2-3-2011, Should international opinions by self avowed "Rapture-ists" be considered Dangerous?

[Mojeoux]

They recognize "Climate Change." However, every earthquake, volcano and hurricane is thrilling for them as proof that the "End Times" are coming. Would they really care if Israel and another Middle Eastern Country blew themselves to kingdom come? No, they would clap their hands and cheer.

It's called "Delusions of Grandeur," and it's becoming a contagious hysteria. The judgments of the "Rapture-ists" are impaired and their opinions are influenced by their almost rabid concepts of imminent Armageddon. Who are the proudly self avowed believers of the "End Times Rapture?" Glen Beck is one, so is Sarah Palin. You couldn't swing a set of wet tea bags at a Right Wing Tea Party and not hit a six pack of proudly self avowed Rapture-ists.

The "Rapture" is described in "Revelations," of the New Testament of the Bible. Some of the Rapture websites even have letters they've left for their family and friends to read AFTER they themselves have been taken up to heaven and their "left behind" family are suffering 7 years of hell on earth.
They are getting eager and impatient for this to go down. They like the whole 2012 Mayan drama, it works for them.
Is it time to call these people on their adverse religious agendas and consider their comments and opinions to be DANGEROUS??!!!

Dangerous to the environment and World peace.



edited to adjust my Biblical reference. Thanks DUers
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[randr]

1. They certainly should not be allowed to operate motorized vehicles

or own pets.
I hope they are right and good riddance!

[Drale]

2. The one thing I would fear from this

is if one of those "world is coming to an end" people becomes leader of a country with WMD's. I would fear they would do everything in their power to make sure the world ends like they think it is.

[Mojeoux]

12. That's what is dangerous.

I'm worried about creepy American "End Timers" in power too.

[Newest Reality]

3. I can't give them any leeway or credit for

trying to make Revelations a self-fulfilling prophecy. That would make them dangerous and malevolent. Their penchant towards death and destruction and creating a hell on Earth for us all has no true, spiritual element to it at all.

If they believe in that this prophecy will be fulfilled, then that is all the more reason to do good works, as they are called. Their alignment with what is called, "good" and the admonition to perform acts of kindness, charity and love are in no way negated by a prophecy of Armageddon.

An egomaniac might feel a thrill in hoping for and encouraging, even fostering the tribulations and Armageddon, but that does not mean they are blessed and chosen. In fact, it says something sinister and detrimental to humanity.

[RagAss]

4. Where is Jim Jones when we need him?

[Mojeoux]

19. I think J. Jones' ghost just un-recced this discussion.

Big ol' poop.

[Ezlivin]

5. Actually the "Rapture" is mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Revelation does not mention the "catching up".

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. NIV

But as a former fundamentalist I agree that the "Rapture-ists" are something to be concerned about. They are not content for waiting for "prophecy to be fulfilled" but are actively seeking to provoke the Rapture by various means, including their infinite support of Israel. They love the Jews inasmuch as their fate "guarantees" the fulfilling of prophecy and, hence, the return of Christ.

Make no mistake: They are actively working toward, hoping and lusting for Armageddon.

[Mojeoux]

13. Thanks Ezlinin, Duh.... But

I really think Glen Beck is in this corner. Chaos mongering works for them.

[elocs]

21. The word "rapture" never occurs in the Bible. The "Rapture" is a concoction of the 18th century

that requires scriptures to be tortured and forced together and the early Christian church knew nothing of it. It does not recognize prophecies that have already been fulfilled.

Having studied this all decades ago in order to prove it I came out the other side clearly seeing that it is a false doctrine. That is something very few Christians do concerning anything that relates to their religion, but they will take the word of anyone who preaches to them.

[Mojeoux]

29. That is definatly not mentioned on the RaptureWeb Sites

Reading their rhetoric, you'd think that the concept came straight from J. C Himself.

[Ezlivin]

37. Correct

Like you, I studied this intensely for years; I even wrote a fictional novel based upon the pretribulation "Rapture" of Xians a decade before the "Left Behind" series came along.

If you gave the bible to an ordinary person and asked them to make sense of it without any external help they would abandon the text. I've read the bible "Genesis to maps" a few times and there are huge sections that are completely ignored by Xians. When's the last time any Xian heard a sermon from Habakkuk or Nahum?

You are right: "[T]hey will take the word of anyone who preaches to them."

[Mojeoux]

38. Their opinions have adverse incentives and are suspicious

I think they are as crazy as Charlie Manson. Manson reasoned that by smearing black power messages on the walls, he would start a great race/war revolution.
These guys want a messed up polluted, melting planet and BIG wars in the Middle East.

Everything they say should be considered detrimental to the environment, the Constitution of the U.S. and the Peace of the World.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. But the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars

and now he only eats guitars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCdS7O248g

[Mojeoux]

20. Blondie's "Rapture!" What a treat! Thanks W.D

I totally forgot about this word in this song. "Rap-ture, be pure!"
Funny ol' world.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. '"Revelations," the last part of the Old Testament of the Bible'

It's the end of the NEW Testament.

