# What if all professed Christians disappeared? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589 "2013-12-31T20:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/101 "2014-01-01T21:44:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If this was an honest “turn-around”, then all that would happen in your premise is that all the professed Buddhists disappeared, never to be heard from again. This bit about “Suppose the largest statue of Buddha in the world came to life, flew through the air, sucked up all the _professed_ Buddhists with him…”? Please point out the equivalent in my OP. I left out such fancy for a purpose. Sheesh. What difference would it make? How many people are so fucking stupid that if all the Buddhists in the world disappeared, they wouldn’t connect it to Buddhism without the further evidence of a flying statue? And just by the way, having some 2 billion people suddenly and permanently disappear is more than enough “fancy” for any OP. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/102 "2014-01-01T21:47:38Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > ‘The Rapture’ exists in popular culture as a vague notion about Christians all disappearing sometime (but with very little more detail than that). > > If all the Christians abruptly disappeared, a whole lot of people would assume it was the Rapture they had vaguely heard about, and human nature being what it is, a fair proportion of those people would consider it a convincing enough fit against whatever they found on the internet when they googled ‘Christians have disappeared’\* - assuming the internet is still in working order, that is. > > \*I just tried this and the top result was [this](http://www.pretribulation.com/letters/christians.htm)site- which says a lot about Christians disappearing, without (as far as I can tell) seriously contradicting a single detail of your scenario. The Rapture exists in _our_ popular culture, but outside the U.S., how widespread is the culture of “The Rapture”? Even _if_ a large percentage of Americans left here decided to become Christian…that really wouldn’t be a large percentage of people overall, would it? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/103 "2014-01-01T21:50:29Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > And just by the way, having some 2 billion people suddenly and permanently disappear is more than enough “fancy” for any OP. Agreed, which is why I didn’t muddy the waters with extraneous detail that would take away from the purpose of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/104 "2014-01-01T21:58:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The Rapture exists in _our_ popular culture, but outside the U.S., how widespread is the culture of “The Rapture”? Even _if_ a large percentage of Americans left here decided to become Christian…that really wouldn’t be a large percentage of people overall, would it? I think that might depend on how much of the internet, TV, news media etc. still works. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/105 "2014-01-01T21:58:23Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But weren’t you raised in this culture? What would the assumptions be of those raised in other regions of the world? Again, I have trouble believing that “Rapture” would spring to their minds before anything else. So what? It doesn’t have to be the first thing they think of. But if there is any kind of mass communication left, it wouldn’t take long before that’s all anyone was talking about. According to reports I’ve read, when Clinton was first told that a plane had hit the WTC, the first thing he said was “Bin Laden.” When Bush was first told that a plane had hit the WTC, the first thing he said was, “That’s one bad pilot.” To be honest, I would have been closer to Bush than to Clinton on that particular IQ test. But I sure heard a lot about Bin Laden shortly after that. > [@](#): > > Why you would assume that people of other religions and cultures would jump to a Christian conclusion and abandon their culture and faith so readily? If some prediction from the Koran sort-of at first glance came true, would you then follow the Koran? Are you fucking kidding me? After you just responded to my post about how I thought people would convert if something similar happened with Buddhists, that wasn’t even predicted? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/106 "2014-01-01T22:06:22Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Are you fucking kidding me? After you just responded to my post about how I thought people would convert if something similar happened with Buddhists, that wasn’t even predicted? What you wrote wasn’t similar, was it? > [@](#): > > “Suppose the largest statue of Buddha in the world came to life, flew through the air, sucked up all the professed Buddhists with him…”? You’d think the giant flying Buddha sucking up Buddhists would be a big tell as to what was happening, as opposed to what I described in the OP…but what do _I_ know about accurate comparisons, right? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/107 "2014-01-01T22:20:32Z")
To me, all the Christians disappearing would seem to disincentivize converting to Christianity. Sure, maybe some people in Christian cultures would think everyone went to heaven, but from the outside? Maybe a handful of cults would spring up, but largely “converting to Christianity” would seem kind of suicidal. I mean, everybody who meets a certain description suddenly and terrifyingly disappears with no trace or explanation. And you want to **join** these people? From the perspective of a culture that doesn’t buy the Christian afterlife, they basically just died. It seems somewhat loony from my perspective to suddenly convert, it feels more like “I want to commit suicide” than “I want to be raptured”. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/108 "2014-01-01T22:34:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What you wrote wasn’t similar, was it? > You’d think the giant flying Buddha sucking up Buddhists would be a big tell as to what was happening, as opposed to what I described in the OP…but what do _I_ know about accurate comparisons, right? Well, there’s your problem. THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE. Who cares whether they disappeared into the sky, or simply disappeared? And who cares whether the statue of Jesus overlooking Rio went with them? The miracle is the people disappearing; anything else is insignificant by comparison. If it’s every Christian, and only Christians, what kind of dunce needs a statue of Jesus to drive home the point? It makes for a better visual, sure, but it would make no difference to any intelligent person’s reaction to the news. You apparently don’t think two billion people disappearing, all of them professed Christians, is a tell. You apparently think that people will yawn when a third of the world’s population, including something like three of every four Americans, disappears, because if they weren’t seen to go up into the sky, then big deal. And you apparently think that they will just consider it a coincidence that they’re all (professed) Christians. Your position truly defies belief. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/109 "2014-01-01T22:40:03Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > You apparently don’t think two billion people disappearing, all of them professed Christians, is a tell. You apparently think that people will yawn when a third of the world’s population, including something like three of every four Americans, disappears, because if they weren’t seen to go up into the sky, then big deal. And you apparently think that they will just consider it a coincidence that they’re all (professed) Christians. > > Your position truly defies belief. And your description of my position defies what I have actually written in this thread. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/110 "2014-01-01T22:40:12Z")
I’m really unsure what you wanted from this thread, **Czarcasm** - if you just wanted to explore the impact of the sudden nonexistence of Christianity, it might have been better to frame the scenario as being of _known cause_ - something like mind-reading aliens appearing in orbit and announcing that they will painlessly and instantaneously disintigrate everyone who fits the criteria, then doing it. That way, Christianity is gone, but it’s obviously _not_ the Rapture. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/111 "2014-01-01T22:45:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m really unsure what you wanted from this thread, **Czarcasm** - if you just wanted to explore the impact of the sudden nonexistence of Christianity, it might have been better to frame the scenario as being of _known cause_ - something like mind-reading aliens appearing in orbit and announcing that they will painlessly and instantaneously disintigrate everyone who fits the criteria, then doing it. > > That way, Christianity is gone, but it’s obviously _not_ the Rapture. I didn’t think something that simplistic was necessary, and I’m not sure your solution would dispel some from believing that GOD used aliens to bring his chosen people to Heaven because, after all, _only_ those that professed to be Christian were taken…which means aliens=angels. Or something. Next time, though, I’ll probably take your advice. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/112 "2014-01-01T22:53:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I didn’t think something that simplistic was necessary, and I’m not sure your solution would dispel some from believing that GOD used aliens to bring his chosen people to Heaven because, after all, _only_ those that professed to be Christian were taken…which means aliens=angels. Or something. True, but you can always explicitly rule this out by stating _“…and for whatever reason, the world does not significantly consider this to have been the Rapture”_ or something - and still explore, unpolluted, the bit you’re really interested in. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/113 "2014-01-01T23:01:30Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > It is mainstream Christian doctrine that you can be an absolute asshole and still be saved as long as you believe in Jesus. My, what a bizarre and twisted idea of Christianity you have. This is like five different kinds of wrong. But, hey, wrong thread for that. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/114 "2014-01-01T23:01:37Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > From the perspective of a culture that doesn’t buy the Christian afterlife, they basically just died. IMO, only the dumber members of such a culture would hold that belief for very long, i.e. as long as it took to confirm that everything in the OP really happened. I don’t buy the Christian afterlife, but as I said before, I would have to admit I was wrong. There is no natural explanation for what happens in the OP, so no matter what you believed before, you now have to believe in the supernatural, and with all due respect to Czarcasm’s opinion, only an idiot would fail to “jump to the conclusion” that the supernatural events were inextricably linked to the Christian faith. I guess you could assume that something bad happened to them, but why would you, when their Bible predicts something very similar, that’s very good for them? It would be a different premise if they were all burnt to cinders, or melted like candles, but if they are just gone, you would have to be an EXTREME skeptic to not conclude that it was the rapture. Here is what it says in 1 Thessalonians 4 (KJV): > [@](#): > > 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: > > 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Nothing in that contradicts the OP. It doesn’t say where the Lord descends or how loud he shouts, so either it happened at a remote spot, or a spot where only Christians were around, and they’re no longer here to ask. As for the dead in Christ, it doesn’t say the graves will open, so it’s apparently just their souls, so of course we didn’t see that. Then it says the living will be caught up, but it doesn’t say how fast, so maybe it just took a millisecond, and nobody saw the ascents. So you don’t have to work very hard to make it all fit. And as I said before, even if something didn’t fit, it’s still much easier to believe that there’s an error in the text than that there is a natural explanation for two billion people suddenly disappearing. