1) How do you conduct yourself in adversity or the end times in a way that reflects the gravity of the situation and yet is consistent with your moral values and religious beliefs?
I will answer the adversity part, I have no idea when the end times are here. Generation upon generation, the notion of "this is the end times" have been brought up, and often with a very good reason. So I leave the end times to God, since my feeble understanding cannot get it right. If it's now, later, much later, He knows even if I don't. I'm confident I don't understand nearly all of the scripture, especially when it comes to prophesies, but if I absolutely need to understand something, God will take care of that as well.
But adversity, I'm assuming you're talking about the specific kind of adversity where we see everything going down the drain, insanity and hatred all over the place, and all of that bringing us down. How do I conduct myself? One day at a time. Am I good at it? No. But there's a special inside force bringing us down when see all hell break loose around us: the need to do something, perhaps everything, but at the same time feeling absolutely powerless, which can be followed by a raging need to be powerful. It just so happens to be that I've found myself to be powerless with much smaller things, sometimes even trivial things, also often going back into the flesh/spirit battle many Christians are very familiar with. In a sense, we need to accept our lack of power. I didn't want to, because I am stubborn. But I had to, I was brought there. I am quite powerless, and suffering is to be expected in one way or another.
One day at a time, with the realization that God's power and wisdom are so much higher than my own, that I can just settle for being what I am, a little human being with limits, with faults, with sin. What I am to do, is to draw comfort from His care, no matter what the circumstances are. Despair can rage and pummel us to no end, but we don't have to listen them. Let them rage.
And whatever meaningful encounters there are, I need to remember the love of Christ for me, demanding me to love my neighbor too. If I get into the mental state of "them vs me", I need to snap out of it. If I don't, I will elevate myself over others, and lower the others still until they are no longer human to me. It's hard to carry that kind of warped burden, it blinds us, and taints whatever good we aim to do. But what little I can do, I want to do. Not because I am good, I know I'm not, but because I believe God is. Often the smallest encounters, smallest thing, can lead to something great. I don't have to think I should see it all unfold, even. We never know how far the ripples go.
2) How do you come to terms with the loneliness of realising that you are surrounded by people who are either moral vacuums, having no clear conscience of their own or no willingness to act or to recognise the situation, or are so genuinely corrupt that they embrace destruction and cannot therefore rely on them to co-operate when things turn bad?
I accept it. Not at first though. First, I often get angry, in my heart violently angry, and then I start to judge them. But I am always reminded of myself. Not many people know about my own sin, my own rot, my own hard-heartedness. If I am something in secret, I'm not much better than someone doing the same in public. I'm reminded of Paul, who persecuted Christians. He was a pharisee with a great fire and strongest motivation. Later on he said, that God has demonstrated His grace also through him, because he counted himself as the chief of sinners.
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life."
There have been many people who we all would count as the worst ones, and some of them have come to Christ and changed their lives. Most of them would say that they didn't do it, they had no heart for it, but somehow God took them, He gets the glory. We Christians await for the final, experiental redemption where all is revealed and everything finally seen and done, but glimpses of redemption here on earth can be seen in people who turn from their evil in such a manner that it will inspire many.
So even if my initial gut reaction is always anger, full of judgement, I shouldn't stay there or even depend on my will or my sense of justice, since my sense of justice is equally imperfect as I am. Or do I always know when I have a log in my own eye? I don't always know it. If there is to be any revenge, it should not be on my part. I will give it to God, and I ask His justice, His grace, His guidance and His will to come and reign. He sees further than we do, and He can do much with things and people we are ready to throw away and count as trash. He can and will also do much with us.
If you aren't talking about the "world" in general, but close friends and even family, then of course it's even more hard. I don't have that situation with my family or friends, thank God. They are good to me. Are you perhaps talking about a literal situation where you are talking about people who are the closest to you? And you are upset that they don't share your views on these matters? Just asking, I'm not sure if I understood it right. But if that is the case, I would guess with my simple, easily mistaken mind, that applying pressure for those people in order to make them "good" will be as successful as an aggressive preacher trying to scare you with hell right now. We deal with difficult things in so many ways. What shows on the outside might be entirely different to what is inside. There may be a spark in someone we have already judged in our hearts to not have one. Sometimes we might give in for the longest time, only to see some light further down the road after some time.
I decided quite some time ago, that people don't have to share my views. How we live in the midst of insanity, evil and all kinds of crap, absolutely varies. But if it depends on me, I shouldn't abandon anyone, at least if they're not aggressively hostile to me. About relying on someone to co-operate, I guess I don't. People will fail us, and we will fail them. It won't be long when I don't have any of the closest family members alive, and I am unmarried, without children. A certain kind of loneliness will come, even if some people "further" might remain. But I shouldn't go insane because of that. And while I still have people close to me, I can turn the tables and see what could I do for them, instead of waiting for them to meet my needs, whatever they could be. May God grant me the heart of not wanting anything in return, so I wouldn't hold these people as hostages of my supposed kindness, so that the kindness could be pure, and entirely from Him.
I'm a bit slow today, so perhaps I understood many things wrong about what you're asking. Forgive me, am dumb.
3) How do you ring the alarm bells to stay safe in your own personal life, protect friends and family whilst also keeping yourself calm and composed in the face of such overwhelming odds?
I know I'm going to die. I've carried so many people into their graves. While I don't WANT to die in the sense of "get me out of here right now", I miss many people who went before me, and a part of me wants to leave some things behind already. But there are still people who might need me, and a lot of beauty left.
Suffering, insanity, evil, all of that, it's here. It's right here and it's always been here. Some of us are relatively safe from the worst things, as I am, but I am not immune. Whatever comes, comes. So I pray, and I carry all of my worries and burdens to God. I pray for Christ to take all the victims of evil, every unfortunate soul, into eternal comfort, and for Him to guide and strengthen the ones who are still here grieving, missing, hoping and despairing in turn. I pray Him to take all of us and give us whatever strength and hope we need in order to function here and for His will to be done in us, and through us to others. Whatever comes, comes. We will all leave this place. But when we are the weakest, His strength is perfect. Sometimes I fail, I stray away from this, and I try to face everything myself. I can't, so I'm calmly pulled near the cross again, the best place for me. No matter what comes. If I fail, if I go insane, I still know He won't. I can't rely on my victories anymore, I will rely on His.
This being said I am not considering converting to Christianity or any major religion and I will concede that is something of a surprise even to myself given the reassurance it may offer. Perhaps it's vanity or maybe it's compassion for the wretchedness of man- perhaps they are the same thing.
Thank you and God Bless
You know, not so long ago, I would've sneaked in a little attempt at conversion here. But I know my limits more and more, every day. And after all, I wasn't "converted" with words either. God can raise people who do that for Him, but I'm not one of them. But I believe He pulls us, in various ways. I believe my faith is a gift, a mustard seed, watered and grown across the years. I didn't do it.
Also, if you have compassion for any wretched man, no matter how wretched they might seem, that isn't far off from the love of Christ, which doesn't look at a person (status, appearance).
Thank you, God bless you too, all your loved ones and people around you.
