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Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

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Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#81

Post by lo_zamoyski »

sklargh wrote: post #35
torben-friis wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>its not a common belief among Catholics, and its rarely discussed by them. I'll do you one further, as someone from a deeply catholic country: Considering the triggering of Armaggedon in daily politics is seen as batshit crazy.

American Catholics aren't really a monolith on this matter...or any. There are substantial differences between Catholics who seek out Jesuit parishes and those who seek out the Tridentine Mass and people who are just achieving physical presence and thinking about kickoff at 5:00 PM Sunday Mass to fulfill obligation and get out ASAP (no choir please, keep that sermon snappy). All of these are spiritually valid approac…

> American Catholics aren't really a monolith on this matter

No, but as a general rule, Catholics don’t and have never fretted about the end times the way all sorts of Protestant sects have, historically. Which is curious given Matthew 24:36 and all the hullabaloo Protestants make about being “scriptural”. And perhaps more importantly, because it has authority on such matters, Church teaching makes no claims about when the end of the world will occur and it never has, because it cannot.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#82

Post by celdon25 »

mattkevan wrote: post #38
lukan wrote: post #19

“Christians debated these prophecies for millennia. Who was the Antichrist? When would he arrive? What would he preach?” Maybe that we all need to surrender all our data to an intransparent global surveillance tool, that gets more and more connected to automatic killer drones? Oh and also despise democracy of course. Jesus Christ was on the side if the poor, so the antichrist would be on the side of the rich. Any ide…

Greta Thunberg, according to Thiel (seriously).

I personally think that when he mentioned her name during that interview, it was intended to be used as an archetypal proxy in place of someone else (another public figure) that he had personal dealings with. Yudkowsky checks those same boxes (mission focused on specific existential risk, gets a cult following) for example.

That being said, I don’t care much for Christian prophecies. Better to talk why than who.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#83

Post by [deleted] »

torben-friis wrote: post #28
graemep wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the religion in the religious household. Its common among American evangelicals, but (unless American Catholics are very different from Catholics in the rest of the world) its not a common belief among Catholics, and its rarely discussed by them. Why is Thiel, whose parents were American evangelical and whose own beliefs are described as "heterodox", trying to sell this in Catholic packaging outside the…

>its not a common belief among Catholics, and its rarely discussed by them. I'll do you one further, as someone from a deeply catholic country: Considering the triggering of Armaggedon in daily politics is seen as batshit crazy.

[deleted]

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#84

Post by nemo44x »

dgxyz wrote: post #17

If he was on a park bench covered in his own piss no one would pay any attention to the same words.

Correct. We call that “credibility”. People can earn credibility in this world through their accomplishments. If your life accomplishment is sitting in your own piss you lack credibility.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#85

Post by itsthecourier »

there was a Catholic reason for this, the Fatima Sheppards. there was an "apparition" of Virgin Mary and some "Prophecies" that were really imprinted on all Catholics over 50 years old. pretty much anti-russian propaganda. they silently pedal back from them in the last 25 years. but last time I visited sn important catholic monument internationally, most of the people in the bus knew about them, how they talk about the end of the world but never realized the Vatican already made them public all and it was a sham.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Secrets_of_F%C3%A1tima

also end of the world prophecies are a Catholic meme

my favorite is Pope Sylvester II in 1000 AD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_ap...

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#86

Post by kubb »

sicher wrote: post #63
kubb wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what grounds their belief that it's going to happen soon? Why not in a thousand years? As far as I know, there is no mention of the exact date in the Bible.

No, but even the first christians believed they were living in the end times. It's been believed for 2000 years.

For the first Christians, it made sense. But gradually, as it didn't happen, people adjusted their expectations.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#87

Post by breppp »

seanalltogether wrote: post #25

I grew up in a pretty religious household and my parents fully believed that Armageddon would happen in our lifetime. It wasn't until I was older that I realized there were a lot of American Christians that secretly held this belief, and that it has a meaningful influence on how voters want American politicians to deal with Israel and the Middle East in general.

That belief is very common in secular settings. Marx and current day offshoots believed in a war that will bring redemption and utopia, other complete atheists believe in the inevitable environmental disaster (not whether it is happening but the belief that it cannot be prevented or fixed)

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#88

Post by haunter »

nemo44x wrote: post #84
dgxyz wrote: post #17

If he was on a park bench covered in his own piss no one would pay any attention to the same words.

Correct. We call that “credibility”. People can earn credibility in this world through their accomplishments. If your life accomplishment is sitting in your own piss you lack credibility.

In this case it's more of Halo effect which is plaguing the tech world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#89

Post by kubb »

dmurray wrote: post #68
kubb wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what grounds their belief that it's going to happen soon? Why not in a thousand years? As far as I know, there is no mention of the exact date in the Bible.

It's a Pascal's wager. If you're convinced Armageddon is going to happen at some point, then you should do all you can to prepare for it happening in your lifetime. And that approach is explicitly encouraged in the Bible: "You do not know the day or hour", etc.

Right "you do not know the day or the hour", not "you know that the day will be sometime between 2026 and 2076". I understand being prepared and whatnot. I don't understand the certainty of the date. Even the Bible says that it's unknown.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#90

Post by tim-projects »

It seems to me that the idea of Armageddon without clear evidence, is the lizard brain taking over.

My point is that it's not crazy, it's survival. It's a feature not a bug.

In other words this looks dangerous, but it's really just every day normality for all of us.

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