| Author | Message | ||
| Violet (Violet) |
Has anyone else notice that America has become preoccupied with the dead? Or am I just eing hypersensative? It seems anytine there is a tragedy we want to build a memorial to the dead. We built the OK City bombing memorial, there is a memorial out in some field in Colorado for the Oklahoma State basketball plane crash, and now on national news 5,000 people getting together in NYC to build a memorial to the Twin towers. I'm sure there are many more, but this is creaping me out. It is almost like we a re becoming like the pagans and spending all this money on the dead. What do you think? Should we not be spending more time and money on the living? | ||
| Pathfinder (Pathfinder) |
Looks like nobody's jumping on this thread, so the new kid will do it: I suspect that I am not unusual among those who were raised Adventists that I wasn't rocked to my timbers by 9/11. We were raised on the edge of the Great Persecution and the Seven Last Plagues, after all. By the time NYC burned, it seemed rather passe' for we had visualized it for so long. I was stunned that the people around me thought they were safe before. Although the Adventists kept saying we were safe in the Lord, nobody seemed to really believe it. We feared the Catholics, we feared the government, we feared anything that wasn't us--and, child, you better learn your Bible texts so you'll be ready when they grab you and turn your fingernails backwards for worshipping on Saturday! As a result, I weathered 9/11 rather well in comparison to those around me and, like you, I don't completely relate to the building of monuments and endless vigils to the events. I do not see it as a death obsession but rather as a nation coming to terms with its mortality. They have learned what we always knew--that the world as we know it could end at any moment with a bang. | ||
| Colleentinker (Colleentinker) |
Pathfinderówelcome! Good point; I see the monuments the same way: Americans are finally facing their mortality. Although, Violet, you have an interesting observation, and I do think that many people fixate on death when they get "hit" with mortality. If you don't have true hope, the idea of mortality is sinister. Richard says that the attitude at his work was markedly frightened after 9/11. The thought that the "time of trouble" might be upon us is terrifying for Adventists. After all, that means judgment is complete, and who knows if they're saved or not? As one physician I know says, "Adventists do not die well." Doesn't it make a HUGE difference when we Know we're Saved?! I just praise God for security! Colleen | ||
| Sabra (Sabra) |
I think it is hard for us to understand how the average American views death. We were so accustomed to thinking they were just sleeping nowhere, rotting way, why would we put up a memorial? People believe the best, they hope their relatives and friends are in heaven and I think they just want to show some respect for those looking down on them. I don't feel they are obsessed, just hurt and it is a way to heal and show their love to those "in a better place". | ||
| Violet (Violet) |
Sabra, I understand that people want to show respect to their lost loved ones, but I thought that was what cemateries were for. I guess I have a problem with driving through downtown Oklahoma City and seeing the millons of dollars that was spent on the memory of the dead. Just my own hang up I guess. | ||
| Violet (Violet) |
Pathfinder, your point about the fingernails is well taken. I just keep beating my head against the wall at how stupid the whole thing is. I just want so bad to help my family and (friends?) see that Adventism is so full of lies. Guess I will just have to wait up on the Lord. I wonder if there are any stats on attempted suicides of Adventists because they felt they would never measure up to the standards, or were trying to avoid the time of trouble. | ||
| Dennisrainwater (Dennisrainwater) |
Excellent point, Violet! Oh how hopeless must be the existence of one who has come to the realisation that they can never 'get good enough' to measure up -- yet still maintain the conviction that this is what is necessary to win enough of God's favour to get to Heaven... I have personally spoken with a number of folks (thankfully, most of whom are now 'formers' and are free from this mentality) who had succumbed to the belief that there was ultimately no hope for them. Some of these folks have told me that they had literally made a "bargain with God". One man put it this way: "I told God that while I had tried as hard as I could, I knew I wasn't ever going to be able to be good enough for Him to save. So I remember striking a bargain with Him. I promised Him that I would do the best I could to keep my sins to only the kind that would hurt just myself. In exchange for that, I asked if He would please just snuff me out quickly when the time came. I knew he couldn't save me, but I didn't want to suffer long..." It breaks my heart to type that -- but I remember having some of the same feelings and thoughts myself. I'm sure many out there have, and I'll bet, Violet, that there are more than we would ever want to ponder who gave up and did what you have suggested. How tragic. Jesus told us it was His intention "that your joy be complete!" Colleen, I agree with you: It is absolutely awesome to enjoy our security in Christ!!! Wow! Safe in His Grasp, Den<>< |
