about how religious they are.

Rush Limbaugh has created “conservatism” from the same pool of human depravity. “Conservatism” and right-wing christianity are informed by the same roots (Rush uses “roots” a lot to describe vile liberals).

Conservative/christians are the real “if it feels good do it” perverts. Just remember George Bush – the chosen by god resident – when, just before he announced that “we” were going to attack Iraq, he clowned with the people in Oval Office and pumped his fist in the air and said, “feels good.” Feels good indeed. And just what qualifies as “disrespecting the Oval Office?”

And the more adherents to the cargo cult of death and destruction that can be evangelized, the more self-important and emboldened the leaders to the road of self-destruction become.

Ah, greed and torture in the name of being “chosen.” Self-destruction in the name of the deity. Yep, and when you can actually see the shock and awe and the charred bodies hanging from a bridge, YEOW, how righteous an experience that is ….. and sure to gain more believers.

A cult of death and destruction don’t need trees or nothing else ‘cept death and destruction……… Here we are………. It’s the Jim Jones experience…. They didn’t have any choice about drinking the Kool-Aid either.

[drfemoe]

13. A couple of things ..

Impoverishing most of humanity will hasten the decline in population / "end of the world".

Even if there is a world calamity, certain elite populations have access to bunkers to preserve their own lives.

I've wondered about this too. Because if there is destruction of the planet, or even a precipitous population drop, who will be around to provide the services to which the wealthy are so accustomed?