Wars and rumors of wars..........DECLINING?!

[seekeratthesea]

There are articles out there about the decline or war both in terms of the number of casualties AND the total number of wars being fought. Something that I've noticed, less frequent, and less body counts...not to trivialize what's currently going on but the numbers are just smaller.

So how does the decline of war/end times theology juxtapose against the "wars and rumors of war" which were actually more frequent in the past than now?

I have a feeling I'm putting my feet in the fire here because my experience with end times theologists is that they don't like to give up their notions of the end being just around the corner......

[seekeratthesea]

There are articles out there about the decline or war both in terms of the number of casualties AND the total number of wars being fought. Something that I've noticed, less frequent, and less body counts...not to trivialize what's currently going on but the numbers are just smaller.

So how does the decline of war/end times theology juxtapose against the "wars and rumors of war" which were actually more frequent in the past than now?

I have a feeling I'm putting my feet in the fire here because my experience with end times theologists is that they don't like to give up their notions of the end being just around the corner......

the end times are one area that I have little interest in, but it does not seem from what I know that the numbers of wars or rumors of wars dropping off would really mess up any of the end time theories

"Wars and rumors of wars" are supposed to be one of the signs of the end times, so if they decline, the chances of being in the end times decline also. I'm sure they could rationalize it somehow but I think it would be a monkey wrench in their thinking.

[Ovedya]

Israel and the Palestinians.

Darfur

Somalia

Nigeria

Iraq

Afghanistan

Threats from Iran

Threats from Venezuela

Threats from N. Korea

Threats from China to Tibetan monks

Threats from Islam to the West

The persecutions and killings of believers in Indonesia and other Muslim States, and in China.

So how have war and rumors of war decreased exactly?

[Ovedya]

Also, actually that the number of deaths directly resulting from war is really not related to end-times prophesy. There are more wars being fought, and more threats of war, in this age than in any other time in world history.

[seekeratthesea]

Israel and the Palestinians.

Darfur

Somalia

Nigeria

Iraq

Afghanistan

Threats from Iran

Threats from Venezuela

Threats from N. Korea

Threats from China to Tibetan monks

Threats from Islam to the West

The persecutions and killings of believers in Indonesia and other Muslim States, and in China.

So how have war and rumors of war decreased exactly?

Check your history......it's been declining since world war II......casualties and wars and the scale of the wars.....sorry

Edited July 23, 2008 by seekeratthesea

[seekeratthesea]

Also, actually that the number of deaths directly resulting from war is really not related to end-times prophesy. There are more wars being fought, and more threats of war, in this age than in any other time in world history.

Sorry but you need to get up on your history........I was being told the same thing in the 80's, I know people that were being told the same thing in the 70's. War is on a general decline.....this should be good news for you......

[MorningGlory]

Not trying to take over your thread, Seeker, but here is a link to this information....

http://www.washtimes.com/news/2004/sep/26/...6-103900-9842r/

Seeker is correct....the number of wars has declined in the past few decades. Whether this is important as it relates to endtimes theology....that remains to be seen. Remember it's also 'rumors of wars' and there are plenty of those. The number of wars will increase as we approach the end and we're looking at a very short period of time when the world literally explodes in violence. In the meantime, I suggest we all just appreciate the relative peace; it will NOT last. Especially as more and more people compete for fewer and fewer resources.

[seekeratthesea]

Check your history......it's been declining since world war II......casualties and wars and the scale of the wars.....sorry

I am not sure you could back this up, the numbers maybe but not the amount of conflict in the world...

also perhaps this is a calm before the storm...

or maybe your scope is too small, no one knows what the next few years will bring

the last two lines sound like your hoping for more wars in the future....seriously, I don't mean to berate you but I get that kind of reaction from lots of people..and I don't mean to imply that I'm not guilty of it also.....but I think our brains are synced for the negative.....we shouldn't be greeting good news with reactions like that in my opinion

This is kind of what I anticipated, people don't want to believe and even before they get info on they start rationalizing it i.e. calm before the storm......it can always be the calm before the storm, and if you don't want to accept it, you can always find a way not to........don't turn yourself off to good news. And I shouldn't really be personalizing it onto you this much either, it me and others as well.

It shouldn't be that important that we be in the end times, if that's the motivation. And we should not be more attuned and welcoming of bad news than good.

War really is declining.........be glad about it, it's okay to believe something good, and it's not good to react by instinctively covering up the good with a layer of negative possibilities, like calm before the storm or something similar.

Here's a link, but people are really not open to this kind of stuff because of a general perception that things are always getting worse, I think we've REALLY tweaked our perception of things going on around us, end timers are typically even less open to good news than others..........

Do you think starvation is rising or declining? Disease?

Here's the link, but remember, if you don't want to be open to it, it won't do any good....and it's hard to get out from under that cloud.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nati...9818_war30.html

From the article.....this is good news but our brain seems to want to search up reasons to reject it......

The authoritative Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says 19 major armed conflicts were under way worldwide in 2003, a sharp drop from 33 wars counted in 1991.

[seekeratthesea]

Not trying to take over your thread, Seeker, but here is a link to this information....

http://www.washtimes.com/news/2004/sep/26/...6-103900-9842r/

Seeker is correct....the number of wars has declined in the past few decades. Whether this is important as it relates to endtimes theology....that remains to be seen. Remember it's also 'rumors of wars' and there are plenty of those. The number of wars will increase as we approach the end and we're looking at a very short period of time when the world literally explodes in violence. In the meantime, I suggest we all just appreciate the relative peace; it will NOT last. Especially as more and more people compete for fewer and fewer resources.

No problem..........I would like to see stuff like that linked to all over the web, but the decline has been since WW II, not by just a few decades, unless we have different definitions of "few"

I don't necessarily think we're in imminent end times, I don't know and am not into that scene anymore, having been there/done that in the 80's.

But my perceptions are that in the 80's, the rumors of war were much greater than now, and I know that the case can ALWAYS be made that rumors of war are on the rise. I think historically speaking, war used to be so common that there were almost certainly more rumors of war in past centuries than now. But I'm sure there is no way of proving the rumor count of today as compared to rumor counts of past centuries anyway. It's just that with more wars in the past it makes sense that there would likely be more rumors floating around also.

[Rick-Parker]

Also, actually that the number of deaths directly resulting from war is really not related to end-times prophesy. There are more wars being fought, and more threats of war, in this age than in any other time in world history.

Sorry but you need to get up on your history........I was being told the same thing in the 80's, I know people that were being told the same thing in the 70's. War is on a general decline.....this should be good news for you......

The threat of nuclear conflagration is the biggest threat to this planet. Only will take one to kill multitudes. And it is going to happen soon in the middle east.

Question for you - why would you ask a question and then argue when people respond? Just because they don't agree with you? Or have a different point of view? What's up with that?