The Rapture

[Guest Pagan Chris]

I was watching the Discovery Times channel the other day and came across a program about the "Rapture". I am sure most of you know what it means, but just for a recap, it basically represents the end of the world and if you are a believer you will be wisked off to heaven and if you are not you will stay on the Earth to suffer. (never being a serious Christian I am sure there are some nuances I left out of that definition). Apparently this is something that born agains generally believe in and I gathered from the program that not too many other Christian religions believe in it.

 

One of the believers on the program said that the way you will be saved during the rapture is if you have accepted Jesus Christ as you lord and savior. He said, and I am paraphrasing, even if you killed 1,000 people, as long as you believe in Jesus, you will be saved. On the other hand, he claimed that if you were a good person your whole life and did lots of charity work and other good things for humanity, if you have not accepted Jesus into your life than you will stay on Earth to suffer. I know that I shouldn't be shocked by stuff like this considering that it comes from Fundies, but it never ceases to amaze me how hypocritical these people are.

 

To me this represents another example of what I believe fundy xtianity to be - an excuse not to take responsibility for your own life. No matter what you have done wrong, as long as you accept Jesus into your life than you will be forgiven. Then all you have to do is follow gods plan for your life and don't worry about trying to determine your own destiny. I will confess that I have never been into Christianity and there for I am technically not an "Ex", but I have come across many Born Agains and this always seems to be the central theme to their existence.

[Lycorth]

It's often a central theme, and having been a fundy for a brief time, I've heard all the Rapture stories.

 

As a Catholic, there wasn't much talk about the Rapture. I liked that part of Catholicism, since at least there was one part of the cult where you were encouraged to live in the here and now. But overall, the Rapture is just one more sop to the consciences of Xians, that even if the return of Jesus™ did occur in their lifetimes, there's a backdoor out for them. Everyone else gets to suffer, but not them, basically.

 

It's just another Xian fantasy full of cruel and sick shit.

[texmex2003]

"Christians are not perfect, they are just forgiven."

 

This is their arrogant excuse for whatever they may do. Murder a family of 5 while driving drunk, kill on the level of Jeffrey Dahmer, molest little boys like a Catholic priest, fuck your daughters like Lot, thats ok, they believe correctly. They have get out of hell free card.

 

A tribesman in the Amazon jungle who lives a honorable and moral life of service to his family and communtiy who never heard of "Jesus" will burn in hell because he did not believe correctly.

 

Don't you just love Paulist justice.

[Friendly neighborhood atheist]

Since being Catholic was brought up...

 

I was raised Catholic, and there was an humorous annecdote

told to us by our Pastor, of all people.

He used to joke that since we're all sinners,

our only hope of getting into heaven was to die in a car wreck

on the way home from confession.

 

 

Imagine that belief system, even phrased as a joke;

You live your life during the week,

and get cleansed at confession (if you go) on sunday.

Then start your sinful life all over again once you get home,

only to get cleansed again next sunday.

 

What level of hell (Dante) do you go to if you die on,

say, tuesday instead of late friday night?

 

Friggin stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

 

-FNA

[jrmarlin]

I was watching the Discovery Times channel the other day and came across a program about the "Rapture". I am sure most of you know what it means, but just for a recap, it basically represents the end of the world and if you are a believer you will be wisked off to heaven and if you are not you will stay on the Earth to suffer. (never being a serious Christian I am sure there are some nuances I left out of that definition). Apparently this is something that born agains generally believe in and I gathered from the program that not too many other Christian religions believe in it.

 

One of the believers on the program said that the way you will be saved during the rapture is if you have accepted Jesus Christ as you lord and savior. He said, and I am paraphrasing, even if you killed 1,000 people, as long as you believe in Jesus, you will be saved. On the other hand, he claimed that if you were a good person your whole life and did lots of charity work and other good things for humanity, if you have not accepted Jesus into your life than you will stay on Earth to suffer. I know that I shouldn't be shocked by stuff like this considering that it comes from Fundies, but it never ceases to amaze me how hypocritical these people are.

 

To me this represents another example of what I believe fundy xtianity to be - an excuse not to take responsibility for your own life. No matter what you have done wrong, as long as you accept Jesus into your life than you will be forgiven. Then all you have to do is follow gods plan for your life and don't worry about trying to determine your own destiny. I will confess that I have never been into Christianity and there for I am technically not an "Ex", but I have come across many Born Agains and this always seems to be the central theme to their existence.

