Rapture Theory Left Me Unprepared

[rach]

It won't be long till I am thirty and recently I've realized how I'm growing older and my a-parents are starting to grow old.  Which shouldn't come as a shock, except it has, being that I was raised on 'rapture theology' and can't count the number of times I was told as a child that I was never going to grow up because Jesus would come back to get us before then.  There was a teaching we were hearing a lot something about how the generation that saw Israel become a nation would be the generation that saw the return of Christ, and it had something to do with a fig tree (matthew 24).  So when I  was young I really didn't bother much about getting older because I was taught I "wouldn't be here".  Yeah I realize now it was all wishful thinking cause we'd all like to avoid old age and death and fly on up to heaven, leave our troubles behind for good.  But mum and dad still think rapture will come in their lifetime, and I hate that they have this expectation that's just a hope to be dashed, and when I say something about what might happen ten years from now or such, mum says "I'd be surprised if we're still here."  The minister at church would say "we're in the last days" then it turned into "we're in the last hours" and then "we're in the last seconds of the last hours."  It's all got me distraught because I feel I should have been preparing before now for what's coming- caring for aging a-parents and all the while I'm not getting any younger.  I want to have the skills and mental fortitude in place that I'll need for all of that.  At least now I know there won't be a rapture so I can try to prepare myself mentally for deaths and aging issues in the family.  Would have really helped though, to not have been taught this rapture theory as a child. 

[mymistake]

Yes it sucks.  It's similar to what happened to me.  It's been going on for hundreds of years.  

[LivingLife]

This has to be the stupidest doctrines of all. Yes I fell for it too partially *embarrassed*

 

The way it was taught;

 

Israel nation 1948 + Daniels lost generation (40 years) = 1988

 

Israel nation 1948 + Daniels lost (jubilee) generation (50 years) = 1998

 

Those all came and went and then it moved to the Israeli war 1967 "Jerusalem surrounded, Luke somewhere"

 

Israel war 1967 + Daniels lost generation (40 years) = 2007

 

Since then it has fizzled out and folk are starting to accept jeebus is not coming back. The rapture s now an allegory and "spiritual"

 

So many people's lives were destroyed with linking to the prosperity gospel in that make debt, live it up, you will be leaving assets like your house and car. Folk were made slaves to the system worse than they should have been.

 

Weird what shit folk believe when they do not know the history of the babble and church history.

[LoneTarus]

I always hated the pre-trib rapture (didn't even believe it was a biblical doctrine, which it isn't by the way it was made up by some kooks in america in the mid to late 1800s, that view got me into lots of hot water in the church as you can imagine) 

 

it always pissed me off that christians were persecuted and tortured and killed around the world every single day and these americanized idiots beleived god was protecting them from persecution because they were fat and rich and in a country that has freedom of religion and that God would beam them up to heaven before things ever got bad and they had to personally lift a finger to make things better in their world. on the contrary it's all ending soon anyway so fuck the world, fuck other people I got MY ticket to heaven so screw everyone else. that's what it amounted to even if nobody ever came right out and said it. 

 

I'm glad I can see through all of the bullshit now and don't have to be constantly stressed out that the world is ending and I have to go through it (because really, God is not that nice of a guy to help take you out of tribulation, he LIKES to see you suffer, really read this shit sometime and you will see it's true) 

 

I think we may just end up wiping our own species out anyway because the human race really collectively is not as great as it thinks it is and is really in general a collection of monstrous idiots breeding out of control. but it won't have anything to do with a desert god from the bronze age and everything to do with our own stupidity.

[Overcame Faith]

...can't count the number of times I was told as a child that I was never going to grow up because Jesus would come back to get us before then.

 

Welcome to ExC, rach.

 

The quote above is one of the greatest reasons that the "rapture theory" can be so harmful, especially to children.  If we live our lives with the expectation that Jesus is going to come at any minute and rapture us, then what is the point to preparing for life.

 

I had a similar experience while I was in college.  At that point in my life (in the early 1980s), I truly believed the rapture was imminent.  I sat in a class thinking I may as well drop out of college because there was no point in it all.  I was saved from these thoughts by another thought I had which, thankfully, won the day.  That thought was, "Stay in college.  Do not drop out."  Here it is some 30 years later and I am so glad that I had that second thought.  I think it was my rational mind winning the day over my religious mind.

 

It's never too late.  Proceed now to prepare yourself for the rest of your life.

