Earthquakes To Return To Europe

prinz

AtomicHorror wrote: »

Citation needed.

while we're on the topic of predicting natural events, I predict the sun will disappear below the horizon.......sooooooooon.

bill_ashmount

What is she saying that is so wrong? I don't think it is trolling.

Most Christains believe God will punish unbelievers anyway, this is surely no worse than the form of punishment which will be dished out for the rest of eternity according to Christians? Or am i missing soemthing?

Genuine question

I'm not a christian by the way and have no other religious affiliation.

MrPudding

PDN wrote: »

Just from an aesthetic point of view, a good earthquake would improve Milton Keynes no end.

(Apologies for plagiarising John Betjeman's poem about Slough)

I am not a fan, but one thing I will defend about it is people's mistaken view that it is a "concrete jungle." It actually has more trees and parks than anywhere I have ever been. That said, it does pretty much suck...

MrP

AtomicHorror

prinz wrote: »

while we're on the topic of predicting natural events, I predict the sun will disappear below the horizon.......sooooooooon.

If you predict it constantly over the next 8-9 hours you'll be right one of those times and can claim prescience!

Incidentally, did anyone spot the reports of the scientist who predicted the earthquake? The papers are having a field-day with it of course as it fits the Hollywood idea of the lone maverick scientist whose predictions are dismissed by The Man. Now he can say "I told you so", just as prinz will in about 9 hours time.

I say, if he (the scientist, not prinz) can pull it off three times in a row he might be on to something. Funny how nobody writes articles about all those millions of totally failed predictions...

toiletduck

Pamela111 wrote: »

Well I will tell you. I do not have any scientific information but earthquake and Tsunamis will not be a rare event soon. Remember that I told you this.

*cough*

Its a pity it has come to this but this is the way it must go.

Do you really believe that? Why must it be like you predict?

prinz

AtomicHorror wrote: »

If you predict it constantly over the next 8-9 hours you'll be right one of those times and can claim prescience!

Incidentally, did anyone spot the reports of the scientist who predicted the earthquake? The papers are having a field-day with it of course as it fits the Hollywood idea of the lone maverick scientist whose predictions are dismissed by The Man. Now he can say "I told you so", just as prinz will in about 9 hours time.

I say, if he (the scientist, not prinz) can pull it off three times in a row he might be on to something. Funny how nobody writes articles about all those millions of totally failed predictions...

I see a film and book deal in the offing.....you're on to something.

He might have a valid theory though. It was something to do with a huge increase Radon gas being emitted prior to the quake. Sounds sciency enough.

But as the authorities pointed out he was off by about 30 odd miles and had they evactuated the town he was claiming as the epicentre, the evacuees would have been smack bang in the middle of the actual earthquake. So he should probably remember that and keep up with the studies.

Fanny Cradock

Pamela111 wrote: »

Sadly, as a result of the movement towards heresy and abondment of the simple rules agreed between Abraham and God, of which we are decendants the cup of Wrath will be spread more widespread.

Rome and Italy, the home of the greatest Saints and of the Roman Catholic Church was hit just recently.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090406/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_earthquake

Already to mark the "end of times" we have had the Tsunami which killed 350,000 in one of the most sinful parts of the world. Europe and the USA must now receive the correction whilst Asia nations must see an increase also. Earthquakes will come to all of Europe, not just Italy but France and Spain also. The USA must also be brought to its knees.

Its a pity it has come to this but this is the way it must go.

The protection for humans is the Holy Rosary

I feel very strongly against the notion that God sent an earthquake to punish these people. Tectonic plates rubbed together and caused the earth to shake and crack, the buildings then fell down and people tragically died. That's it.

I really don't understand why people constantly look for signs in natural disasters. They have happened before, are happening right now and will happen in the future.

AtomicHorror

prinz wrote: »

I see a film and book deal in the offing.....you're on to something.

Jeff Goldblum is already signed up to play the lead. He won out over Denis Quaid who has only played the maverick scientist once.

prinz wrote: »

He might have a valid theory though. It was something to do with a huge increase Radon gas being emitted prior to the quake. Sounds sciency enough.

