So, I've read a bit about The Rapture and tonight it's just hit me like a ton of bricks. (If you don't believe it, please don't respond to this thread). I feel as though even though I (and many other people) are attempting to reduce their chance of being left behind, we're still screwed. How to get past the depression that sets in?

Drink the Kool-Aid, Big Tex.

why do people still join the Jehovahs Witnesses. 6 million members, how many million already crossed over and how many tickets to heaven?

You ever see that movie "The Rapture" with Mimi Rogers? Damn good film. It should give you a little perspective. Rent it. You won't be disappointed.

Get away from the pop theology of the Hal Lindsey crowd and engage in an academic study of Scripture (which does not contain either the term or the concept bandied about as the "Rapture" in some circles).

Even if you choose to cling to this particular belief, then you should be aware that your constant doubt and paranoia is indeed a disservice to the notion of grace. I'm truly baffled by your post. Spend more time in the books of John, Galatians, and James and less time in the Revelation. Seriously.

Spend more time in the books of John, Galatians, and James and less time in the Revelation. Seriously.

or, you could just climb big mountains on your bike, and get the same thing out of it as you would reading those books.

Get away from the pop theology of the Hal Lindsey crowd and engage in an academic study of Scripture (which does not contain either the term or the concept bandied about as the "Rapture" in some circles).

Even if you choose to cling to this particular belief, then you should be aware that your constant doubt and paranoia is indeed a disservice to the notion of grace. I'm truly baffled by your post. Spend more time in the books of John, Galatians, and James and less time in the Revelation. Seriously.


If you read an English Bible, none of those words are found in the Bible. Heck, find me the word "Bible" in the Bible. The Rapture is simple a term to explain a concept. Just as we use "Bible" as the term for the book of The Word.

So, please when refuting the study of the Rapture, whether the concept is scriptural or not, find another argument, preferably one grounded in scripture.

So, I've read a bit about The Rapture and tonight it's just hit me like a ton of bricks. (If you don't believe it, please don't respond to this thread). I feel as though even though I (and many other people) are attempting to reduce their chance of being left behind, we're still screwed. How to get past the depression that sets in?

What is there to be depressed about? Salvation is a simple gift. You just need to accept. If you believe in the Rapture, please point me to a verse that says something along the lines of "only the good Christians will be taken."

Jesus died on the cross so you wouldn't have to worry or be depressed. Just accept it. :)

So, I've read a bit about The Rapture and tonight it's just hit me like a ton of bricks. (If you don't believe it, please don't respond to this thread). I feel as though even though I (and many other people) are attempting to reduce their chance of being left behind, we're still screwed. How to get past the depression that sets in?
kill yourself now?:rolleyes:

// I don't know about you, but I'm gonna get my kicks now before this whole sh**house goes up in flames.
--Jim Morrison

Worry more about how you treat people today and less about saving your own butt.

I understand that heaven is full and has a no vacancy sign out. The overflow has been booked into Alcapulco for the season.

great song on the topic I heard last night:


Conversations with the Devil
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Transcribed by Lonnie Durey


G
I had a dream last night I was cast into Hell by a jealous God
G
The Devil walked up and said you don't need no lightning rod
C
It hardly ever rains down here I can't recall the last storm
G
You aint gonna need that leather jacket it gets kinda warm
D
There's one way in there's no way out looks like you're to stay
G
The place is a mess, it's overcrowded, more are coming in everyday



I said ah man, wait a minute there's gotta be something wrong
I aint a bad guy just write these little songs
I always pay my union dues don't stay in the passing lane
And he said what about all that whiskey and the cocaine
I said well yeah but that's no reason to throw me in Hell
Cause I didn't use the cocaine to get high, I just liked the way it smelled


He said come on over here son, let me show you around
Over there's where we put the preachers, I never liked those clowns
They're always blaming me for everything wrong under the sun
It aint harder to what's right, it's just maybe not as much fun
Then the walk around thinking they're better than me and you
Then they get caught in a motel room doing what they said not to do


