Having anxiety about the future of civilization

VCR-2000

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I hope people may pray for me since I have anxieties and fear about the current direction of civilization and where it's heading in the future. I admit that in lieu of actual heaven I want to have experienced what it was like growing up in the rough equivalent of circumstances in the generation my parents or their previous generations did. I'm not going to get into anymore for this thread, but I couldn't take it sometimes and need some sort of strength or coping ability. I am not an older person, I'm 27 by the way.
 

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You sound pretty normal. Why do you think things like vinyl records and craft beers and homemade soaps and blacksmithing have come back? Our generation is disillusioned with modern technology and ease and efficiency at the cost of beauty. We want things that matter and to know someone put thought and time into the things we're purchasing.

But the corporate world is pushing for more efficiency and more technology (and more plastic) and everything to be run by artificial intelligence while we sit back and... do nothing.

Not to mention the role technology is playing the use of warfare and how impossible it would be for ordinary citizens to survive an attack of high-speed missile-firing drones, for example. Sword fights, yes. Drones, nope. So it's depressing and frightening.

I guess my suggestion would be pray for peace for yourself and don't let people make you feel weird if you do appreciate a former era more than they do. If you want to play records instead of your iPhone, play records. If you want to start a blacksmith shop instead of doing a desk job, start a blacksmith shop. Just examples, of course! ^_^ Ask God to help you see His goodness in the modern world and where He is doing amazing things and changing lives.

Oh, and I'm your age. :)
 
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I hope people may pray for me since I have anxieties and fear about the current direction of civilization and where it's heading in the future. I admit that in lieu of actual heaven I want to have experienced what it was like growing up in the rough equivalent of circumstances in the generation my parents or their previous generations did. I'm not going to get into anymore for this thread, but I couldn't take it sometimes and need some sort of strength or coping ability. I am not an older person, I'm 27 by the way.

You may find this rather encouraging?

Reverend Howard Storm's Near-Death Experience
4. The Future of the U.S. and the World

earth_photo.jpg
Because of my fear of a nuclear holocaust I asked if there was going to be a nuclear war in the world, and they said no. That astonished me, and I gave them this extensive explanation of how I had lived under the threat of nuclear war. That was one of the reasons I was who I was. I figured, when I was in this life, that it was all sort of hopeless; the world was going to blow up anyway, and nothing made much sense. In that context I felt I could do what I wanted, since nothing mattered.



They said, "No, there isn't going to be any nuclear war."



I asked if they were absolutely sure there wasn't going to be nuclear war. They reassured me again, and I asked them how they could be so sure.



Their response was: "God loves the world." They told me that at the most, one or two nuclear weapons might go off accidentally, if they weren't destroyed, but there wouldn't be a nuclear war.



I then asked them how come there had been so many wars. They said that they allowed those few to happen, out of all the wars that humanity tried to start. Out of all the wars that humans tried to create, they allowed a few, to bring people to their senses and to stop them.

The rest of that page sure reminds me of:

Isaiah 11:6
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lionand the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
 
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VCR-2000

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You sound pretty normal. Why do you think things like vinyl records and craft beers and homemade soaps and blacksmithing have come back? Our generation is disillusioned with modern technology and ease and efficiency at the cost of beauty. We want things that matter and to know someone put thought and time into the things we're purchasing.

But the corporate world is pushing for more efficiency and more technology (and more plastic) and everything to be run by artificial intelligence while we sit back and... do nothing.

Not to mention the role technology is playing the use of warfare and how impossible it would be for ordinary citizens to survive an attack of high-speed missile-firing drones, for example. Sword fights, yes. Drones, nope. So it's depressing and frightening.

I guess my suggestion would be pray for peace for yourself and don't let people make you feel weird if you do appreciate a former era more than they do. If you want to play records instead of your iPhone, play records. If you want to start a blacksmith shop instead of doing a desk job, start a blacksmith shop. Just examples, of course! ^_^ Ask God to help you see His goodness in the modern world and where He is doing amazing things and changing lives.

Oh, and I'm your age. :)
I was talking more about the evil in society becoming more pervasive than ever before and the long-term circumstances.
 