Well that's just it though, it's sciencey-sounding but so are most efforts to predict earthquakes (excluding pamela's). A theory isn't a theory unless it works, so what he's got is an hypothesis at best. Thing is, we've yet to find a predictive method that actually works reproducibly. This is no exception. If he can pull it off again then we can start to pay attention.

prinz wrote: »

But as the authorities pointed out he was off by about 30 odd miles and had they evactuated the town he was claiming as the epicentre, the evacuees would have been smack bang in the middle of the actual earthquake. So he should probably remember that and keep up with the studies.

Hadn't read that!

prinz

Mr Giuliani predicted a quake in the Sulmona area, a city some 30 miles (50km) south of the mountain city of L’Aquila, where the disaster struck.

The technician works for an underground physics lab in the nearby Gran Sasso massif, in the Apennine mountains, RAI said.

While the release of radon gas is studied as a phenomenon which sometimes precedes earthquakes, there is no way at the moment to correlate it to temblors and use it to predict them, said Enzo Boschi, head of the National Institute of Geophysics in Rome.

“Earthquakes are not predictable, and the information was completely wrong - he forecast it for Sulmona,” Mr Boschi told reporters.

He added that if the authorities had taken Mr Giuliani seriously the quake could have killed even more people.

“Imagine if we had accepted such data and evacuated Sulmona, most of the evacuees would have been in L’Aquila today,” Mr Boschi said.

The 5.8-magnitude quake hit L’Aquila as residents slept, killing at least 179 people and leaving thousands homeless.

from http://www.breakingnews.ie

Jeff Goldblum, nice. I'd have to suggest Bob De Niro have a cameo as Berlusconi.

kelly1

Pamela, judge not, and you will not be judged. I think you're spending far too much time worrying about future chastisements and probably reading too many dubious private revelations.

If you want to spead the Gospel, spread the good news, not fear. Your approach is only bringing you ridicule. You need to change your approach IMO.

God bless,
Noel.

lightening

I only dropped in on this forum yesterday after seeing an insult on the home page on boards.ie. I find the whole forum a bit shocking! People being called mindless, spineless, and emotionally retarded!

I am just back from a trip to Italy and the people there were good to me, they were nice, charitable, helpful and friendly. To suggest your God is punishing them is strange to say the least.

I would be fearful that these type of threads would put people off christianity instead of endearing them to it!

PDN

lightening wrote: »

I only dropped in on this forum yesterday after seeing an insult on the home page on boards.ie. I find the whole forum a bit shocking! People being called mindless, spineless, and emotionally retarded!

Are you trolling, or can you genuinely not recognise someone joking with someone else (particularly when the winking emoticon is employed)?

Goduznt Xzst

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I feel very strongly against the notion that God sent an earthquake to punish these people. Tectonic plates rubbed together and caused the earth to shake and crack, the buildings then fell down and people tragically died. That's it.

Can I ask you why you believe your God would not do something like this and what motivates your strong notion that God would not punish people this way?

It is understandable why some Christian sects could read Mark 13 and see Earthquakes and Wars as a sign of the End Times they expect to come. I know quite a few Christians, from varying sects, that view wars, famines and natural disasters as signs that the end times spoken of in Revelations are close at hand. In fact the recent fears and uncertainty over the present global recession seem to be emboldening these beliefs.

EDIT: for the OP, many have come before you and will probably come after you who have seen natural occurances as signs of the end, perhaps you should heed the words of St. Augustine from 1600 years ago who was also witnessing people back then trying to predict the coming end times:

...when it tells us to watch for the last day, every one should think of as concerning his own last day; lest haply when ye judge or think the last day of the world to be far distant, ye slumber with respect to your own last day...Let no one then search out for the last Day, when it is to be; but let us watch all by our good lives, lest the last day of any one of us find us unprepared

PDN

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Can I ask you why you believe your God would not do something like this and what motivates your strong notion that God would not punish people this way?

It is understandable why some Christian sects could read Mark 13 and see Earthquakes and Wars as a sign of the End Times they expect to come. I know quite a few Christians, from varying sects, that view wars, famines and natural disasters as signs that the end times spoken of in Revelations are close at hand. In fact the recent fears and uncertainty over the present global recession seem to be emboldening these beliefs.

Whoa, let's not take too big a leap of logic!

Many Christians do indeed believe that increased earthquakes etc. will be a sign of the End Times. That is because Jesus prophesied that such things will happen.

That is a world away from saying that the people killed in earthquakes deserved to die, or that the earthquakes in themselves were punishments from God (and those are two quite separate issues).