Pagan Chris, if you're going to continue to watch such bad fictional television programming, you're going to have to be sent to bed without your dessert!

 

All kidding aside, that fundie on your program was not telling the truth at all. First of all, to chose between one person vs. another is judgment. Only Xians believe in this said Judgment, and we all know what they're basing these misnomers on... the Bible. A book of fiction that went through several centuries of a "telephone game." This book is so full of shit -- contradictions etc. that it is IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to actually ascertain what the "real" word of God truly is. The church and government over the centuries have made sure of that...

 

But I can tell you.... From what I have heard regarding this "rapture" it has nothing to do with Jesus whatsoever -- instead it is the natural nature cycle of the planet. This not God related. We're talking gases and chemicals in the earth and shifting of plates.

 

No one - including the dear sweet Xians -- is safe from this change - it's planetary and its been evolving over years and years. This is not something that happened overnight - even though xians would have you believe that God just woke up and decided, "Today's the day I shall end the world." Hardly.

 

I hope this does explain some of this hysteria. I knew that when Global Warming really started to rear its ugly, haphazard stripes that xians would immediately jump on the "End of World" bandwagon. It's just really stupid indeed.

 

Perhaps if everyone - including xians - had paid attention back in the 70s about aerosol cans and the car pollutants, then we would probably not be in this global warming predicament now... And that has nothing to do with whether or not you're a xian -- that has everything to do with the fact that our atomsphere can't take all of our pollution.

[Poonis]

Just FYI

 

The Rapture has already happened. Jesus did come back, stopping only to gather the 144,000 male virgins.

 

Did you miss it? Here's why:

 

1. Centralization Fallacy: The 144,000 virgin males were spread out all over the world, and not, as previously thought, located within the proximity of one little Topeka, KS Church.

 

2. Missing Persons Fallacy: It is assumed that the Rapture would be noticed by the absence and subsequent void left by those raptured away. In conjuncture with #1, the Centralization Fallacy, it is also incorrect to think those who were raptured would be any more noticed than the 797,500 children who went missing in 1999 alone.

 

3. Importance Fallacy: It is incorrect to think that the Rapture would be gripping enough to make the mainstream news, especially after the importance of Michael Jackson's acquittal. However, you may find articles on the Rapture on certain certain underground news sources.

 

What does this show for us non-christians? That every so-called christian of today is a babbling idiot and uninformed wishful thinker.

[Evelyn]

I saw a few minutes of that program and had to turn it off, as too many alarm bells went off in my head.

 

Somewhere here on the X-C site is a thread or two about the origins of the rapture doctrine.

[rising_L]

Hey,

I have a Christian girlfriend, and this is just how gullable she actually is,

 

I was watching a program and it said how the two pilots on a plane are given different meals incase they both get food posioning, which is logical I guess.

 

So I decided to see if she would believe me if I told her that American Airlines are now NOT putting two Christian piolts on planes incase the Rapture happens and no one is left to fly the plane. Needless to say she believed me. How I laughed, I laughed even harder when I told some of her Christian friends, and again they believed me! These are the same people who claim to know when someone is lying because they have the Gift of the sermon, or the holy spirit, (Can't quite remember)

[Guest Pagan Chris]

 

So I decided to see if she would believe me if I told her that American Airlines are now NOT putting two Christian piolts on planes incase the Rapture happens and no one is left to fly the plane. Needless to say she believed me.

 

 

That is a good one Rising. I will have to try it out on some of my Christian friends.

[Lycorth]

Lmao, Rising - and that brings up a very good point about the continuing examples of the unjustness and cruelty of Biblegodzilla.

 

I mean, according to Xian myth, True Believers™ are to be magically teleported to Heaven. If those believers were in the process of doing something crucial, like life-saving surgery or flying an airplane, then too bad for the people under their responsibility. They'll die, but it's ok, because Biblegodzilla got his fan club meeting in the sky and he can finally get those ass-kissings his poor ego needs so badly.