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SeventhFisherofMen

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Hey VCR,
I'm 27 too! I can understand why you'd feel anxious with all that is going on in the world, but it's important to remember that there is a place where there is Peace and no more tears, and that place is Heaven. Jesus told His disciples to pray, "Your Kingdom come Your Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." When you pray to Jesus and express your anxieties you can know that He has them in His hand. And the reason I mentioned that verse is to encourage you to pray that your life and all that takes place in your life is like a little slice of Heaven here on Earth. Sure things might not always be perfect but you can see the good in this life too.

So long as you believe in Jesus, truly ask for forgiveness of your sins and forgive others, then you're on your way to Heaven. Heaven, a place free of anxiety and any problems whatsoever.
 
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keaton85

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I hope people may pray for me since I have anxieties and fear about the current direction of civilization and where it's heading in the future. I admit that in lieu of actual heaven I want to have experienced what it was like growing up in the rough equivalent of circumstances in the generation my parents or their previous generations did. I'm not going to get into anymore for this thread, but I couldn't take it sometimes and need some sort of strength or coping ability. I am not an older person, I'm 27 by the way.

I feel similar to the way you do. I guess the only thing to do is keep going and pray for your mind to be at peace.
 
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GraceTruthLove

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I hope people may pray for me since I have anxieties and fear about the current direction of civilization and where it's heading in the future. I admit that in lieu of actual heaven I want to have experienced what it was like growing up in the rough equivalent of circumstances in the generation my parents or their previous generations did. I'm not going to get into anymore for this thread, but I couldn't take it sometimes and need some sort of strength or coping ability. I am not an older person, I'm 27 by the way.

Hello VCR,

I understand this fear all too well. Humanity is moving in an increasingly evil and unpredictable direction. Our societies and governments make decisions without proper thought for the consequences. The world itself is decaying. The worst part is realizing how little control we have over such circumstances and how uncertain the future is.

The Bible warned of this:

2 Timothy 3:1-4 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

Isaiah 51:6a "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;"

I struggled most with this fear in my late teens. It got to the point where I didn't want to start my life at all because I was too afraid. I just wanted God to end my life early so I would stop experiencing the anxiety.

But there is more to the story - so much more! One day God calmed my spirit and showed me.

Isaiah 51:6 "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished."

1 Peter 1:3-6 "3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials."

This may be a more religious answer than you are hoping for, but it is truth. All the human strength and coping ability in the world is not enough. The Strength and Peace of Jesus is the only way forward.

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

I know the burden of anxiety you describe - I will pray for your release from it, for it really is too much for any one soul to carry. May the Peace of God indwell you and surround you - always.
 
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VCR-2000

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Hello VCR,

I understand this fear all too well. Humanity is moving in an increasingly evil and unpredictable direction. Our societies and governments make decisions without proper thought for the consequences. The world itself is decaying. The worst part is realizing how little control we have over such circumstances and how uncertain the future is.

The Bible warned of this:

2 Timothy 3:1-4 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

Isaiah 51:6a "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;"

I struggled most with this fear in my late teens. It got to the point where I didn't want to start my life at all because I was too afraid. I just wanted God to end my life early so I would stop experiencing the anxiety.

But there is more to the story - so much more! One day God calmed my spirit and showed me.

Isaiah 51:6 "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished."

1 Peter 1:3-6 "3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials."

This may be a more religious answer than you are hoping for, but it is truth. All the human strength and coping ability in the world is not enough. The Strength and Peace of Jesus is the only way forward.

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

I know the burden of anxiety you describe - I will pray for your release from it, for it really is too much for any one soul to carry. May the Peace of God indwell you and surround you - always.
In lieu of the biblical Heaven, I sometimes want God to send me to a re-incarnate version of this world in the previous two or three generations before the evil ways came into the extreme during the last 30 years. I'm sure if I was a man around back then, I'd be able to enjoy starting a 2-3 kid family and not have to focus as much on earning enough to sustain myself. It was also easier and faster to meet a good person who was attractive both physically and socially/intellectually.