AtomicHorror

prinz wrote: »

Jeff Goldblum, nice. I'd have to suggest Bob De Niro have a cameo as Berlusconi.

Maybe, I mean if we're gonna let Goldblum get typecast as a maverick scientist, we can't worry too much about continuing De Niro's typecasting as a gangster. See what I did there?

robindch

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I really don't understand why people constantly look for signs in natural disasters.

Well, christianity does include stories in which its deity has been willing to trigger natural disasters to perform retribution-by-proxy or to indicate the imminent arrival of one event or another.

Without wanting to sound facetious about it, all that's happening is that somebody is taking the religion at its word.

Goduznt Xzst

PDN wrote: »

Whoa, let's not take too big a leap of logic!

Many Christians do indeed believe that increased earthquakes etc. will be a sign of the End Times. That is because Jesus prophesied that such things will happen.

Wait so the earthquakes aren't happening to punish people, they are merely a "sign" of the end times Why couldn't Jesus of prophesied some signs that wouldn't end up needlessly killing people, who, for all intents and purposes, weren't being punished in your opinion

I can see it in practice now:

Me: "Ok, I'll be around to pick you up at 8, when I'm outside I'll give you a sign"
Friend: "What sign?"
Me: "Oh I'm going to kill your dog, when I try to post its body through your letterbox you'll know I'm outside. Ok see you then"

lightening

PDN wrote: »

Are you trolling, or can you genuinely not recognise someone joking with someone else (particularly when the winking emoticon is employed)?

Woa! Easy tiger, sorry if I picked it up wrong. Serious things to be saying though, sometimes a wink picture doesn't cover it.

I am certainly not trolling, I am pretty sure the PO's opinion would turn people off christianity.

PDN

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Wait so the earthquakes aren't happening to punish people, they are merely a "sign" of the end times Why couldn't Jesus of prophesied some signs that wouldn't end up needlessly killing people, who, for all intents and purposes, weren't being punished in your opinion

You seem to be misunderstanding what 'prophesied' actually means. Jesus wasn't speaking magic words to make these things happen - he was saying that these are things that will occur at the end.

He prophesied also that true believers will be persecuted and that many will turn away from the faith - not things that God is just itching to make happen - so it makes much more sense to view His words as descriptive rather than causative.

PDN

lightening wrote: »

I am pretty sure the PO's opinion would turn people off christianity.

I agree with you there.

However, this forum does not operate a policy of censoring or deleting people's posts just because we don't agree with them, or because they paint Christianity in a bad light. In fact you will see some pretty full-on attacks on Christianity here - but they only get deleted if the posters concerned cross the line into personal abuse or otherwise break the Charter.

prinz

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Me: "Ok, I'll be around to pick you up at 8, when I'm outside I'll give you a sign"
Friend: "What sign?"
Me: "Oh I'm going to kill your dog, when I try to post its body through your letterbox you'll know I'm outside. Ok see you then"

:DThanks for the laugh:D

Not that I agree with the application of it though.

Goduznt Xzst

PDN wrote: »

You seem to be misunderstanding what 'prophesied' actually means. Jesus wasn't speaking magic words to make these things happen - he was saying that these are things that will occur at the end.

Yes but we are talking about an omnipotent being here.

I can see it now :pac:

Me: "Hey man sorry about the dog thing, come over to my gaff"
*friend walks in, opens door and a bucket of acid falls on his head*
Friend: "GAH!!! my EYES, why would you DO THAT!!!"
Me: "Oh I did nothing to you, I merely put the acid above the door and invited you to walk through it, and I did warn you, remember a few years back I said 'walking through doors can be dangerous', you clearly did not listen"
Friend: "But you set it up, you knew it was going to burn me, why didn't you just not put the bucket of acid above the door?"
Me: "Then how would my roommate Bob know when to get out of bed"
Friend: "WHAT???"
Bob: *yawn* "morning guys, hey thanks for giving me that sign when to get up, I didn't think you'd pull it off, but yeah someone screaming in torturous agony is a really good wake up call"

TwoShedsJackson

Like a ray of sunshine in the morning, Pamela111's insane ramblings can cheer one up no end. Even committed Christians would be embarrassed by you, Pamela.

lightening

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Even committed Christians would be embarrassed by you, Pamela.

