Why we mustn't laugh at Christian fundamentalists.

[Hard-Luck Henry]

In the United States, literally millions of people are under the happy delusion that Jesus will return to earth, once that certain preconditions have been met. The first of these was the establishment of a state of Israel. The next involves Israel’s occupation of the rest of its “Biblical lands” - which would include most of the Middle East - and the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques. This done, the legions of the Antichrist will be deployed against Israel, leading to a very final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. The Jews will either burn or convert to Christianity, and the Messiah will return to earth.

What is most appealing to Christian fundamentalists is that, on commencement of this great battle, all “true believers” (ie those who believe what they believe) will drift out of their clothes and rise up to heaven, during an event called the Rapture. Thus, the worthy get to sit at the right hand of God, with the added bonus that they will be able to watch from the best seats, as the not-so-worthy - namely their political and religious opponents - are devoured by plagues of boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during the seven years of Tribulation which follow.

The believers are convinced they don't have long to wait. According to the Rapture Index (a Stock Market-type index of prophetic activity) wild weather, apostasy and global turmoil have all reached the maximum of 5, and The False Prophet has risen to 4 points (the recent departure of Pope JP2 increases the chance for the new pope to be the false prophet, apparently). The second coming is, however, being slightly delayed by the decline in drug use amongst teenagers, and a weak showing by the Antichrist (both scoring just 2).

The Rapture Index has two functions: one is to factor together a number of related end time components into a cohesive indicator, and the other is to standardize those components to eliminate the wide variance that currently exists with prophecy reporting.

The Rapture Index is by no means meant to predict the rapture, however, the index is designed to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture.

You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture.

Rapture Index of 85 and Below: Slow prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 85 to 110: Moderate prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 110 to 145: Heavy prophetic activity
Rapture Index above 145: Fasten your seat belts

The Rapture Index currently stands at 153 (link)

Now, laugh at these people if you will - and sometimes it's hard not to - but to those who believe all this it's no laughing matter; for them, this is a matter of life eternal and death, and among them are some of the most powerful people in America. Here, then, we have a major political constituency, representing a large proportion of the current president’s core vote, in the most powerful nation on earth, who would be happy to see a final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United Nations/European Union/France, or whoever the legions of the Antichrist happen to be. And that's not very funny.

 

[Ten Packs]

BOY, do I ever feel like moving to Tulsa NOW.....

 

[Cosmo]

RE: Why we mustn't laugh

Wow. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. I can't imagine going through life worrying about something like that. I've always felt some pity for the fundies, even though they annoy me at times. It's increased now.

Good post Big H!

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Yeah, and both Tony Blair and George Bush buy into all that, which I've long suspected must be at least part of the reason for what they've sent their respective military organizations off to do in the last few years. Self-fulfilling prophecy, setting the stage for the end of the world...

 

[Jo Canadian]

That's it, I'm moving back north!

 

[missile]

I've been waiting anxiously for all the good,godfearing people to be taken up by the Rapture So far though,they are all still here and sticking their big noses into every aspect of our lives.

 

[TenPenny]

Yes, you might think it's crazy, but there are significant numbers who believe this crap, and are pushing to cause the mideast to explode....it's really, really insane.

 

[PoisonPete2]

it is my understanding that the Rapture will be in total 144,000 ( or 12,000 each of the 12 houses). No indications that it will be 144,000 Jews though. Those least likely to be raptured are those who would teach in the name of Christ without the authority of Christ, for Jesus rebukes them. Next to be excused would be those who would think to judge others. Next would be those who are prideful of their works. Next are those who would reject their brothers. Just on these exclusions I think we would be short of a full Rapture.

 

[Jo Canadian]

...makes me think of a Black Adder routine...

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Incredible. :roll: even more incredible is the fact that these same "believers" have the audacity to call other "religious" beliefs fanatical . and condemn them. If these same "believers" had been born and brought up in the ME.......they would be just as fanatical about THAT belief system as they are about "Chrisitianity......etc) Luck of the birth draw.

Amazing how many can be so programmed into a certain mindset of "belief" and then simply stop thinking. Mind you , believing and following......takes no real effort or responsibility. THINKING and assessing/analysing DOES take effort, courage and taking responsibility.

Interesting too, how "fear" is the basis of much of this. In this case "fear" of losing a potential unproven outcome of demise. So busy preparing for a life in another supposed dimension......(not proven)..... that they fail to enjoy the life they have in the present . ) Very sad.......and quite psychologically disturbed.

 

[PoisonPete2]

all these people 'good' for fear of losing the Afterlife. What ever happened to the old adage (or was it a Xmas tune) "Be good for goodness sake." Sounds like godless Humanism don't it.

 

[JomZ]

To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw; Of all people 3% of them actually think, 2% of them think they think, and 95% of them don't bother with any muscles above the jaw.

I mean if you really think about this its all very brilliant storytelling. I mean Orson Wells can made the gullible people of a country panic for a night with a radio broadcast of War of Worlds. The Rapture has people contemplating their fates in the Afterlife (if there is one) for hundreds of years. The climax to the story of humanity and some of our "less thinking people" actually believe that it will go down like this.

Yet we contemplate how we will go into the Afterlife when we dont bother with the life we already have. I mean look around at the world and ask yourself is this as far as we go. Is humanity even worth this so called Gods' trouble. 1/3 live their lives teledicted, overweight, puppets of the Walmart generation who seek solace in an organized religion or in the depths cyberspace by trying to find some sense of purpose. While the other 2/3 of the world fight for their life through war, poverty, disease, and starvation.

So dont bother caring about what people believe about how the world ends and understand that we are not that far of it with out much help from above or below.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Why we mustn't laugh at Christian fundamentalists.

it is my understanding that the Rapture will be in total 144,000...

Yep, it's all laid out in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, starting in chapter 5, which introduces a book sealed with seven seals, containing the secrets of the future which will be revealed as the seals are broken, one by one. This appears to happen at a party of some sort in Heaven involving God and various degrees of angels and other assorted mystical glories, and Jesus shows up to break the seals on the book. For the first four, a horse and rider show up as each one is broken, the so-called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing the evils that are about to afflict the world: war, revolution, famine, and pestilence. On the 5th seal, the souls of martyrs are revealed, waiting for judgement. At the 6th seal, the physical universe starts to fall apart. Then there's a delay before the 7th seal is broken, and the business of the 144,000 comes up. Four angels appear, saying "...Hurt not the earth...till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." (Rev. 7:3) They're going to put a stamp of some sort on the foreheads of the righteous, to identify them so they can be kept safe during the coming disasters. Rev 7:4 identifies the number: "...an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel."

In context, what that number really means is simply "all of the righteous." It can't be taken literally, you have to consider the mystical significance of the numbers at the time that was written, and that goes way back into Babylonian and Sumerian mythology. There were 12 months in the year, 12 signs in the zodiac (yep, the Babylonians invented that nonsense too) and the number 12 represents the notion of coming full circle. 12 times 12 is therefore extra special super duper doubly complete.

One thousand was the largest number with a specific name at the time. (It had to wait for late medieval times in Italy before words for bigger numbers like million were invented.) To multiply something by a thousand, then, was simply to make it as large as conveniently possible in the language of the time, so it's just an emphatic way of saying "a very large number! Everybody! All the good guys!"

Only a foolish Biblical literalism could take that thickly mystical Book of Revelation seriously as predictions of the future. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of that around.