But it's only a pipe dream that will not happen today. God admitted that I'll have this grieving because the previous people that be already had a victory over it and ruined it for my generation

God wants his kingdom to only be purist and anything that isn't directly mentioned in the bible is inherently wicked.
 
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GraceTruthLove

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In lieu of the biblical Heaven, I sometimes want God to send me to a re-incarnate version of this world in the previous two or three generations before the evil ways came into the extreme during the last 30 years. I'm sure if I was a man around back then, I'd be able to enjoy starting a 2-3 kid family and not have to focus as much on earning enough to sustain myself. It was also easier and faster to meet a good person who was attractive both physically and socially/intellectually.

But it's only a pipe dream that will not happen today. God admitted that I'll have this grieving because the previous people that be already had a victory over it and ruined it for my generation

God wants his kingdom to only be purist and anything that isn't directly mentioned in the bible is inherently wicked.

Basically, you wish you had been born several years prior when times were simpler and less evil. You have little hope for living a decent life in this current age. Am I understanding correctly?

Do you have any hope for eternity? Is there anything that gives you hope now, or do you feel all (in this life and the next) is lost?
 
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VCR-2000

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Basically, you wish you had been born several years prior when times were simpler and less evil. You have little hope for living a decent life in this current age. Am I understanding correctly?

Do you have any hope for eternity? Is there anything that gives you hope now, or do you feel all (in this life and the next) is lost?

Responding on the first part, yes you are understanding me correctly no matter how you put it. I don't wish necessarily for all of it, but just the good parts that have been lost.

The second part is harder to respond to and I risk going off on more of a tangent. Though, dare I ask what the appeal of eternity is if we are assuming it's something so new and different that it replaces everything of our earth completely? Or do you believe in something other than that?
 
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GraceTruthLove

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Responding on the first part, yes you are understanding me correctly no matter how you put it. I don't wish necessarily for all of it, but just the good parts that have been lost.

The second part is harder to respond to and I risk going off on more of a tangent. Though, dare I ask what the appeal of eternity is if we are assuming it's something so new and different that it replaces everything of our earth completely? Or do you believe in something other than that?

Eternity is a new world and life that overwrites everything we've known in this life - I can see how that might be terrifying. It's one big unknown.

However I know the One who creates and rules eternity - my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I don't fear the next life because He has promised that it will be perfect and wonderful. Also, I know His character - His Love, His Faithfulness. In this life I get to know Him more and more, and my hope in Him (and the future He has promised) grows.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:16-17

This current life is tainted by sin, which results in the dark and uncertain times we are living in right now. I'd be a fool to place my hope in this life, for I know at best I will be disappointed. Even if you get to live a good life by this world's standards, it's all over in a breath. I want more than that - I want a hope and a future that will truly last. Thanks be to Christ that in Him I have these things!

As I posted above, "In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5.

This life is much more bearable (and less anxiety-inducing) with the living hope of Christ in you.
 
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VCR-2000

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Eternity is a new world and life that overwrites everything we've known in this life - I can see how that might be terrifying. It's one big unknown.

However I know the One who creates and rules eternity - my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I don't fear the next life because He has promised that it will be perfect and wonderful. Also, I know His character - His Love, His Faithfulness. In this life I get to know Him more and more, and my hope in Him (and the future He has promised) grows.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:16-17

This current life is tainted by sin, which results in the dark and uncertain times we are living in right now. I'd be a fool to place my hope in this life, for I know at best I will be disappointed. Even if you get to live a good life by this world's standards, it's all over in a breath. I want more than that - I want a hope and a future that will truly last. Thanks be to Christ that in Him I have these things!

As I posted above, "In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5.

This life is much more bearable (and less anxiety-inducing) with the living hope of Christ in you.
I respect your conclusion, but I still don't see it's whole relevance. As for the physical earth, God created it anyway and he called it good. The only reason why Satan perverted everything is because God permitted him too. So, technically he doesn't detest evil in this world either.
 
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GraceTruthLove

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I respect your conclusion, but I still don't see it's whole relevance. As for the physical earth, God created it anyway and he called it good. The only reason why Satan perverted everything is because God permitted him too. So, technically he doesn't detest evil in this world either.