I'd say Jesus would have ripped a nail out with his teeth to slap his head if he saw that post.

prinz

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Yes but we are talking about an omnipotent being here.

I can see it now :pac:

Me: "Hey man sorry about the dog thing, come over to my gaff"
*friend walks in, opens door and a bucket of acid falls on his head*
Friend: "GAH!!! my EYES, why would you DO THAT!!!"
Me: "Oh I did nothing to you, I merely put the acid above the door and invited you to walk through it, and I did warn you, remember a few years back I said 'walking through doors can be dangerous', you clearly did not listen"
Friend: "But you set it up, you knew it was going to burn me, why didn't you just not put the bucket of acid above the door?"
Me: "Then how would my roommate Bob know when to get out of bed"
Friend: "WHAT???"
Bob: *yawn* "morning guys, hey thanks for giving me that sign when to get up, I didn't think you'd pull it off, but yeah someone screaming in torturous agony is a really good wake up call"

At least we know this. Bob will be climbing in through the window from now on.:D

Ever thought of expanding these into feature length episodes? :pac:

I think PDN already explained the situation fairly simply.

PDN

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Yes but we are talking about an omnipotent being here.

No, Christians do not believe that Jesus was omnipotent or omniscient during His Incarnation (his time on earth in a human body). He grew in wisdom, confessed that He did not know certain things, and was subject to the limitations of a human body.

Tellox

PDN wrote: »

No, Christians do not believe that Jesus was omnipotent or omniscient during His Incarnation (his time on earth in a human body). He grew in wisdom, confessed that He did not know certain things, and was subject to the limitations of a human body.

I am also subject to the limitations of a human body, but have not yet predicted the events which will occur at the "end of times" as you call it. If Jesus was just an average human, how could he have superhuman powers of prediction?

And does this also mean that if I become absolutely convinced that the world will end when I drop and break my phone - and spread the message, am I the risen again Christ?

PDN

Tellox wrote: »

I am also subject to the limitations of a human body, but have not yet predicted the events which will occur at the "end of times" as you call it. If Jesus was just an average human, how could he have superhuman powers of prediction?

Nobody said He was just an average human.

We have no record of Jesus displaying any miraculous powers or knowledge until after His baptism when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. He was the man perfectly filled with the Spirit. (Of course He was also God the Son - but as part of the Incarnation he voluntarily laid aside His omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience to enter the virgin's womb as an unborn child) The Bible records other people, in ordinary human bodies, who were able to prophesy by the power of the Holy Spirit (eg Elijah or Isaiah).

And does this also mean that if I become absolutely convinced that the world will end when I drop and break my phone - and spread the message, am I the risen again Christ?

And now I'm to exercise my superhuman powers of prediction. Troll with that kind of muppetry in this forum again and you'll disappear in a flash with a red card up your backside.

Furious_Daz

If the OP is correct then god is more likely the enemy of the human race and we should be developing technologies with which to defeat him! Weapons of mass destruction! (Pun intended...)

I'll let myself out...

Tellox

PDN wrote: »

Nobody said He was just an average human.

We have no record of Jesus displaying any miraculous powers or knowledge until after His baptism when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. He was the man perfectly filled with the Spirit. (Of course He was also God the Son - but as part of the Incarnation he voluntarily laid aside His omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience to enter the virgin's womb as an unborn child) The Bible records other people, in ordinary human bodies, who were able to prophesy by the power of the Holy Spirit (eg Elijah or Isaiah).

I don't understand. He was born an average human, then through holy water became "above average" human, but was still held within the limitations of an average human? I would consider every human from the best scientific mind to olympic athletes, all the way down to the talentless and effortless on the dole to still be an average human. I would consider anyone who can demonstrate proof of psychic-like prediction, convert elements in changing water to wine, multiplying physical forms and elements such as fish/bread, and rising from the dead to be superhuman. I dont think many Christians would also agree that Jesus was simply an "above average" person.

And now I'm to exercise my superhuman powers of prediction. Troll with that kind of muppetry in this forum again and you'll disappear in a flash with a red card up your backside.

No trolling intended, albiet over the course of my life I'm quite used to getting the "SHUT UP AND GO AWAY" argument when discussing Christianity. If you wish, I can rephrase my original question to remove any element of humour;

If Jesus possessed no godly powers as you stated and neither do I, how are my predictions any different from his?