[par4dcourse]

The world's problems like climate change, water quality and availability and animal habitat are largely being ignored because of the apocalypse mindset. We're going to go extinct waiting on jesus.

[VacuumFlux]

I didn't grow up with that level of expectation of the rapture ending things, but I certainly grew up with the idea that god would handle everything and I'd never need to be responsible for myself. Making friends outside the little church subculture bubble helped me a lot, because I could see how other people approach life and learn some things from them. Growing up late is hard.

[LifeCycle]

I'm sorry you went through that and are still having to deal with it.  I think many here can relate.  It's difficult to get past the end times mindset.  But once you do, you appreciate life more and come to the realization that you have. 

 

You're still young.  Don't worry. 

[Voice]

rach, you would enjoy reading Paul Boyer's When Time Shall Be No More. He's a scholar. It discusses the primary prophesy models as seen by faiths in American (western) culture. It was written before some of the most prolific end time dates like December 2012, and so some of the models he talks about as yet having influence have already been proven wrong.

It's not intended to help adjust a psyche once a model has been proven wrong, but just seeing what he's put together helped me find a healthier perspective toward prophesy in general and get out from under its currents. It could help you better deal with your a-parents.

[Deva]

I don't know how many times I heard old preachers in the early 70's say "I expect Jesus will come in my lifetime" with the utmost conviction.  Here I am at almost 55 years of age and no sign of the "rapture".

 

Has it effected my life, you betcha!  Not many people seem to understand this problem.

[Positivist]

Hi rach!

 

Rapture theory almost ruined my life too. I simply didn't make plans for the longest time--didin't complete school in time because, hey, Jesus is coming back! Didn't save money because, hey, Jesus is coming back! Didn't follow my passions because, well, Jesus is coming back and I'd better "tarry for the Lord". I did end up getting my shit together eventually, but that was an unlikely and fortunate stroke of luck.

 

I wish I'd never been brought up in this crap. Reading Hal Lindsay at age 7? Child abuse.

 

It's not too late to pick up the pieces and continue.

[centauri]

This has to be the stupidest doctrines of all. Yes I fell for it too partially *embarrassed*

 

The way it was taught;

 

Israel nation 1948 + Daniels lost generation (40 years) = 1988

 

Israel nation 1948 + Daniels lost (jubilee) generation (50 years) = 1998

 

Those all came and went and then it moved to the Israeli war 1967 "Jerusalem surrounded, Luke somewhere"

 

Israel war 1967 + Daniels lost generation (40 years) = 2007

 

Since then it has fizzled out and folk are starting to accept jeebus is not coming back. The rapture s now an allegory and "spiritual"

 

So many people's lives were destroyed with linking to the prosperity gospel in that make debt, live it up, you will be leaving assets like your house and car. Folk were made slaves to the system worse than they should have been.

 

Weird what shit folk believe when they do not know the history of the babble and church history.

Good points.

I noticed that apologists tried changing the definition of a generation to 60 years but that still failed.

Lives have been enhanced for those that made (and continue to make) buckets of money writing books like the Left Behind series.

[rach]

So for those of you who are older than me....what sort of things can I be doing now to prepare for the future?  I have done some reading on caring for aging parents but I am not sure what else I should be doing.  A-mum doesn't believe she's ever going to get very old (cause of the rapture) so I feel like I'm the one in this family that's got to get the preparations started. 

[VacuumFlux]

So for those of you who are older than me....what sort of things can I be doing now to prepare for the future?  I have done some reading on caring for aging parents but I am not sure what else I should be doing.  A-mum doesn't believe she's ever going to get very old (cause of the rapture) so I feel like I'm the one in this family that's got to get the preparations started. 

 

Saving money is good. Learn to keep a budget and stick to it; be very aware of your finances.

 

Build a social support network, preferably full of people who aren't rapture obsessed. Make good friends now, so when you're going through the caregiver stress, they'll be there for you. Be sure this is a "network", becuase people will move away and have problems of their own, so you do need more than one or two people to lean on.

 

Deal with your personal issues now. One type of stress seems to bring up all the others. It'll be easier to work through issues now, while you've got less obligations, than to work through them while you in the middle of all sorts of other things. What's little now may be a huge source of frustrationg later.

[mwc]

 

     Anytime now.  Just give it another 40 years.  We're really close.  I can feel it.

