In Reply to: Re: I'm open to debate... posted by Natasha on January 28, 2004 at 16:30:28:
"For the most part, I don't believe in a psychic capacity to predict a revealed future that is independent of human agency (free will)."
What I meant by that is something like predicting with 100% certainty that the U.S. will invade Syria. The probabilities are very high, but there are a number of (very human) factors that can change those probabilities at any time, including a change in the current administration, a change in Syria's foreign policy, a change in Israel's current administration, etc., etc.
My understanding of what a biblical prophet might proclaim is this: "If the current unjust circumstances in Syria, Israel & Iraq continue as they are, I bear witness by faith in the Just One that the US will invade Syria.
In my understanding, biblically-based prophesy that concerns the fate of nations is always concerned with issues of social justice and collective sin (such as systematic marginalization of the poor or the widespread corruption of the ruling classes). Such prophecy is also conditional on change in the behavior of nations and their leaders--aka, repentance.
The idea that natural disasters come as a consequence of God's judgement is a First Covenant unferstanding of divine justice that appears to have been rejected by Jesus when he talks about the relative innocence of the individuals killed by the fall of the tower at Siloam (Luke 13:1-5).
As I understand the teaching in Luke 13, Jesus is saying that people killed in natural disasters or by despots are no more sinful than people who live and prosper; nevertheless, those who engage in the sins of social injustice and corrupt leadership (the two conditions are correlated) will suffer consequences of their actions that are like despotic slaughter and falling towers.
Why do I say sins of social injustice and corrupt leadership are the basis of a prophetic pronouncement? Luke 12, the context of this teaching on divine judgement, contains a lengthy polemic against the hypocrisy of the pharisees (corrupt leadership) and materialistic greed, a root cause of social injustice.
Yes, I am concerned about the corruption & hypocrisy of the current US administration and the social injustice (crimes) of a nation that prefers driving gas guzzlers over stewardship of natural resources and the provision of a social safety net (i.e., universal access to health care). I would also argue that while Bill Clinton was surely a corrupt, licentious person, his greed & hypocrisy did not appear to be as systematic, cynical, and pervasive as that of the current administration.
Nevertheless, I don't worry about the immiment doom of being struck by a meteor as a consequence of the current state of affairs. It is a longstanding prophesy that the earth will be struck by a fireball from space. (I thought I saw something about that on your webpage.) Guess what? Statistical odds support the prophets on that one! I don't think we'll get struck by a meteor as judgement, however, and I can logically refute using the First Testament Sodom and Gomorrah story as "proof" that natural disasters come as a consequence of human sin. I think we'll get struck by a meteor because sh*t happens in the natural order of creation.
The only condition under which natural disaster comes as a judgement is when its a consequence of "sins" against the environment. Global warming is very closely associated with many currently occurring natural disasters. Humans have it within their power, however, to do something to change the "injustice" against the earth perpetrated by CO2 emmissions.
Just as the US has it within its power to do something about its dependence on fossil fuels such as oil. Knowing about a conspiracy to maintain the status quo with regard to oil does nothing to empower me. What empowers me is being here now, in the moment, with my higher power. What empowers me is being attentive and open to the holy and divine in ordinary events and people, like the transsexual I hired to waterproof my basement.
What goodness shines forth from her being! What hope it gives me for humanity that someone so despised by ignorant, self-righteous people holds her head high with dignity and attends faithfully to the needs of her 14-year-old daughter! Yet, this person cannot legally marry, and one of her major avenues to health care coverage in the United States is blocked.
Humans have it within their power to change this injustice or can continue perpetrating it. Even as I speak, the legislature of my state is passing a "defense of marriage" act that will, among other things, bar unmarried domestic partners from obtaining health care insurance. (Even unmarried heterosexual partners--just to be fair!)
I, for one, have made my changes and will continue to repent such mean-spirited greed and fearful ignorance within myself. If I am blown off the planet tomorrow by weapons of mass destruction or the machinations of fascists posing as a terrorist threat, I have little fear of meeting my maker face-to-face.