I'm not quite sure what you mean, but my mother explained the two groups of Christian thought this way (she's a pastor, and went to school to study this stuff, so I tend to trust her):
You have the dispensationalists, the theological newbie to Christianity, who believe that the end of the world will be proceeded by suffering...so all the bad stuff should be thought of as wonderful because it means Christ is coming. On the extreme side, you get people who refuse to help the environment, poverty, disease, etc., because all of that is a sign of the second coming. Dispensationalists are very focused on figuring out when the second coming will occur...all your prophecy books, the Left Behind novels, are dispensationalist.
Then you have the "old school" group (who are now seen as radical and different...go figure) who believe that you have to build the kingdom of God here on earth -- by taking care of the poor, bringing peace, etc. This group is far less concerned with when Christ will come...they're more focused on doing "God's work" here on earth.
Different philopshephies, same religion. Which is why the idea of a Christian theocracy is so laughable...Christianity ecompasses so many different thoughts.
And I don't want to start a debate with a poster above, but it enfuriates me that the United States spends more money on military than every single one of our "enemies" combined, but can't take care of poverty--inside the States or outside. It's a serious case of fucked up priorities. And the third world debt problem is just the 21st century version of colonization. Add that to the long list of why I don't feel President Bush comes close to practicing what he professes to believe.
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Date: 2005-11-25 09:42 pm (UTC)You have the dispensationalists, the theological newbie to Christianity, who believe that the end of the world will be proceeded by suffering...so all the bad stuff should be thought of as wonderful because it means Christ is coming. On the extreme side, you get people who refuse to help the environment, poverty, disease, etc., because all of that is a sign of the second coming. Dispensationalists are very focused on figuring out when the second coming will occur...all your prophecy books, the Left Behind novels, are dispensationalist.
Then you have the "old school" group (who are now seen as radical and different...go figure) who believe that you have to build the kingdom of God here on earth -- by taking care of the poor, bringing peace, etc. This group is far less concerned with when Christ will come...they're more focused on doing "God's work" here on earth.
Different philopshephies, same religion. Which is why the idea of a Christian theocracy is so laughable...Christianity ecompasses so many different thoughts.
And I don't want to start a debate with a poster above, but it enfuriates me that the United States spends more money on military than every single one of our "enemies" combined, but can't take care of poverty--inside the States or outside. It's a serious case of fucked up priorities. And the third world debt problem is just the 21st century version of colonization. Add that to the long list of why I don't feel President Bush comes close to practicing what he professes to believe.