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The Book of Revelation
[3] And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
[4] These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb he whither soever goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Source: King James Vision
All my life I have been warned that the end of times is coming soon. It says so in the Bible, you know. In particular, the prophets of Christian doom gleefully point to the Book of Revelation.
I never paid much attention to it since I know from a little bit of a reading of history that Christians have been waiting for the final Judgment since Jesus is attributed to have said, "Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power."
I also know that many fundamentalist Christians, Jews, and Muslims are a bit too eager for the massive killing called for in various 'End Times' scenarios. We even had a fundamentalist Christian President Bush that seemed to be doing all he could to help bring about the destruction of the earth. These fanatical types, which likely make up hundreds of millions of people, will not be happy until they see their neighbor blown up in a fire of destruction and thrown into some pit. They also like to think that they will be the one that gets saved and live happily ever after.
Sadly, many people are a blood thirsty and goofy lot.
Yet, these true believers are sure that God will save them and their kind, and the rest will figuratively and literally go to hell.
But if you are a Christian you might want to think a little bit harder about doing all you can to bring in the final Armageddon.
According to the Book of Revelation there are only 144,000 that will be saved. Now I know most people have high opinions of themselves and can easily see themselves as part of the 144,000. But still those aren't very good odds. So if you think about it, you really got to be playing by the rules nearly all the time to even have a chance. Or at least you have be a bigger believer than nearly all of humanity(I guess your view on being chosen depends on whether you are Catholic or Protestant).
So far so good, you might think. You are chosen and you are going to get the green light to get on Mount Zion with Jesus.
But here it gets a little more complicated. According to the Book of Revelation you can't be a woman and get to spend the thousand years with Jesus.
Sorry girls you are out of luck.
Now Christian men might be rejoicing at this point because your odds just increased. But I am going to give Christians a bit of more bad news. The 144,000 have to be Jews.
Well you might argue that as a Christian you are spiritually a Jew so you will be part of the big day celebrations. Still, it does specifically mention how many will be taken from each tribe.
But Here is the really really bad news for all those that are waiting for destruction of the world as we know it. Not only are girls not in on the thousand year reign of Jesus but those that were "defiled by women" are out of luck. In short, if you are not a virgin then you are not to be saved from the tribulations.
So who is going to be saved during the End Times?
It looks like 144,000 Jewish men that have never had sex. Now I am not sure if there are 144,000 Jewish men that have never had sex with women. I guess that if you include homosexual Jews into the mix then we can get to that number.
The bottom line here is for all of you waiting for Armageddon and End Times, you might want to think long and hard about that. Let's face it, the odds stink and you women are out of luck.
A better bet than doing what you can to bring about the destruction of the world would be to do what you can to help save the planet. That way we don't have to see billions of humanity perish in a blood bath. Moreover, you will get the pleasure of knowing that your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc. might have a beautiful planet to enjoy in peace.
I guess you can call me party pooper or even a heretic, but I am going to do what I can to see that the earth is livable for many years to come. Call me crazy, but I love people in spite of what I know about them. I want them to have good lives and to live in health and happiness. I also would like to see a clean and healthy environment that is safe for life.
Not only that, I don't like my odds of surviving Armageddon and all of the tribulations of End Times. So I am going to do what I can to help others so we don't have to witness the terrible destruction that will come from man's inhumanity to man. I hope others might clearly think about the world they have been creating and come join my side. You might not get 'saved', but you will get to help save. Somehow caring for fellow men and women and helping others seems oddly Christian to me, even if it doesn't get Christians past Armageddon.
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