Why does death and destruction give some Christians "glory bumps"?

Unless you understand the "dispensationalism" of fundamentalist Christianity you won't understand their thrill over conflict in the Middle East. Dispensationalism is a form of end times beliefs invented by a fellow named Darby. And it was latched onto by the American born again movment. As doctrines go it is a relatively new invention since Darby himself was only born in 1800 and didn't make up his theology on end times until 1827. But among that uniquely American form of Christianity, fundamentalism, it caught on like wild fire.

I myself always thought it odd that some divine being had supposedly plotted out in advance how the world would go. That idea strips humans of free choice and buys into the Calvinist concept of predestination yet the Calvinists themselves tend not to be dispensationalists. Fundamentalism was a movement main out of the American South and was born in the backwaters of a society that was poor and largely illiterate. It was the simplistic form of religion that one would expect from the uneducated and ignorant segments of the uneducated and ignornat section of the United States. Of course fundamentalism spread from there much the way Islamic fundamentalism has spread in the last couple of decades.
Now the fundamentalist is drooling for death and destruction in the Middle East as they believe that there will be some huge war there that marks the end of the world. But before that happens Jesus is supposed to come back and whisk the nutters out of the world and to heaven to live with himself. It strikes me that Jesus would no more enjoy spending time with these fanatical lunatics than the rest of do. Imagine being Jesus and having millions of these nutters getting practically orgasmic over how they love you. Imagine listening to them for etermity going on and on about this love. I'm sure most of us would appreciate the attention for a short while but soon find it tedious. After a bit of this we'd probably go into hiding just to escape the attention. But fundamentalists think Jesus would glory in the constant praise and seek it out for all of eternity. In their mind Jesus is actually a rather shallow individual.

So these fundies are themselves becoming rather raputurous, if you pardon the pun, over the recent Isreali attack on Lebanon. Israel is bombing the shit out of Lebanon and seems to be intentionally inflict as much destruction as possible on the social infrastructure of Lebanon as they can. It is rather shocking to see how these action from a so-called civilized nation. But the born againers love it. Death, they want more of it. Destruction, they relish it. Each corpse is another sign to them that Jesus is coming back.

Harper's magazine has looked at a discussion group for these born again dispensationalists and collected some of the messages they have posted to one another. They truly do love the war. And remember that the White House is filled with these monsters going right to the top! Now if these people love war then perhaps we can now understand how one of their own, George Bush, Jr., a man entirely stupid enough to be born again, could follow a foreign policy that turned a bad situation into one that is truly catastophic. Bush is supposedly one of them. They are the core of what support Bush has left in America. If they are have orgasms over the war is it possible that one of their own has pushed a disastrous foreign policy in the Middle East intentionally knowing it would lead to disaster? Is the meltdown caused by the US invasion of Iraq actually a goal and not an unintended consequence? Here are some of the messages posted by these Christians.

"Praise God! We are chosen to be in these times and also watch and spread the word. Something inside me is exploding to get out, and I don't know what it is. Its kind of like I want to do cartwheels around the neighborhood."

"Got that dancing feeling on the inside of me."

"Whoa! I can sure feel the glory bumps after reading this thread!"

"I too am soooo excited!! I get goose bumps, literally, when I watch what's going on in the M.E.!! And Watcherboy, you were so right when saying it was quite a day yesterday, in the world news, and I add in local news here in the Boston area!! Tunnel ceiling collapsed on a car and killed a woman of faith, and we had the most terrifying storms I have ever seen here!! But, yes, oh happy day, like in your screen name , it is most indeed a time to be happy and excited, right there with ya!!"

"This is the busiest I've ever seen this website in a few years! I have been having rapture dreams and I can't believe that this is really it! We are on the edge of eternity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

" I am excited beyond words that the struggle of this life may be over soon and I can finally be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"

This is sick stuff. Just in case you forget what is making these people so happy I have posted a picture of the recent devestation that Israel has inflicted on Beirut.