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Natural Disasters: Increasing or Decreasing?

The climate is changing, perhaps in patterns different from the past, thanks to the influence of human activities. So, areas adapted to one set of climate parameters are facing a different set they are not used to, and unprepared for. That could lead to the appearance of "worsening weather".

But, you'll always have a hard time convincing religious folks that things change over time: climate, life forms, morality, etc. They like things to be definitive.
 
Originally Posted by TinfoilCat View Post
She believes that no one can predict the actual time or date
Please ask her why she believes this

Originally Posted by TinfoilCat View Post
but we can know when its approaching...
In the unlikely event of her providing a concise and coherent answer (ie not simply some woo-affirming woo) to the first bit, please ask her how we can recognise/identify the signs of impending doom
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There is a bible verse which states that no one but the Father shall no when the end is here.

The sun is dying, as we live and breathe
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I should have clarified what i meant :o. I meant that it isn't approaching any time soon for us. Even though I am a Christian, I do not believe its coming soon like many apocalyptic fear-mongers do.
 
Ask her to leave all of her worldly possessions to you. Better yet, leave them to me. If the end times are near, why bother leaving them to her family members?
 
TinfoilCat said:
There is a bible verse which states that no one but the Father shall no when the end is here
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So... I assume that anyone who has faith in the bible AND the skills to operate a decent telescope is convinced that our demise will not be a result of the sun going super-nova...

Of course, this assumes that there is someone who has faith in the bible AND the skills to operate a decent telescope

TinfoilCat said:
Even though I am a Christian, I do not believe its coming soon
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Why not? (Serious question)
 
Why not? (Serious question)
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Christianity has many different views of the apocalypse. It is NOT just a futurist view which means that the books of the bible are prophetic and are meant for the future (Usually applied to our/the current generation). I believe that the book of Revelation is symbolic which is meant to give hope for Christians under persecution. Many other believe that it is John of Patmos attempt to steer Christians away from worshiping the likes of Emperor Domitarian or Nero (according to either date) and to worship God. It is basically the New Testament version of Ezekiel. The symbols are derived from the Old Testament such as the mark of the beast, which is entirely symbolical. The mark of the forehead is symbolic to a close relationship with God, and the mark of the beast is symbolic to the succumb of man to Satan. I can ramble on and on of my belief of the prophecies of the bible and explain why I do not believe the end of the world is nigh, but i don't wish to bore you. :D
 
TinfoilCat said:
I can ramble on and on of my belief of the prophecies of the bible and explain why I do not believe the end of the world is nigh, but i don't wish to bore you. :D
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Not boring at all... instead, given your honest and open style, I find your posts fascinating

One tip/request:
Hit the ENTER key twice every three or four (or maybe five) lines... old rules re paragraphs come a distant second to visual comprehension
 
Increasing or Decreasing?

False dichotomy.
I think they are merely creasing.
 
Not boring at all... instead, given your honest and open style, I find your posts fascinating

One tip/request:
Hit the ENTER key twice every three or four (or maybe five) lines... old rules re paragraphs come a distant second to visual comprehension
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't even notice how much I was actually writing. I was in a slight rush. :D
 
TinfoilCat said:
Christianity has many different views of the apocalypse. It is NOT just a futurist view which means that the books of the bible are prophetic and are meant for the future (Usually applied to our/the current generation).
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In a similar way, there is the view that prophecy is not so much divination of the future, but rather a dramatization of the consequences of current behavior.

As a literary form, an apocalypse is the symbolical, and often allegorical, representation of the end of one era and the beginning of the next. As such, it can serve as a template for the dynamics of any cataclysmic transformation. Over time, languages have changed and much of the meaning of the original symbolism has been lost, opening the door for more rigid and speculative interpretations.

As others have pointed out, it is only recently that we have been able to collect detailed information on a global scale to detect catastrophic events and determine just exactly what "normal" is.
 
TinfoilCat said:
There is a bible verse which states that no one but the Father shall no when the end is here.
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Common misconception. The quote you're looking for comes from Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32: "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." This is in regards to the time of the coming of the Lord.

