RE: When Evangelicals freak out.
December 4, 2020 at 1:00 am
(This post was last modified: December 4, 2020 at 1:10 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Sideball...but the whole machine gun of failed prophecy thing might be a feature, not a bug. The sorts of emotional states that believers in these systems prefer and shop and seek out and find produce tumultuous experiences of apocalyptic dread. The rollercoaster of watching everything you thought true and divine one minute become false or destroyed the next.
The customers are paying a ticket to get on the ride, and because they'll pay that ticket - making alot of nutball failed prophecies, counterintuitively, helps churches survive. Divine selection. The nerd term for this is an intentionally confusing theology. This isn't to say that the faith leaders are intentionally doing it, that they know why it works - they only need know that it does..and so they do it. It becomes an expectation in the form of denominational statements, even. Why do holy rollers handle snakes? Cuz magic book says they can. If a person was shopping for the holy roller experience...and you didn't have snakes, they wouldn't accept your ministry as genuine. This means that preachers...even if they know they don't have the gift of prophecy...and even if they do know how and why this actually works....and hate it...have to make those doomed predictions.
The customers are paying a ticket to get on the ride, and because they'll pay that ticket - making alot of nutball failed prophecies, counterintuitively, helps churches survive. Divine selection. The nerd term for this is an intentionally confusing theology. This isn't to say that the faith leaders are intentionally doing it, that they know why it works - they only need know that it does..and so they do it. It becomes an expectation in the form of denominational statements, even. Why do holy rollers handle snakes? Cuz magic book says they can. If a person was shopping for the holy roller experience...and you didn't have snakes, they wouldn't accept your ministry as genuine. This means that preachers...even if they know they don't have the gift of prophecy...and even if they do know how and why this actually works....and hate it...have to make those doomed predictions.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