Now the murderers and the rapists they go in this firey lake
As well as most of the politician and the cops on the take
And all the mothers that wait to get to KMart to spank their kids
Instead of showing what to do what's right, they just hit 'em for what they
did
And all the daddy's who run off and abandon their daughters and sons
Oh anybody that hurts a child is gonna burn until it's done


Everybody is down here I said who's up in Heaven with God and the Son
Oh some saints and mystics and students of metaphysics 101
People who care and share and love and try to do what's right
Beautiful old souls who read a little stories to their babies every night
What you wont find up in Heaven are Christian Coalition Right Wing
Conservatives
Country program directors and Nashville record executives


Now I said I've made some mistakes, but I'm not as bad as those guys
How can God to this to me or can't she sympathize
He said you're wrong about God being cruel and mean
Oh God is the most loving thing that's never been seen
I said hotshot tell me this which religion is the truest
He said there all about the same, Budda was not a Christian, but Jesus
woulda made a good buddist


Well I thought about my future I didn't seem to have much of one
I looked around to leave but there was no place to run
I said I don't suppose I could go back and try living again
You know like reincarnation I hear that's the way it's always been
I can't answer that he said you're gonna have to wait for that response
But it's not any more unusual to be born twice than it is to be born once


Well it looked like I was gonna be stuck here as far as I could tell
I thought I might as well suck up you know what the hell
I said you know that soung that Charlie Daniels did
About how you went down to Georgia and played fiddle against that kid
He said yeah it broke my heart but you know what are you gonna do
I said to tell you the truth I thought your solo was the better of the two


Well then I woke up and I was lying in my bed
I went upstairs and kissed my little boy on his sleeping head
I took this dream as a sign from God so I thought I'd better pray
I said don't ever speak to me directly and thanks anyway
Now so much has changed about me besides me just giving up red meat
Some get spiritual cause they see the light and some cause they feel the
heat
</pre>

Ray Wylie Hubbard. 'nuff said.

Thanks all for some good posts. A bit disappointed nobody noticed the thread title and its similarity to the global warming thread.

Irony... what a concept.

Ray Wylie Hubbard. 'nuff said.

Thanks all for some good posts. A bit disappointed nobody noticed the thread title and its similarity to the global warming thread.

Irony... what a concept.

Irony is tough in this medium. You can't assume that people will read threads (or that they will be presented) in the order that you want them to. In any case, I still stand by my post! It's a good movie.

Will I be "saved" if I don an explosive belt and rid the world of non-believers????????
.
What if I pick the wrong god??????

"Irony is tough in this medium. "

Yep.... oh how my talents are wasted here. sigh.

We've grabbed this thread and taken it to bizarro world.

We've grabbed this thread and taken it to bizarro world.

.................

some of us justran with it. were we supposed to compliment it on its cleverness?

no the Rapture is not a concept of the bible. It was INVENTED by Man in the late 19th century and has nothing to do with Rev.

and no not everyone will be accepted for those who believe in such, the number is usually limited between 150,000 and 350,000

slim pickins

I said neither the "term" or the "concept" ... I can see that you'll be a high quality contributor to this exchange. The "Rapture" is a doctrinal concept adhered to by a certain vocal Christian minority of which you may be a member; I am not.

But with or without the concept, I stand by my thought that the "depressed" OP does a disservice to the undisputed notion of grace as it exists (in many languages) throughout the New Testament.

Yeah, at least in the JW world it is like a multi-level marketing scheme where your recruits are also your competitors!

I don't think you mean IRONY, Alanis. Maybe sarcasm, but not irony. NTTAWWT.

I don't think you mean IRONY, Alanis. Maybe sarcasm, but not irony. NTTAWWT.

Isn't the irony of the Alanis song that none of the things she talks about are actually ironic, they just suck.

"Ironic"

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well isn't this nice..."
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...don't you think
A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think...

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

That's true. And hence she was maligned for describing things as ironic that weren't.

And then there's that Frontier Airlines commercial where the grizzly bear says "how ironicAL." Now that kinda bugs me...

isn't it Tragic would have been a better name.

if you are afraid of flying and then die on a trainride to get somewhere is irony

Jay Tee thanks for recognizing the bizarreness of my earlier digression.

I always hit them with that when they come to my house.

