The other 65

I see this psychological fact played-out far too often:

... Richard Landes, the BU history professor, believes Albrecht may be among those who are seduced by the power of feeling like they are players at the center of world events.

"It's enormously attractive," said Landes. "If you believe you live in the end-times, then everything you do has meaning. You become a warrior, and everything is at stake."

Landes compared the feeling of sharing a collective, apocalyptic experience or narrative as like a near-death experience. "It's an intense, incredibly intimate experience," Landes said.

It's well-documented throughout Christianity that some surrender themselves unto the desire to have a special part in history, a special knowledge (esotericism), really just a greater control over events than that they actually have (none other than that which God has granted them in their personal lives).

One of the essential hallmarks of the follower of Christ is how one sees oneself in light of reality. I have a hard time with this - my pride, that is. I get too caught up in the little control I actually have over things, my place in the world. The Christian way is not a very complicated one and that perhaps bothers some who wish to be followers of Christ, but on their own, complicated, terms. As someone who has spent his share of time analyzing things eschatological, I humbly suggest some of those overly excited about the last chapter of the Bible might spend more time in the other 65.

Okay, bypass Daniel too. 64, then. :-)