 

          mwc

[Voice]

So for those of you who are older than me....what sort of things can I be doing now to prepare for the future?  I have done some reading on caring for aging parents but I am not sure what else I should be doing.  A-mum doesn't believe she's ever going to get very old (cause of the rapture) so I feel like I'm the one in this family that's got to get the preparations started. 

 

Gardening is a good one.  It's about planning year-to-year, season-to-season mostly, but some things have multi-year cycles, rotations.  It's working with nature's patterns and routines, and gives the rewards of food, personal satisfaction, education.  Now days a lot of people are building community gardens so you can make new friends doing it.

 

Ask yourself if there is anything you would want to do.  Then figure out which things you might really be able to do if you start making goals.  Set short term goals first to get used to it, then set long term ones.  It's like putting carrots in front of yourself that you can eventually reach.

[rach]

You guys have given really good advice.  I'm going to be working on those things.  It's daunting going from the belief that there is no future to having to plan for long years ahead.

[traveller2]

I think you will find a good number of people here who as youths had their future damaged by this doctrine.i noticed as a young man that older or retired people often were the strongest exponents of this doctrine.they had had their careers or were well established and felt bored enough or lacking in everyday hope enough to feel this was a great doctrine to live by.But to youth esp if you are quite impressionable or had a bit of depression as I did it was really difficult to swim against this current.I recall feeling ,well whats the point then,its OK for older folk but i am just starting out.This like so many christian things severely retarded my self actualization as a young man in my late teens and twenties.I am 38 and only just completed my first degree and starting a masters program this fall.Hope its not all too late and i can build a career.

[★ Citsonga ★]

Since then it has fizzled out and folk are starting to accept jeebus is not coming back. The rapture s now an allegory and "spiritual"

 

Really? Interesting. I guess I've been out of the religion long enought that I hadn't noticed that, but I don't think most of the Christians I know personally have made that switch.

 

If we live our lives with the expectation that Jesus is going to come at any minute and rapture us, then what is the point to preparing for life.

 

 

Definitely true. Although I never got hung up on all the "rapture" stuff (I just figured that it would happen when God wanted it to happen), what tripped me up was believing I had a specific calling in life, and career plans took a back seat to that.

 

 

   

 

I see that they didn't inlcude a category for "Not sure he ever came the first time."

[Guest MadameX]

Wow! Good on you for working your way out of that craziness.

 

BTW I have a good friend who is Jewish, super Jewish, and she had a guru - oops mixing my religious terms here but you know what I mean - a rabbi who had this following, yet he died about ten or twenty years ago and now they wait with bated breath for him to return because it turns out that HE was the messiah, after all this hubub about Jesus! Who knew!

 

Just curious about this return to life narrative, it really holds power over some.

 

Sorry to hijack, OP, and I wish you the best in moving on with your life. Your story is powerful and I hope you can tell it and help others move out of that bizarre Rapture 'theory'

[Jose]

[stryper]

 

Since then it has fizzled out and folk are starting to accept jeebus is not coming back. The rapture s now an allegory and "spiritual"

 

Really? Interesting. I guess I've been out of the religion long enought that I hadn't noticed that, but I don't think most of the Christians I know personally have made that switch.

 

If we live our lives with the expectation that Jesus is going to come at any minute and rapture us, then what is the point to preparing for life.

 

 

Definitely true. Although I never got hung up on all the "rapture" stuff (I just figured that it would happen when God wanted it to happen), what tripped me up was believing I had a specific calling in life, and career plans took a back seat to that.

 

 

   

 

I see that they didn't inlcude a category for "Not sure he ever came the first time."

 

 

Well he was "born" so "somebody" came at least once. 

[★ Citsonga ★]

 

 

 

   

 

I see that they didn't inlcude a category for "Not sure he ever came the first time."

 

 

Well he was "born" so "somebody" came at least once. 

 

 

"He" as in Jesus, we do not know for sure. Just because the Bible says "he" was "born" doesn't make it so. The evidence is extremely flimsy.

[stryper]

try to make a joke. 

[Stamps1962]

My preacher dad and my mom both died bitter that they had to go though death- both were expecting to be raptured. Their delusions were bad enough but they also messed up my life with them, I didn't get a very good education because they failed to encourage it as Jeeeeesus was coming back.  A friend of my dad's dropped out of the retirement plan at his workplace for the same reason. This lunacy is also used as an excuse for not doing anything about social issues, the environment, you name it. It is so destructive and the worst of it is that it does not seem to be specifically promised in the Bible, it's all inferred from passages that could well mean something else.