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/115 "2014-01-01T23:11:48Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > To me, all the Christians disappearing would seem to disincentivize converting to Christianity. Sure, maybe some people in Christian cultures would think everyone went to heaven, but from the outside? Maybe a handful of cults would spring up, but largely “converting to Christianity” would seem kind of suicidal. > > I mean, everybody who meets a certain description suddenly and terrifyingly disappears with no trace or explanation. And you want to **join** these people? From the perspective of a culture that doesn’t buy the Christian afterlife, they basically just died. It seems somewhat loony from my perspective to suddenly convert, it feels more like “I want to commit suicide” than “I want to be raptured”. It all happened peacefully. There isn’t anything terrifying about the disappearance except that they are no longer there. It coincides with religious beliefs about being taken up whole into heaven. So it would be natural to take this as proof of the existence of god since Czarcasm left no room for a rational explanation. It’s the best proof of miracles anyone has had and it happened on a scale that can’t be ignored. Other explanations are less logical. The power of Christ compels you. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/116 "2014-01-01T23:14:20Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > My, what a bizarre and twisted idea of Christianity you have. This is like five different kinds of wrong. But, hey, wrong thread for that. Matthew 12:31: Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. Argue with him. He says there is only one exception, and it doesn’t have much to do with being an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/117 "2014-01-01T23:14:57Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > At whom?Why would they assume the Chinese?With no significant losses of its own, why would they launch a strike? Israel surely knows that if any of its neighbors has the ability to devastate America, Israel would be the first target, so with no intelligence as to a possible culprit, who would they strike against? Iran? Why? For the Hell of it?Really, the disappearance of the US as a world power would change things so significantly that it would cause nations like India and Pakistan to reassess their priorities. I think jumping to nuke their neighbor would be very low on that list.Hmm…NK is a wild card, so who the Heck knows what they’d do? An attack on SK from NK would be an urgent concern in this scenario. Judging from what you’ve written in some of your other posts, you seem to feel the United States is the source of most of the world’s problems and our absence would make the world a more peaceful place. I disagree with that assessment and I believe that the threat of American intervention is a major factor preventing some wars. Remove America from the picture and those wars become much more likely. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/118 "2014-01-02T00:17:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Judging from what you’ve written in some of your other posts, you seem to feel the United States is the source of most of the world’s problems and our absence would make the world a more peaceful place. I disagree with that assessment and I believe that the threat of American intervention is a major factor preventing some wars. Remove America from the picture and those wars become much more likely. The US is the cause of many of the world’s problems, more than its fair share actually, but I wouldn’t say most. I am not convinced, however, that removal of the US makes wars more likely, but that’s a topic for a different thread. Don’t get me wrong, the devastation of the US caused by the OP’s premise would be a very bad thing. A significant portion of the world would be thrust into economic and financial chaos because of it. Everyone would have a share of the pain, but it should surprise no one that in its midst there would be large pockets of jubilation around the world. It is definitely not a fait-accompli that the world would be a more ‘peaceful’ place without the US, but I think it is well within the realm of possibility. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/119 "2014-01-02T00:35:09Z")
In the formerly Christian-majority countries, there would be overwhelming conversion among the atheists, and somewhat less overwhelming conversion among those of other faiths. I think in other parts of the world you’d see at least enough conversion to cause religious strife where previously there had been none: if 15% of Saudis now want to go to church every week, there’s going to be some civil unrest. There might be a new spate of religious wars as some countries/regions convert more fully than others, while the issue of faith in general is much more vital and urgent. (And there \*would \*be mass conversion: most people are atheists precisely because this type of thing doesn’t happen.) ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/120 "2014-01-02T01:49:41Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > It all happened peacefully. There isn’t anything terrifying about the disappearance except that they are no longer there. > > It coincides with religious beliefs about being taken up whole into heaven. So it would be natural to take this as proof of the existence of god since Czarcasm left no room for a rational explanation. > It’s the best proof of miracles anyone has had and it happened on a scale that can’t be ignored. Other explanations are less logical. The power of Christ compels you. Except - there are no ‘Christians’ left to espouse this viewpoint - and many other religions have been ‘praying’ for their god to get rid of the oppressors - so - those that are left behind would (or at least could) see this as victory for their ‘god’. Just because we don’t understand or know the ‘explanation’ does not mean that a rational explanation does not exist. **VarlosZ** - As for atheists - they would continue to search (by and large) for a logical reason that the event happened - as the event itself is _not_ proof of or even evidence for the supernatural. Now - if a test was performed where a person left behind professed conversion to Christianity - and they suddenly disappeared - what would that ‘prove’? Nothing at all - as you are still left with the question - ‘Which side took them because they professed it?’ (which in and of itself, is a false dichotomy, as there are countless other possibilities as for the disappearance - could be aliens that liked the historical records and just decided these sheep are the best slaves or most tasty or easily persuaded to believe in nonsense, or best dressed, the 2 white mice ended that aspect of the simulation, theres a glitch in the program, or or or ) and without evidence, you can argue with faith that either side did it, and be just as right as you are right now - which is not right at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589.md?page=7)