roadrunner Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 as I now am no longer in the camp, certain things appear more and more absurd as time goes on. I could always wiggle out of the ark and other absurdities albeit with an unsettled dark cloud looming over me. Looking back, a big red flag that that keeps coming up in my mind is the rapture. This wasnt some past event that we missed and the evidence was washed away or long gone. We're talking modern technology for all to see and have video record of. This has got to be the biggest boldest in your face claim. Everyone poof gone. A whole segment of the population, vanishing into thin air. I remember thinking how this would turn the world upside down and ALL would fall at jesus' feet afterwards. I listened to the rapture sermons without blinking. I heard how it would happen and then I documented the entire timeline and read it over and over in scripture. Go to any southern baptist church and yell "One day we will be CAUGHT UP!" and you are sure to get a chant of amens especially if you yell at the "CAUGHT UP!" part and point up in the sky for flare. I remember wondering what if the whole church went POOF except me. But I wasnt naive enough to think that I would be the ONLY one. I kinda looked forward to seeing (in a sick twisted kind of way) who else was a hypocrite. What would I say to my co-workers on Monday at work when they as why I am still here?" I remember thinking about how I'd lay low and form a coalition in some other city to spread the gospel during all the pandemonium. In hindsight, of course I can chuckle at how I believed this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzy Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 I was always curious of what would happen after the rapture. The tribulation, the Antichrist and all. So I was not very worried about left behind because I thought I would still have a chance to be redeemed by being a hero for Christ under those difficult circumstances. Yes, we were told that no Christian would really want to live it because it would be so, so horrible, but I was still curious. And I kind of pictured myself in this hero for Christ position. Being just caught up and then sing happy songs for God forever seemed a bit boring, but the tribulation, Antichrist, Christians as an underground, illegal movement etc. seemed like adventurous. My church didn't take position on whether the rapture would be pre-tribulation, post-tribulation or during the tribulation. They said all had arguments for it. But my pastor said that he thought we would not totally be spared of the tribulation, so at least we would get a little bit of it. I really hoped to get to see who the Antichrist was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahlee Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 I was always curious of what would happen after the rapture. The tribulation, the Antichrist and all. So I was not very worried about left behind because I thought I would still have a chance to be redeemed by being a hero for Christ under those difficult circumstances. Yes, we were told that no Christian would really want to live it because it would be so, so horrible, but I was still curious. And I kind of pictured myself in this hero for Christ position. Being just caught up and then sing happy songs for God forever seemed a bit boring, but the tribulation, Antichrist, Christians as an underground, illegal movement etc. seemed like adventurous. I kind of wanted to be left behind for the same reason: be a warrior for Jesus, instead of just hanging out on a cloud somewhere watching people get killed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen652 Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 the doctrine of the rapture is really one of the most insidious teachings ever devised. It tormented me as a kid; I remember poking my nose into my parents' room at night just to make sure they hadn't been raptured. Every time mum or dad was late to pick me up from school I thought I had been left behind. I was absolutely convinced that the rapture would happen and i wouldn't make the cut and i'd be left behind to face the tribulation without my family. Psychological torment, inflicted on those who are least able to deal with it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 My Independent Baptist Church liked to push this rapture idea and I became fascinated by the whole fantastic timeline - rapture, the antichrist, the tribulation, the end of the world. All this was said to be fact because it was in the Bible and the Bible cannot be wrong. After all, the Bible is the world of God and if the Bible is wrong, then God is wrong. Of course what it really happens to be is the apostle Paul raving like a lunatic, not to mention the unknown author of Revelation. I read a lot of books on this subject in the 70s. which presented this doctrine as inevitable fact. This was the era of "Late Great Planet Earth" by Hal Lindsey. Yes, I read that and a lot of other books that came out at the time. The trouble with many of these books was that they predicted these events to occur in the near future. That future has come and gone and here we are. No rapture. I think there was one book that someone wrote that said the world was going to end sometime in the 80s. It took me a long time to realize all this was crap. If my parents were to come home late, or I couldn't locate them, I would imagine they were raptured. Now I cannot even believe that people still take this idea of the rapture seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 My church didn't take position on whether the rapture would be pre-tribulation, post-tribulation or during the tribulation. They said all had arguments for it. But my pastor said that he thought we would not totally be spared of the tribulation, so at least we would get a little bit of it. I really hoped to get to see who the Antichrist was. My church taught the rapture would occur before the tribulation. However, some people left behind would still be saved during the tribulation period, but they would most likely have a terrible life and die martyrs. There was wild speculation about the antichrist reviving the use of the guillotine. Needless to say, being a Christian in the tribulation was very unpleasant. All true Christians would be raptured before the beginning of the tribulation and would only observe from heaven. At least that was the picture I got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 Yeah sounds like we all had the same plan. Just catch the next flight out. And whats so bad about being on earth during the tribulation? That pales in comparison to burning in hell. The worst thing that can happen is someone kill you and you go to heaven. So you still win. We outsmarted god. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rando Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 I remember hearing about a teacher who stirred thinings up by teaching that the rapture was actually the opposite scenario as taught in the modern American churches. The people who suddenly vanish are the sinners and rejectors of god, and the ones left behind are the true christians! I thought it was some radical heracy at first, then I studied Matthew chapter 24 and WTF, he was right! Well, not really, but the context of the chapter makes it pretty obvious that this is about removing the sinners for judgement, not taking the chrisitans to heaven. Anyway, I haven't been a believer for 13 years, and haven't been concerned about this stuff for longer than that....but I still like to argue with christians about their backwards view of these verses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzy Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 This is the one we played at my church. we even turned up the volume and watched behind the glass as people jumped. the invitation was right after this video and hands flew up. Its pretty sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted August 20, 2012 Super Moderator Share Posted August 20, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeCycle Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Yes, my family and I were pretty deep into eschatology teaching. We even thought it was seriously going to happen in September of 1999. This was just a couple of years after my precious wife and I were married. The useless emotional turmoil this placed us in was horrible. Now I no longer embrace such fairy-tales but my mother writes books on the subject and has been on TV shows for it. Her life is consumed with "end-times" stuff. It's a horrible existence for her... She just doesn't know it. She's too busy looking for her redemption and not living in the now. Not taking advantage of the life she has. =( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inorbit Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I was raised rather pre-trib, with the usual psychological torment that others here have described. I'd even stare out my bedroom window on a partly cloudy day and wonder if it was "any second now." You live life on edge, unless you happen to forget about it for a while (the church makes sure you don't forget for too long). I remember when the "Left Behind" books came out. I never read them, but all my friends were reading them. I think I saw the first movie. Cheeesssseeeeyy. I suppose I can come a little further out the closet now. I'll have to for this next part to really hit. I've said before I was in ministry. I didn't say which one. Let's just say they're heavily into eschatology. They make a very convincing argument for post-trib, which quenched my anxiety about the rapture. Looking objectively at the bible, as well as having knowledge about church history (the pre-trib rapture is a rather recent invention in christianity's history), makes the post-trib position the only one that makes sense. I remember hearing about a teacher who stirred thinings up by teaching that the rapture was actually the opposite scenario as taught in the modern American churches. The people who suddenly vanish are the sinners and rejectors of god, and the ones left behind are the true christians! I thought it was some radical heracy at first, then I studied Matthew chapter 24 and WTF, he was right! Well, not really, but the context of the chapter makes it pretty obvious that this is about removing the sinners for judgement, not taking the chrisitans to heaven. Anyway, I haven't been a believer for 13 years, and haven't been concerned about this stuff for longer than that....but I still like to argue with christians about their backwards view of these verses. Yes, this. Those passages are, indeed, talking about the wicked being swept away in coming judgment, not believers being "taken up." It's a classic case of terrible hermeneutics allowing the church to read into the bible what they want to believe. There are lots of fun passages like that, where christians interpret it exactly backwards from what it's actually saying. For all their claims that it's a "personal relationship" and that they study the bible "for themselves," they sure do an awful lot of taking someone else's word for what a passage means, without objectively reading it themselves with an open mind. Unfortunately, my ministry and theological training-- while equipping me to read the bible objectively-- also turned into the very tool that undid my faith. *shrug* So ironic. To let the cat officially out of the bag, I was part of IHOP. When I say they "focus on eschatology," you have to know how central this is to everything they do and believe. And while the anxiety about the rapture is gone, it is replaced with a new anxiety about "being prepared." I have many friends who have water, food, and generators stored in their basements. They stockpile supplies and interpret every news story as a "sign." They also worry about their "hearts being right." They fear they'll be part of the great falling away, or that they'll get offended at God when the horrible judgments come. Of course, this is a crowd that believes in losing your salvation. Not too many Calvinists in the post-trib crowd. Haha! They would probably see my "falling away" (let alone all of us here) as a "sign" that the end is near. Oh, the irony... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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