Board index ‹ The End of the World

[Desi Arnez]

To what is Luke 21:16 referring where family turn each other in? What are the circumstances that would cause parents to betray their children, brothers to betray brothers or aunts to betray nieces? Why they will hate and kill those who stand firm in their convictions to live by God's commandments?

[jimwalton]

The book 1984 by George Orwell speaks of a junior anti-sex league, where the young are trained to turn in their parents for infractions on Big Brother's rules. He also speaks of the Youth League, a pro-government training ground for youths. He says "most children were horrible, turned into ungovernable little savages by the Party," where they actively turned in family members who were not towing the party line.

This happened historically during the Nazi regime with Hitler's Youth. Children and teenagers were enticed to participate in various sports programs and other initiatives to motivate their devotion to the Party and to break down allegiances to religion and family.

But you wonder what this would look like in our world and in the End Times. After the Capitol riot of January 6, one kid turned in his parent that he/she saw in the riot. In a Covid world such as we live in, with increasing regulations and contact tracing, people are being encouraged to spy on their neighbors and friends and turn in those who are not in compliance. In a possible world where there are rewards—either monetary, goods, or status—for betrayal of rebels, even if it's one's family, we can imagine such a reality. We know that people will lie, manipulate, and betray to get what they want.

In the End Times, a similar situation is framed by the Bible where the One World Government will put pressure on populations to conform to a certain mindset and behavior that backs the economic, religious, "peace-seeking" agenda of the government. Without too much imagination, I can envision a world where the rewards of betrayal (food, medicine, money, status, goods) are greater than what can be gained by allegiance to family (which will have been systemically undermined by education and training). For instance, I often read on the "Atheist" forum of reddit where atheists who still have religious parents and friends have grown to hate them and their foolish legends and behaviors. I have read on reddit where some says that "religion is a plague" (1/23/21), religion is a mind-numbing, brainwashing disease (1/23/21), Christians are deranged, and "religion is just a way to justify hate and bigotry" (1/21/21). It's a pretty small step from that to betraying friends and family if the reward is perceived as worth it.

I'd be glad to talk about this more if you wish.

[Desi Arnez]

Your reply is extremely insightful. Thank you very much for sharing. You're right, there are plenty of recent examples to draw from in order to understand what Yeshua may have been referring to.

Because Yeshua breathed, ate and slept in a biblical frame of mind I feel that he must have been drawing on previous insights or alluding to something previously referenced somewhere in OT literature.

May I share my perspective?

[jimwalton]

I would be pleased to hear your perspective. That's what this site is all about: healthy dialogue.