> Read the Bible. Specifically Revelation, 1/2 Thessalonians, and Daniel. If you haven't before, you'd be surprised how much of what's taking place now is prophesied.
…said every doomsday preacher since the Bible was written.
I'm not a preacher and I don't subscribe to any church/denomination. I think, generally speaking, religious leadership in the world is in a state of apostasy and is guilty of leading people away from God/Christ's message (which the Bible prophesies would happen).
Read them. They're all quite similar, mostly changing in tone or structure. I recently built an app to side-by-side ESV, KJV, NASB, NLT, AMP, and ASV translations and they're all very similar. Even obscure translations follow the same structure and message (they have to, doing the opposite is warned against in the Bible).
Protestantism copied/copies a lot of the non-Biblical tradition propagated by Catholicism (e.g., Sunday replacing the Sabbath, recognition of non-Biblical holy days, claiming "Jesus nailed the law to the cross" when the exact opposite is stated in the Bible, etc).
That's neither here nor there when the entire point was to eschew non-Biblical tradition maintained by the Church. Notwithstanding that there are various Protestant sects and some do not practice what you're accusing them of. It's a large tent, the beliefs aren't that specific.
You're completely missing the point. Unfortunately, it seems you lack the capability to see the point—to wit, you're not special. So, as the Lord commanded us in Isaiah 1:16 — I wash my hands of thee.
And religion in general is in a state of apostasy and is guilty of leading people away from reality. That's why it was invented after all, and it sure has done it's job. You'll never find a place more full of delusional self indulgence and aggrandizement than a church, regardless of which religion or denomination they subscribe to.
> You'll never find a place more full of delusional self indulgence and aggrandizement than a church, regardless of which religion or denomination they subscribe to.
Correct, which is why I avoid religion (in the institutional church sense). I'm a bit of an odd duck because I came to the Bible after having been a practicing Buddhist for several years and generally being unexposed to Christianity (save for a lukewarm exposure to Jesuit Catholicism) or any religion growing up.
Having lived a mostly-secular life and only later (at age ~30) coming to Christianity, I can confidently say that in regard to reality, it's taught me that it's highly subjective. What most people consider as "reality" is just the interpretation of what they see that keeps them from losing their mind. For some, reality is being an unhinged hedonist, for others it's planting a garden, and for others it's generally just "trying to be nice and getting along."
Personally, God/Christ (and by extension, what's recorded in the Bible) is the interpretation of reality that makes the most sense to me. In practice/study, I've found that it maps 1:1 with what I see while also filling in the blanks on things I can't explain (e.g., the ability for the human body to heal itself, the pace/behavior of nature, or humanity's unrelenting drive to destroy what it doesn't/refuses to understand).
I guess it’s nice that you believe that, but the truth of the matter is that you are about as close to traditional right-wing mainstream Christianity as it’s possible to conceivably get. Like, if I were to imagine the archetypal Christian hypocritical sinner… it would be you.
…said every doomsday preacher since the Bible was written.