Who would the antichrist fool?

[Athetotheist]

"....and all the world wondered after the beast." (Rev. 13:3)

The antichrist is supposed to fool everyone----except true Christians----into worshipping him.

How well would that work out? Would he be able to fool.....

Jews? Judaism holds that only God is to be worshipped and that God does not take any physical form. Worship of any human being is considered blasphemous idolatry, and any wonders the antichrist performed would be interpreted as the workings of a false teacher sent by God to test the Jewish people.

Muslims? Islam also teaches that God takes no physical form, so they too would instantly peg the antichrist as a phony.

Feminist Pagans would reject any god-claim which didn't acknowledge the Goddess.

Atheists would suspect any miracle of being either a trick or a coincidence. An "image of the beast" brought to life could be taken for an artificial intelligence project.

The god-claim of the antichrist being fundamentally incompatible with so many beliefs, who would be left for the antichrist to fool?

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to Athetotheist in post #1]

I agree that you are mixing some metaphors here – the Beast of Revelation, the antichrists of John’s epistles and the man of sin (literally “man of lawlessness”) in 2 Thessalonians.

However, I don’t want to get bogged down with that. Instead, let me try to answer the question, “Who will be fooled?”

The answer is: Those who want to be fooled.

This deceiver is not using trickery. There is no mystery to figure out. Anyone who listens to what this person says will know that he does not come from God. However, he will come telling people what they want to hear. He will offer ease of life and enjoyment and encourage people to indulge their selfish and self-centered instincts. There is a part of all of us that wants to believe this. People will have the choice to believe the immoral things they want to believe, or to take the harder road of conforming our lives to Christ.

Many people will be deceived in that they will believe what this deceiver says because they want to believe it.

Then why wouldn't he be able to fool even the stoutest of Christians along with everyone else?

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to Athetotheist in post #1]

We have a large % of the population angry they can't murder babies. Anti-christ is doing fine.

You can't answer every theological question by throwing the abortion issue at it. This is about how an antichrist would convince people that he was God.

[bjs1]

[Replying to Athetotheist in post #1]

I agree that you are mixing some metaphors here – the Beast of Revelation, the antichrists of John’s epistles and the man of sin (literally “man of lawlessness”) in 2 Thessalonians.

However, I don’t want to get bogged down with that. Instead, let me try to answer the question, “Who will be fooled?”

The answer is: Those who want to be fooled.

This deceiver is not using trickery. There is no mystery to figure out. Anyone who listens to what this person says will know that he does not come from God. However, he will come telling people what they want to hear. He will offer ease of life and enjoyment and encourage people to indulge their selfish and self-centered instincts. There is a part of all of us that wants to believe this. People will have the choice to believe the immoral things they want to believe, or to take the harder road of conforming our lives to Christ.

Many people will be deceived in that they will believe what this deceiver says because they want to believe it.

Then why wouldn't he be able to fool even the stoutest of Christians along with everyone else?

A “stout Christian” is someone who is firmly determined to follow God. By definition this person would not abandon the ways of God just because doing so would be easier.

Again, there is no trickery involved here. It is not that people hear this Beast (whatever it represents) and think, “Ah yes, God really does want me to be selfish and uncompassionate and unmerciful.” The Beast will fool those who chose to follow his ways.

A Christian who views his religion as a means to self-gain would likely be fooled. A stout Christians (I assume you mean a genuinely stout Christians and not just someone who puts up a façade) would not.

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to bjs1 in post #33

A “stout Christian” is someone who is firmly determined to follow God. By definition this person would not abandon the ways of God just because doing so would be easier.

Then why would a stout Jew, Muslim, Pagan etc. do so? Since they would presumably be "firmly determined" to follow the tenets of their respective beliefs, it wouldn't be "the whole world" wondering after the beast.

[Diogenes]

[Replying to Athetotheist in post #1]

We have a large % of the population angry they can't murder babies. Anti-christ is doing fine.

That may be the sickest, saddest, most perverted misreprestation I've ever seen on this forum. No one wants to "murder babies." You make me very happy I am not part of your angry and deceitful tribe. This is the kind of statement that makes Christians look like idiots who don't even understand their own scriptures... and unable to make rational arguments.

If you actually want to make a legitimate argument about abortion, why not do it in the proper forum without spewing hate?

The New Testament mentions nothing about abortion. The Old Testament is unclear, but there are passages that suggest 'quickening' is a key issue, along with birth.

The key question is when does the zygote become a person. Evangelicals have become fixated on the moment of fertilization, almost a week before the zygote attaches to the uterine wall, 2 or 3 months before any scriptural suggestion.

I have to admit that if I were a physician, I would find it repugnant to destroy human life that had a heartbeat and movement.

__ Diogenes in a more appropriate subtopic.

[Bust Nak]

That may be the sickest, saddest, most perverted misreprestation I've ever seen on this forum... angry and deceitful... look like idiots... spewing hate...

Moderator Comment

Just call it a gross misrepresentation and leave the commentary off.

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[Wootah]

[Replying to Diogenes in post #35]

This thread is meant to scoff at the idea of the antichrist. But when I demonstrate what the actual spirit of antichrist does to us. You got offended for some light brought to the matter.

[Diogenes]

[Replying to Diogenes in post #35]

This thread is meant to scoff at the idea of the antichrist. But when I demonstrate what the actual spirit of antichrist does to us. You got offended for some light brought to the matter.

"Scoffing" puts it mildly. The wild and crazy tales in Revelation require a word more extreme than 'absurd.' It's even goofier than the Noah and the Ark story.

But no, I was offended by your gross misrepresentation of those who believe in the right to privacy and women having control over their own bodies by calling them "murderers of babies."

Now you double down with another gross misrepresentation by pretending to know what I think. You didn't bring light. You brought its opposite.

[brunumb]

[Replying to Diogenes in post #35]

This thread is meant to scoff at the idea of the antichrist. But when I demonstrate what the actual spirit of antichrist does to us. You got offended for some light brought to the matter.

Ah! So the lies and misrepresentations are a direct outcome of the spirit of the antichrist acting within someone. Got it.

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to Wootah in post #37

This thread is meant to scoff at the idea of the antichrist.

This thread is not meant to "scoff" at anything. It is meant to ask a serious critical question of a philosophical nature.