I appreciate you listening. I will still pray that God will grant you peace - His Peace - so that can you move forward and be free from anxiety.
 
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VCR-2000

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I don't "love" people who are responsible for the sickness of the world either. I want retaliation by having the tables turned and they will be the ones who are the "peasents" of the world order who know how it felt for us. I want the world to go out with dignity. I would like the "good" people of the world to become culturally dominant once again.

That's how angry it makes me feel. I do relate to what you said about wanting to die from this earth early in that way. Honestly it stinks to be young today.
 
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VCR-2000

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I appreciate you listening. I will still pray that God will grant you peace - His Peace - so that can you move forward and be free from anxiety.
Thank you, I appreciate your response. I'm just mad about it. The only reason I "can't put my hope on this earth" is because I feel that's only the way God designed in the first place.
 
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VCR-2000

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Hello VCR,

I understand this fear all too well. Humanity is moving in an increasingly evil and unpredictable direction. Our societies and governments make decisions without proper thought for the consequences. The world itself is decaying. The worst part is realizing how little control we have over such circumstances and how uncertain the future is.

The Bible warned of this:

2 Timothy 3:1-4 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

Isaiah 51:6a "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;"

I struggled most with this fear in my late teens. It got to the point where I didn't want to start my life at all because I was too afraid. I just wanted God to end my life early so I would stop experiencing the anxiety.

But there is more to the story - so much more! One day God calmed my spirit and showed me.

Isaiah 51:6 "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished."

1 Peter 1:3-6 "3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials."

This may be a more religious answer than you are hoping for, but it is truth. All the human strength and coping ability in the world is not enough. The Strength and Peace of Jesus is the only way forward.

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

I know the burden of anxiety you describe - I will pray for your release from it, for it really is too much for any one soul to carry. May the Peace of God indwell you and surround you - always.

With all still due respect, I am interested in a "less religious" answer or take on this too.
 
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One saying that has always stuck with me:
"If you can't do something about it, don't worry because you can't change it. If you can do something about it, don't worry because you can change it."
 
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VCR-2000

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And it makes me mad that God wants to bring "judgement" to America because of the evil some people are doing, why is it not possible for him to use a different solution besides deciding it to be "the end" of the world's days. Why can't he just take control away from Satan?
 
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I was talking more about the evil in society becoming more pervasive than ever before and the long-term circumstances.

It can be easy to think "things are worse now than ever before", but history is a long story of the rise and fall of civilizations, of societies, and the thing is that human beings continually come through to the other side--humanity continues.

Even should some of our worst fears materialize, say nuclear war, it doesn't mean the end of history. There is a rather mysterious thing that happened about three thousand years ago known as the Bronze Age Collapse, virtually every major Bronze age power in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East suffered catastrophic loss, powerful empires collapsed entirely. It ushered in the period of the Greek Dark Ages for example, the fall of the Minoans, the Hittites. One of the few survivors was Egypt, who barely got by and would never rise to be what they once had been. We don't actually know what caused the Bronze Age Collapse, geological evidence shows increased volcanic activity, such as what had happened on the Isle of Thera, Egyptian sources speak of "sea peoples" invading and attacking. The biblical Philistines are thought by many to be one of these "sea peoples" who ended up conquering and colonizing territory on the coastal Levant. But the thing is that the Collapse brought a dark age, and so written sources and accounts are incredibly sparse. But this wasn't the end, out of the Collapse arose the classical Greek age with the works of Homer, and the birth of Greek philosophy; other kingdoms and empires came in to fill the void left by earlier ones. We see the rise of the Neo-Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes, and Persians, the Macedonians under Alexander, the Greek city states and the birth of democracy, Greek colonies and the rise of Rome, the expansion of the Phoenicians to North Africa, and so Carthage. And yes, these came, went, fell, but even with the fall of Rome in the West, came the Franks and so the precursors of the European nations--France, Germany, Britain, Spain, the Italy.

Civilization continues even when great societies fall. What's important right now is, to what degree we are able, how should we now live to help shape our society and what sort of world do we want for our children.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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