 

Now, an all-knowing god who is supposedly the source of all mercy and compassion really would think twice before just yanking people off the face of the earth who may be doing something important. Hell, even one Xian zombie driving a car could be zipped away, leaving his or her car to go veering off and hurt or kill someone. Now, does that sound like a compassionate, understanding god who has humanity's best interests at heart? A truly compassionate being would not permit suffering of any kind to exist, no matter how temporary, because compassion does not leave room for suffering or turning a blind eye to those in need. Imagine how many people will be harmed and in need if this "Rapture" of theirs occurs. Typical Biblegodzilla behavior, creating more suffering in the world and tricking his zombies into thinking it's an act of mercy and goodness.

 

Just one more example of the cruelty and indifference to human pain Biblegodzilla portrays, and why the whole mess is nothing more than a myth, the invention of human brains. And whatever man has made, man can destroy...

[Mnemosyne]

According to the traditional definition of the word, a raptus or rapture is an unpredictable and violent encounter between a deity and a human - an intrusion of the gods upon men. For example, the rapes of Europa, Callisto and Io by Jove are raptures, as is the story of Venus and Adonis, Actaeon and Diana (where Actaeon is turned into a stag and torn apart by his own hunting dogs) and the weaving contest between Arachne and Minerva.

 

Sheds a whole new light on the Second Coming, doesn't it...

[LosingMyReligion]

This thread is HILARIOUS! I really needed a good laugh for the day...lol.

 

Ironically, the reason I converted to Christianity in the first place was because I feared I might miss the rapture.

 

I, literally, used to be on pins and needles even AFTER being "saved" because I was afraid of being "Lukewarm" and spat out...So I went on all these fasting and praying rituals(I still fast, just because it is very healthy...really cleanses the body) and etc, etc, ad nauseum...It was really pathetic.

 

I used to watch TBN(yes, laughable I know), and everyone was talking about(circa 1999)it being the year the lord is coming back...Now it is 2006. Everytime a natural disaster happens it comes down to being Jesus coming back again.

 

Admittedly, this was a huge fear I had of deconverting....But why should I praise a god that will condemn millions of good and moral people to hell because they don't agree with a certain religious sect? Furthermore, why should I have to share heaven with a serial killer? That would be hell!

[Guest Christian]

You guys just don't get it

[♦ nivek ♦]

You guys just don't get it

 

No Chris.. I *did* get "it", a \nd smoked a bong of Fruit Loops afterwards..

 

Quite the rapture on both accounts amigo mio..

 

Pure-d satisfaction!

 

kL

[Lycorth]

You guys just don't get it

 

Yes we do - your god is a devil who only cares about getting his ego stroked, and human suffering means nothng to him.

 

Otherwise, prove that we don't "get it", Xian. Surely you can do better than that.

 

Jesus Christ, the Xians around here are getting less entertaining anymore...

[Mnemosyne]

You guys just don't get it

Did you know that rape and rapture have the same root?

[Guest ssb]

Hi I'm rising_L's girfriend, and I'm not a Christian. I was. But I'm not now. Even though I still go to church now and again, you need to believe it in your heart. And I don't. Just to put the record straight.

[RHEMtron]

welcome.... well my girlfriend is still christian. what can i do to help her see the light....

[Guest ssb]

let her believe what she wants to believe, express your views don't force them and her eyes will open on their own just by listening. After all no one can tell her she's wrong, for no one can prove anything.

[RHEMtron]

yeah that's the thing. i knew getting into the relationship what her religious beliefs are, and that honestly doesnt bother me. what im having trouble with is just telling her certain facts.... like errors or the history... that i know.

 

my intention really isnt to change her... but be able to talk to her on these matters. if i say something, she starts to get sad right away because of our different views, and of course it makes me sad to see her sad. then i start to fear that one day she'll break up with me =[

[Guest ssb]

if she loves you she won't, I used to get sad too and it fustrated me that we didn't believe in the same things... but then I realised that its not important and I liek our differences, he does too - he love to debate with me. But you sound like you've got her best interests at heart. I used to be a really evangelical christian who would say they would listen to your views but in my head id be saying "don't believe it its not true" and i would completley dismiss what you would say to me... but i wised up out of that by what my boyfriend told me about how you can't prove anything and everyones entilied to what they believe, people come from different backgrounds and experiences and he put it in such a way that i couldn't ignore what he was saying, i had to think about it and it opened my mind and for the first itme in my life I actually listened.

 

Give her time, she'll learn to question herself, but don't be worrying, you're role is to be her boyfriend not her spiritual guide - as long as you're the best bf you can be to her, she has no reason to leave you.

[RHEMtron]

thanks... youve been a lot of help