Why Do Some Believers Long For the ‘End Times’?
The problem with rooting for destruction
Submitted by LoFi.
(SPOILER ALERT for Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity Wars in this article.)
Let’s say you are sitting down to watch Avengers: Infinity Wars for the first time. Someone comes over and tells you: “Thanos wins in the end. He snaps his fingers and half the universe disappears. When he does, I’ll give you $50.”
So you start the movie with the “knowledge” that he’s going to win, and you have a financial incentive to see him win. When you see Thanos beat down the Hulk in the first ten minutes, you’re upset at the Hulk lost, but you are now closer to that $50. Every time the heroes encounter Thanos, they lose, and your confidence in this payout is further confirmed.
They take heavier and heavier losses, heroes start dying, and you’re already thinking about how you’re going to spend that money. No matter how good it may look for the heroes at a particular moment you hope that it’s going to get worse for them and you are proven right. Eventually Thanos snaps his fingers, the Avengers lose, and you get $50.
You ended up actively cheering for the bad guy to win.
The story I was told in my church, and I know it’s told in many others, was that…
