[zeek]

Originally Posted by bearbear

According to Jesus' seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, it seems like God is concerned more with quality than quantity. I think the majority of churches in America can be likened to Laodicea, which is not a good thing.

Paul's description of what the last days are like is not too far removed from the type of folks you'd find in America's churches nowadays:

2 Timothy 3:1-5
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Yet I think if judgment comes during our lives it would be a good thing, if it's the wakeup call we need to repent. Better to repent while we are alive than after we die when it's too late.

It takes a huge imaginative leap to suppose that John of Patmos was talking about churches in America or that Isaiah was talking about the twin towers in New York City or that Paul was thinking about the modern era when he referred to "perilous times." Those that make the leap recognize on some level that cold objectivity lacks the moral force of powerful bible imagery. And Cahn is a master at appropriating Bible imagery to move people in service of his ideological agenda. I appreciate his prophetic imagination. I wonder if he himself believes that the images in his head have the weight of absoluteness. Be that as it may, in Cahn's case I think true "repentance" would entail not only buying into his onstage histrionics but getting in line with his right-wing ideology. Don't you think?