For Armageddon and Rapture, immediately prior to this, in both Matt (24:32-33) and Mark (13:28-29), Jesus states, "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door." Which is why all the signs and portents are given, so that the Christians will know when their Lord is coming. They may not know the exact time, but like the coming of summer, they can guess when it's imminent.

So, the Rapture Index and the Armageddon Clock are not out of synch with the Bible and Jesus' teachings on the subjet.

Of course, Jesus also states that, "this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." (Matt 32:34, Mark 13:30) The problems this causes, even though we can ret-con it to say that Jesus is speaking metaphorically, is that immediately prior, he was speaking literally. Including his little fig tree parallel, he meant that all the signs and whatnot are literal, and are meant to be taken that way.

Jesus' switching to a metaphorical "not pass away" is somewhat silly. But that's just my opinion. It's not a topic I want to debate. Just giving full disclosure on for the context of things.
 
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TinfoilCat said:
I found this article at http://www.geotimes.org/oct07/article.html?id=feature_democracy.html

It states "recorded disasters", does this mean that natural disasters actually increased that much, or that our technology became more advanced so we could track down more disasters?
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Modern communication and travel have made the Earth one tiny community. We see horrible things that happen around the world, and, the bigger the exposure (land area, population) the more things that go wrong on a regular, statistical basis will be brought to our attention in the news.

That things could seem worse because of this is hardly something new. This is why you need some kind of accurate recording for decades, if not centuries, to even dream of making some kind of statistically valid observation as to rates of change. That's also required to get around cherry-picking start and endpoints in a much longer graph.

There was a ludicrous exchange in another thread that pointed out how the stock market was down since the Republicans took charge of office. Shift the endpoints a few years, and they look like they're doing well. (Specifically, I believe the poster goofed and started at Jan. 1996, which was an election year, and not Jan. 1997, when the Republicans actually went into office. Or something along those lines.)

A 1 year shift, bam, completely different picture. So much for this kind of stat being a reliable buttress to the emotion of certitude.
 
six7s said:
So... I assume that anyone who has faith in the bible AND the skills to operate a decent telescope is convinced that our demise will not be a result of the sun going super-nova...

Of course, this assumes that there is someone who has faith in the bible AND the skills to operate a decent telescope

Why not? (Serious question)
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Open mouth - insert foot

http://clavius.as.arizona.edu/vo/R1024/VO.html
 
Of course, Jesus also states that, "this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." (Matt 32:34, Mark 13:30) The problems this causes, even though we can ret-con it to say that Jesus is speaking metaphorically, is that immediately prior, he was speaking literally. Including his little fig tree parallel, he meant that all the signs and whatnot are literal, and are meant to be taken that way.

Jesus' switching to a metaphorical "not pass away" is somewhat silly. But that's just my opinion. It's not a topic I want to debate. Just giving full disclosure on for the context of things.
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So what exactly is your opinion on this matter? Do you think Jesus was lieing or wrong? (Just honestly curious because I have never heard of this opinion before)


Does anyone actually have any link to any charts or graphs showing the amount of natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.) in the past years?

I have managed to find a earthquake data graph, but it is severely outdated on badastronomy.
 
TinfoilCat said:
Does anyone actually have any link to any charts or graphs showing the amount of natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.) in the past years?

I have managed to find a earthquake data graph, but it is severely outdated on badastronomy.
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How far back? Once you start trying to find data more than a century old, you have the reporting problems that have been mentioned in this thread. A decent source for global earthquake data can be found here.

When sorting through this data, make sure you are using some kind of apples to apples comparison method (such as magnitude). So for example, you could search for earthquakes exceeding magnitude 7, rather than searching for a list of all earthquakes.

ETA: This list is interesting.

Since the earth hasn't sprouted any new rift zones recently, I would be surprised if the average per century is changing for the worse.
 
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TinfoilCat said:
Do you think Jesus was lieing or wrong? (Just honestly curious because I have never heard of this opinion before)
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I know you weren't asking me... but what the hey?

I can't accuse him of lying, simply because I see no reason to accept that the gospels represent an accurate record of what (if anything) was said by/happened to him
 
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