Is cyberpunk the best genre for end times fiction?

[Frank Creed]

Is cyberpunk the best genre for end times fiction?
If not, what genre do you think is best, and why?

[torainfor]

I think it can be, but it probably depends on the story. Cyberpunk can be relevant and allegorical and bring in plot lines from all over the world (Bruce Bethke did not pay me to say these words ). The question is, will those without the mark be allowed internet access? Probably. It'll probably be globally ubiquitous by then.

Maybe you're right. Maybe it is. Until the next big thing comes along...

[Divides the Waters]

When are/were the end times? Does your version involve raptures and angels, or aliens and demons? Does it revolve around post-apocalyptic wastelands or crime-ridden alleys? Does it resemble a political thriller?

[Frank Creed]

As for the mark of the beast and Web access, that's the stuff of Body of Christ hacks! : )

I know that if there's a good story to tell, setting will just be part of it. I ask because a friend told me they did not think that a setting as far out as 100 years would be marketable to our Christian demographic because as a whole, we believe the world will end before such a time.

I'm very comfortable with my own cyberpunk setting--I'm just wondering if my friend is right. 100 years out in literary terms is still near-future sci-fi.

[birdnerd]

No one knows the day nor the hour only the father.

All the prophetic signs are pointing to a return in our lifetime, but even the apostles expected Jesus' return to be within their lifetime.

[Frank Creed]

It bothers me that Jesus' contemporary Jews failed to recognize him as the Messiah because they were expecting a king to save them from the Roman Empire. That's what happens when one listens to prophecy experts!
Through the first two books of my Underground series prophecy looks familiar but then I will turn things inside out--because we cannot know the day or the hour.
Some will argue that we may know the month or the week--but that's not like a thief in the night. We need to be about the great comission anyhow.

[choosybeggar]

Just my personal opinion:

The End Day, or the Second Coming, or the Apocalypse, or whatever you want to call it, is not going to happen until the Church has taken or has almost taken over the world. I'm not predicting when it will happen, just when it can't. And I'm not too sure on anything exact, just that most of the people in the world must be in agreement with God before He can come. Then Heaven will complete its invasion of Earth and the Final Day can come.

I'm thinking of writing a book that will be like what you're saying, Frank. Since I have a different view of the possibilities than average I have the freedom to go pretty crazy in my fiction. That, and putting a few things that I DON'T believe in, like alternate universes (I'm open to the possibility of that, too.) makes an amazing playground for my imagination.

[Frank Creed]

ChoosyBeggar--
I've been warned about offering anything but premillenialism or else face rejection by my readers, but I'm doing it anyway. Just like you said, I'm throwing in things I don't necessarily believe in just to make things different. I tend toward Amillenialism, but the series will look more like your post-millenial beliefs--revolutionary thought in our day.
All in all I'm extremely open-minded on the subject of prophecy for the aforementioned reasons, and it sure seems that more believers need to be that way.
I once tried to explain the other views of the end times to a young believer. His reply, and defense of the standard anti-Christ concept: I believe what the BIBLE says!

As you say, the important thing is imagination. In spec-fic, we can do any number of different things with the second coming.

[choosybeggar]

I really do need to get to the parts of the Bible that talk about it all. But I'm kinda doing the go-through-the-Bible-in-order thing. It's been pretty cool. I'm really learning a lot more, or rather applying a lot of recent teaching to the Scriptures, and seeing if the teaching and the Word work out. And sometimes I learn something and sometimes I don't. All in a day of the quest for God.

So I don't have as good of an idea of what the Bible says on end times, but I should within a year or so. Then I might actually be ready to go ahead with my said end times book.

Couple of questions. What do you mean by Amillennialism and post-millennium? I haven't heard those kinds of terms enough to be up to speed using them. I'm assuming post-millennium is...after the Tribulation (in traditional thinking), after the......saints' rule? Eh.
But Amillenialism.... Well, first, what's the millennium? I don't remember off the top of my head. Need those details to understand what you're talking about.

Thanks.
Further questions to come, assuming you don't mind.

[Frank Creed]

choosybeggar--
After you study the Bible in order a topical study of the end times will show which scriptures support what beliefs and why. Until then, www.gotquestions.org/amillennialism.html is a pretty decent basic answer. The three times refer to when Christ will return--before a thousand year rule of the Church, after a thousand year rule where the Church prepares the Earth for His return, or no literal thousand year rule, and Christ just returns like a theif in the night.

I hope this helps.

[choosybeggar]

Yes, it does. Thanks!

I guess I tend toward thinking somewhere between post- and amillennialism. I view the difference as not very important for us in this day, you know? Whichever one is true we have the same job-bring Heaven to Earth. I can't wait to get more anointing...heheh...being a Christian is the funnest job ever! And it pays well, too! At least, some people have unlocked the doors to the unlimited resources.

Anyway, great ideas for novels in the thoughts which arise from strange beliefs!

Write it all,
Choosybeggar

[myrthman]

I wonder if a different genre might become the best vehicle for each of the three end times theories discussed. Maybe a cyberpunk story for premillennialism, space opera for amillennialism, etc. Same author, different takes, one ultimate conclusion: Jesus Christ is LORD!

[tris]

Just to throw another wrinkle into your end times fun and games, I once heard a preacher suggest the "rapture" will take out the bad guys, leaving the good guys behind... he based his point upon Jesus' parable about the tares and wheat, where the tares were gathered up and thrown out.

Not saying whether I agree or disagree, just that it's an interesting idea and well suited for a cyberpunk universe. I, for one, find those type of end times novels much more interesting than the Left Behind series.

[Frank Creed]

tris--
I do wonder if part of the Left Behind series' popularity was a sense of the immediate. So many Christians believe that the end times is upon us that any science fiction setting might be too distant for popular tastes.
Faith,
f

[susanne]

Personally I don't believe a human being alive can predict when the Rapture will occur, when the apocalypse will strike, or when Christ will return.
Jesus did say, only the Father in heaven knows the precise timing of these events.
I think it is rather presumptious to state the precise date, as a recent Christian radio host did, and this can do a lot of damage to non-Christians.
As our pastor once said, know that these things will happen, and live as if Christ could return any day.
So, I would not be put off by a novel set more than 100 years in the future at all. After all, it is a story, imagination. It is not as if you were writing a non-fiction book. Go for it!