The rapture theology has been around for many years, a lot of people interpret Daniel and Revelation that way.
You say its not going to happen ever. You can’t guarnatee that.
No one can.
I choose to believe it, no harm done.
Well, actually it’s not a belief among most mainstream Christian denominations. And it’s fairly recent-I believe the “rapture” theory was conceived in the early 19th century.
Certainly it isn’t Catholic doctrine, nor Orthodox, or Anglican.
Christian signing in here: I don’t believe in the rapture.
I remember seeing this tract on line several years ago, but never in print. I find it interesting that a new age proscelyte is drawn similarly to a Klansman, yet the only Klan-type attitude I see is coming from the author.
Vlad/Igor
I just want to say that this is a good answwer to my question, I didn’t think of that.
Hmmm, follow-up. Most non-christians I know would probably believe the instant there was a rapture and an actual, visible holy war pitting heaven against hell began. If everyone on earth believes immediately following this rapture, who is left to persecute them?
So in the near future we can expect to see Dustin Hoffman give up the acting gig and take up elementary school teaching in character as Dorothy Michaels from Tootsie?
Well, the joke is on all you evangelicals.
I hate to break it to you, but the rapture already happened and you weren’t chosen.
Sorry 'bout that.
We all wish you had been.
Yeah, it was in 1930. Judge Crater was the only dude worthy.
According to a verse in the Bible, God sends a strong delusion so they will believe a lie.
Hey, I didn’t write it.
Why does Jack Chick get so much play on this board? He’s just some dingus with a printing press. His most ardent followers are probably those who love to hate him. I never heard of the guy until I joined the SDMB.
Texe Marrs is much more Wack.
Believe it or not, he’s now actually offering the Protocols book on his web page! :eek:
I don’t know that you could say that they are put in camps, but the women in Afghanistan cannot leave their homes without permission from a man. That is damned near house arrest of a majority (slight).
vanilla, you are joking about not being a Christian fundamentalist, aren’t you? According to Webster’s a Christian fundamentalist is a person who believes that a literally interpreted Bible is fundamental to Christian life and teaching. (It’s been used in that sense for the last 82 years.)
Ehh? God forces people to believe a lie? In what way is this to be distinguished from God doing the lying? For that matter, in what was can this scenario posit a God who truly allows His creatures to have free will?
It’s been said here before (not to you specifically, to my knowledge): you might want to think about believing less in the Bible, and more in God.
Wow, so God’s a lying asshole who’s trying to get people condemned to Hell. Man, this loving father thing sounds less and less enticing . . .
Same reason that Dopers won’t stop feeding trolls. Those tracts are so much fun to pick apart.
Rapture theology is an American invention that has been around for less than 200 years. I also don’t know any Christians in real life who believe it. I do know one former Christian who believed it (he was also a Young Earth Creationist for about 6 months, to his shame), but he found the theology behind it couldn’t stand up. Actually, “theology” is far too kind a word for the paste-up job of scraps of scripture separated from their context and pasted into a Frankenstein monster of a model which takes delight in the suffering of others.
I can’t even say “no harm done.” Since rapture theology tends to drive people away from Christianity while condemning all non-Christians, it seems to me there’s a great deal of potential for harm in it, at least in the eyes of those who believe it. Then again, perhaps if the harm doesn’t apply to anyone they know, or at least anyone worthwhile they know, perhaps it isn’t real harm. I’ve read that one must accept the rapture to be a true Christian. In that case, I’m not a true Christian.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready for church.
CJ
I checked with my pastor about what the Episcopal response to rapture theology, and he told me it was “What?!” Rapture theology is not part of the Episcopalian faith, nor can I see it being so in the forseeable future. It just doesn’t jibe with the three-legged stool our faith rests on that, that of scripture, reason, and tradition. You see, it plays no part in our tradition; reason rejects it; and, as I see it, it’s pretty much completely scripturally unsupported.
As for Christians being persecuted in the United States, from what I’ve seen, we’re far more likely to be the ones doing the persecuting, and for that, I apologize to the atheists, agnostics, and other non-Christians.
CJ
Wow - The End of The World™ is going to happen - yet again. How many times has it “happened” ? 5,374 ??? Remember the last End of The World™ ? The plagues, the earthquakes, the locusts the electromagnetic pulses, etc.
Some people like to think of themselves as “THE Special Generation” - the ones that were around when everything came to an end. The latest “prediction” I’ve heard is that the End of The World™ will occur in the year 2035. Why? Because that is 2,000 years after the death of Christ. (Never mind those calendar uncertainties and the fact that Christ’s birth can’t even be narrowed down to any precise year). Why 2,000 years though? Why not 1,000? Or 100? Well because the folks making that prediction (or most of them) will be around for the End Of The World™. What if it were predicted (using scientific analysis, Bible, ouija board, dart board, whatever) that the world would end in the year 6,239 ??? What a downer that would be. We’d miss the Rapture. We wouldn’t be part of the Specail Generation.
I have read the rapture theology goes way back, will need to find the links.
Its a doctrine of joy and hope and justice.
All these nasty things going on, some that are never going to be found out on earth; justice.
There is something to look forward to.
New earth, new Heavens, New Jerusalem.
DOn’t agree, doesn’t matter.
I believe it and know it, and am looking forward to it.
Now I am on my way to the library.
Conventional wisdom posits that Jesus was crucified sometime around April 30CE which was 1,974.5 years ago. At 365.25 days a year, that comes out to 721,482. Subtract three for the days he spent rotting and you now have what I believe is the answer : 721,479, give or take a week or two.
I always thought that people who have “vehicle will be unmanned in case of rapture” bumpter stickers are selfish. If they believe that at any minute they will be swept up to heaven, aren’t they knowingly putting other people in danger by driving?
There needs to be an athiest designated driver.