Does anyone else find the Doomsday mindset that some religions use to be extremely unproductive in life? I mean besides the obvious.

I mean its ok if you can find a church or religious group that just has a very positive atmosphere, and makes you feel happy, lifts your spirits, etc.

But its soooooooo annoying how these bigger churches (and a few small cults) lean so hard on threatening everyone with the "end of the world approaching soon" to make them join or stay in. I feel like if a group or religion is really a positive one, they won't have to do that. Their positive energy and the good feelings they give people should be the thing that brings in recruits and keeps people in.

I also find it generally unhealthy to obsess over the end of the world, no matter what religion you are. How can you plan your future, work on your education, achieve your dreams, apply yourself to long-term goals, raise happy children and help them plan THEIR future, etc.-- when you are always thinking the world is ending very soon? This is one of those things that made me leave the church, with their "preparedness" crap. Food and supply storage in your house at all times is like a constant reminder that you have NO future to look forward to!

Some churches make me feel like a million bucks. But some just depress the heck out of me. Yes, I still believe in God, but I don't think we are here to sit around obsessing about doomsday, lol. Makes me so mad.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2011 10:47PM by melissa3839.

This is a 50-minute (5 parts, 10 min. each) documentary on Wayne Bent / Michael Travessor's "End of the world" cult, made in 2007. Exmos especially will appreciate the insights!

Link to part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvytVhqiO6E

People stop thinking positively and creatively about their lives and their future. They hunker down and obsess.

I've heard some Christians have used it as an excuse to continue polluting the environment. Why worry, right? The old earth will pass away and a new one will replace it.

On top of that, I'm not sure any of us alive today can possibly fathom true suffering. I watch documentaries from WWI and WWII and wonder how in the world some of those people survived - starvation, disease, no clothing/medicine, etc. Or even the pioneer days...how hard their lives were surviving bitterly cold winters, droughts, etc. I don't know if I could last very long to be honest...I am a spoiled (but aware) product of a very coddled and provided-for generation.

...imagine my disappointment.
I couldn't wait to find out what a doomsday midget is!
Maybe like dwarf throwing? but with explosive little people?

lol

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2011 01:05AM by Dave the Atheist.

...these are people who hate their lives, hate the world they live in, and they want it all to end, or they want a magical solution to it all. Happy, contented people, living full, meaningful lives, don't worry about this stuff. Scared, miserable, messed up people do, and since they can't find contentment, they want to inflict their pathology on others.

And insecurity.

I'm partial to the teachings of Epicurus. He had it together.