# Morality of Christians Driving Cars, Flying Planes, Etc. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 11, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769 "2003-10-11T00:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oktberfest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@Oktberfest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oktberfest)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/21 "2003-10-11T16:07:52Z")
> [@](#): > > One could scarcely do this if one were to swear off all motorist activity. Is that because Christians can’t take public transportation? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/22 "2003-10-11T16:50:34Z")
Christians CAN take public transportation. However, it would be extremely difficult for most industrialized people to rely SOLELY on public transportation – especially if they have families to support. If you own a vehicle, you know what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/23 "2003-10-11T20:42:18Z")
Well, of course, Christians who are members of the **religious right** can’t take public transportation. This is because public transportation is considered “environmentally friendly,” and every good conservative Christian knows that with the Apocalypse right around the corner there’s no reason to preserve the environment, therefore environmentalists are actually socialists out to do Satan’s bidding by preventing all those good conservative Christians out there from getting their God-given petroleum and old-growth forest wood. Just ask former Secretary of the Interior James Watt. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/24 "2003-10-12T09:49:56Z")
I’m so sick of the tyranny of the theology behind the “Left Behind” books. Of all the bits of doctrine that are undecided in the Christian church, this is about the top, but you wouldn’t know it to hear some people. They act like there’s an outline with maps and a timeline in the back of Revelations. There’s not. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/25 "2003-10-12T10:30:50Z")
I’m a bike riding Christian. I already fell off the darn thing once this year. Maybe if I was going _straight_ up… No, really, I can’t quite see a God who loves us all pulling a stunt like that. I guess I gotta read those “Left Behinds”. It seems my Church missed a few things. At least, I sure never heard about 'em! ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/26 "2003-10-12T18:48:06Z")
Maybe no-one will be driving cars at the time of the rapture. Sound unlikely? This is GOD we’re talking about. Or maybe no-on is a true-enough Xian to rapture! 😃 Sorry. Anyway, isn’t this a lot of speculation? Does revelation specifically say people just vanish? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/27 "2003-10-12T19:01:40Z")
Well, half of the world will be in bed then, so its not that bad… ---
**Author:** ![Svt4Him](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@Svt4Him](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svt4Him)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/28 "2003-10-12T20:20:37Z")
So I fail to see what the issue is. Is it immoral for Christians to be driving? What about being a doctor? What would happen if a doctor was delivering a baby during the rapture? What about someone programming a street light, and when they get ruptured, they drop their tools, it causes a short, and there are accidents? What about an air traffic controller? What about an electrician? You are implying that the death is rushed, or they will go to hell right away? Since when has that been a concern before this? ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/29 "2003-10-13T06:31:53Z")
Airlines should contract only sinful pilots and that will solve the problems of God landing multiple aircrafts for us sinners… great…then we will be getting all kinds of drunk or hungover or coked up pilots in the air. unless by sinful you mean non christian as opposed to full of vice. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/30 "2003-10-13T10:01:33Z")
I think the answer is pretty obvious… if you’re still here after the rapture, God doesn’t want you. The happy raptured (a good name for a band, no?) get to watch you, the sinner, die as their unoccupied car crashes into your evil, sinful home. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/31 "2003-10-13T12:27:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > **God/Jesus is gonna pull dead Christians off the Earth, then pull live Christians off the Earth, and they’ll meet Him somewhere in midair.** Just like on Lastday in _Logan’s Run_! Cool! Do they all explode, too? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/32 "2003-10-13T15:07:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phnord Prephect \* > **I think the answer is pretty obvious… if you’re still here after the rapture, God doesn’t want you. The happy raptured (a good name for a band, no?) get to watch you, the sinner, die as their unoccupied car crashes into your evil, sinful home.** Not true, since the book of Revelation specifically talks about 144,000 people coming out of Israel, receiving the Seal of God. These people were surrounded by a great multitude of other believers from around the world. (See Revelation chapter 7.) ---
**Author:** ![More\_Cowbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@More\_Cowbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/More_Cowbell)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/33 "2003-10-13T16:05:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Svt4Him \* > \*\*What about someone programming a street light, and when they get ruptured, they drop their tools, it causes a short, and there are accidents? \*\* Ouch! I swear, If I were ruptured I’d drop anything and everything in my hands and not a court in the land would convict me for any accidents that followed. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Svt4Him \* > \*\* > Since when has that been a concern before this? \*\* Since Darby invented the current form of rapture theology in the mid 1800’s? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/34 "2003-10-13T16:18:07Z")
> [@](#): > > And the Lord shall steer the unmanned Ford Excursions No one who is driving one of those land leviathans is destined for the Rapture, anyway, so we’re safe on that account. ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/35 "2003-10-13T21:48:14Z")
anyone, saved or not, can die at anytime. so, is it moral for anyone to drive? ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/36 "2003-10-13T22:29:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Oktberfest \* > \*\*With the impending Rapture that will take the body of Christ from the Earth, is it moral for Christians to drive cars, fly planes, etc? It seems that it should be wrong, since they could be called home at anytime. If they are called home while driving they could kill people on the road. I feel this would be wrong. Or is it ok, since those killed would not be Christians? \*\* This presumes that the so-called “pre-Tribulationist” doctrine is correct. Not all Christians are pre-Tribulationists. Indeed, the Orthodox Church is of the opinion that this whole “rapture” thing is some oddity invented in the 1800s with no precedent in ancient Church doctrine. Thus, from my point of view, your question is simply absurd. It’s like asking me if it is moral to drive an automobile because I might run over Wile E. Coyote. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/37 "2003-10-14T01:18:51Z")
> [@](#): > > I guess I gotta read those “Left Behinds”. It seems my Church missed a few things. At least, I sure never heard about 'em! In regards to both theology and literature, let me assure you that you’ve missed nothing at all. Really. I couldn’t even finish the first one. Writing good fiction is very hard, and these guys don’t do any better than the rest of the hackers out there. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/38 "2003-10-14T04:50:22Z")
That’s fine, as long as they don’t _fly_ the cars and _drive_ the planes. Those kinds of reverse shenanigans are clearly against God’s will. Clearly, we need a Defense of Vehicle Operation Act. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/39 "2003-10-14T05:08:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Oktberfest \* > \*\*Is that because Christians can’t take public transportation? \*\* Maybe it’s worse than that. Maybe it’s bigger than just the post-Rapture safety question. How do we know _anything_ is acceptable if it isn’t explicitly described in the Bible? Maybe we were all doomed the moment we got from point Aleph to point Bet by any means more complicated than walking or hoofed mammal. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769/40 "2003-10-14T10:01:12Z")
Actually, I hadn’t even heard of Rapture theology until I was an adult and took to discussing religion. Most of my family’s never heard of it either, and we were all raised as Protestant Christians, albeit mostly English ones. From what I’ve been able to make out, including information from a friend who was very much a Fundamentalist Christian for many years, it’s based on a few verses, including some from Revelation and one from Matthew, I think. To me, it’s Biblically unsound and a peculiar development of American theology. It’s also one of the fairly few religious beliefs which produce a strong, knee-jerk negative reaction in me. I’ve tried to overcome this, which is why I have looked into its origins and the reality of what those who hold this belief believe, but I find a cruelty in it which is incompatible with my understanding of God. At any rate, it’s not part of Episcopal theology either, and for that I am profoundly grateful. CJ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morality-of-christians-driving-cars-flying-planes-etc/206769.md?page=3)