The horror movie at the end of the entire book.

[Pathwalker]

8. It's Revelation - no s at the end.

[FiveGoodMen]

9. Or 'The Revelation to John'

But I wasn't going to pick on that part.

[Pathwalker]

10. Or as I pissed off my cousin by saying: John's bad mushroom dinner.

Ate the bad mushrooms.

[FiveGoodMen]

11. I like that one the best!

[Mojeoux]

16. You dared to infer that a Biblical author was psychedelisized?

Awesome!

[Ilsa]

23. And some versions say "The Revelation of John". Pesky versions, huh. nt

[Mojeoux]

26. I've read about mushroom revelations of early nomadic humans

They followed the herds and the mushrooms grew in the patties.

[FiveGoodMen]

36. I just think of it as the worst book in the New Testament

[Mojeoux]

15. Yeah. Thanks P.W..................... My first post forever and I goof it up

I'm glad people are still getting my drift.

[Pathwalker]

17. No problem, and you're right - they are very dangerous.

They are actively working toward Armageddon, and will kill the planet and everyone on it to blackmail their God into returning.

[Mojeoux]

14. I should have known. Some people call it the "dirty part."

Anyway the Koch brothers are "Rapture-ists." These chuckle-heads have power.

[northoftheborder]

18. The prophesy in Revelations pertains to....

......the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jewish people. This has already happened many many years ago. It is history, not a prophesy of our time.

[Mojeoux]

22. Where is the 666 part? nt

[jeepnstein]

25. It is all fulfilled but one last thing.

That's what most Christians will tell you. Churches that teach Rapture are kind of engaging in wishful thinking based on one line of scripture they take out of context. Of course if you're in it for the money it's easy to make a few bucks off of teaching Revelation as some kind of current events class. Revelation closes with an admonition to not add to or take away from what was written. Lots of modern preachers do just that in pursuit of the almighty dollar. The New Testament is clear that the people who use the Church for their material gain are going to suffer a special kind of judgment.

It has nothing to do with Egypt or the chaos that will ensue from the fall of Mubarak.

[Mojeoux]

28. From my limited knowledge of the "Rapture," it dosn't seem connected either.

I just worry that "Rapture" minded powerful people will misconstrue the revolution as a sign of future chaos and make decisions designed to encourage more madness to hurry up the "End Times."

[jeepnstein]

32. And they will.

One of the hardest parts of being a Christian is dealing with folks in the Church who come up with all these half-baked theories instead of sticking to what the Bible really says. It makes arguing with a bunch of militant atheists a breath of fresh air.

Most people did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah when he was in his ministry on Earth. It's likely most of us will not recognize Him when he returns "like a thief in the night". His own Apostles didn't recognize him when he first revealed himself to them after his resurrection. So all a Christian can really do is study, pray, do the work of the Church, and be vigilant. That's not as exciting as declaring some kind of elaborate End Times prophecy so many folks take the easy way out.

The Rapture is not to be found in the New Testament. If you read Revelation it's pretty clear Christians will suffer considerably before Christ's return.

[Obamanaut]

24. Small point, but Revelation in the New Testament is singular (no 's') nt

[Codeine]

27. "The Rapture" has about fuck-all to do with the Bible.

It's bad theology on top of being stupid.

[annabanana]

30. Any biblical historians here? I seem to remember that there was some

question about even including Revelations in the earlier versions of the Bible..

[Mojeoux]

31. The Fox News "Caliphate" meme fits into the whack-ass concepts of "rapture-ists."

We know this stuff is bull-shit.

I suspect Glen Beck dreams that with enough chaos and confusion, maybe, maybe, Armageddon can just slip right in!

If this "pie in the sky" combined with the "wrath of God on the faithless" type of concept were part of my world view, I would want it to hurry up. The "believers" are not shy about letting us know how "immoral" and "sinful" the rest of us are. Sarah loves to sneer at us and our ideals. We don't hate them even a tenth of how much they hate us on the political left.

[jeepnstein]

34. Beck's a Mormon.

Who knows what he's been taught. I know he's got a theory going now about how socialists from around the world have secretly been plotting to take over the world and Egypt is just one of the dominoes. It's going to come down to some kind of socialist war against the Jews, according to Beck. I'm just waiting for him to drop the whole Armageddon thing on his faithful viewers.

[Mojeoux]

39. They're saying the 4 horsemen of the Apocolypse were seen in the attackers in the crowds of Egypt.

Whooooo

[Overseas]

33. Definitely.

It has worried me for a long time, especially as more and more right wing Christians take power.

[Erose999]

35. Well lets ask the authority on these all matters concerning X-ians, the Reverend Dr. Jack Chick

Yep, teh fundies are batshit crazy and should not be trusted with or consulted upon any policymaking decision ever. EVARRR!!