I ask them how many are Church heirarchy? How many 'elders' have died, etc...
it winds up being like 6.6 million people vying for under 50K places (and also competing with dead members)

Do you mean that if I kill some of them, I stand a better chance?.....Hot Damn.....!

I hope you have not been visiting raptureready.com (http://www.raptureready.com)

It is not a parody site...

Death Cult members missed that part in the bible "You will know not when I come for I will come like a thief in the night"

That's true. And hence she was maligned for describing things as ironic that weren't.

I've never seen anyone else point this out, but always figured I couldn't be the only person that noticed.

Then I also wondered is the irony that the song is called Ironic but none of the examples are actually ironic, which would be ironic or did she just not know what the word means.

I've never seen anyone else point this out, but always figured I couldn't be the only person that noticed.

Then I also wondered is the irony that the song is called Ironic but none of the examples are actually ironic, which would be ironic or did she just not know what the word means.

A couple of them are close, but for the most part you are correct...most things in that song are just unfortunate.

I hope you have not been visiting raptureready.com (http://www.raptureready.com)

It is not a parody site...

I was at the gym this morning and overheard two 30 or 40-something women talking about things. Something about getting "Chuck" to go to church, sounded like maybe boyfriend of a daughter, his parents didn't go to church but they were "good people" (despite this fact, apparently). He didn't even go on Easter when they invited him to go to their church :)

Then,
Woman 1 "What strange weather we're having"
Woman 2 "Yeah, you know crazy weather is a sign of the apocalypse?"
Woman 1 "I hear you"

Not the least bit of sarcasm or "are you f'in crazy" in woman 1's response. She didn't even bat an eye, like it was perfectly normal to carry-on about fantasy.

Not the least bit of sarcasm or "are you f'in crazy" in woman 1's response. She didn't even bat an eye, like it was perfectly normal to carry-on about fantasy.

I grew up in an environment like that--when crazy is normal it's easier to maintain crazy.

I grew up in an environment like that--when crazy is normal it's easier to maintain crazy.

Crazy probably is a bit harsh (I realize you're probably being a big tongue in cheek). It certainly is an interesting phenomenon. I wonder if there are psychologists who study it, if it has a name, etc.

It is in some sense an agreed upon "craziness", if you define craziness as some sort of disconnect from reality.

I get people believing Jesus died on the cross, redemption of sins, blah, blah. Far enough removed in history, and lets face it, how many Christians really give it much more than lip service anyway that it doesn't seem all that odd for people to accept it and get on with their life without really paying it much attention other than showing up in Church on Sunday, if that.

But when you encounter people who interpret everything in the light of scripture (at least the parts they decide or are told are relevant), and engage in a sort of agreed upon fantasy world where prayer has a real effect, the end of times really might happen, etc. it does strike a skeptic as well, crazy. Yet it's a perfectly acceptable form of crazy and really based on nothing more than enough people have "agreed" upon it when other equally "crazy" beliefs are mocked.

Ray Wylie Hubbard. 'nuff said.

Thanks all for some good posts. A bit disappointed nobody noticed the thread title and its similarity to the global warming thread.

Irony... what a concept.
I noticed it. You might want to use one of these next time ---> :rolleyes:
Or one of these --->:wink: :ciappa::D :out:

Then,
Woman 1 "What strange weather we're having"
Woman 2 "Yeah, you know crazy weather is a sign of the apocalypse?"
Woman 1 "I hear you"

Not the least bit of sarcasm or "are you f'in crazy" in woman 1's response. She didn't even bat an eye, like it was perfectly normal to carry-on about fantasy.


wake me up when the great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads, comes by......

Why would anyone want our supposed president's dog?

wake me up when the great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads, comes by......


funny how biblical literalists will try to play a symbolic or metaphoric card when confronted with this piece of revelation

I had to go to church service on Easter, my nephew was singing in the little kids' choir. I figure I'm good for my next twenty years.

Just confirmed for me everything I find despicable about organized religion.

Why would anyone want our supposed president's dog?

by a retard with a mean streak?

Didn't we actually have a substantial thread discussion about that song within the last year?

I confess that I had never thought about the song one way or another until I heard a comedian make fun of it.

So, I've read a bit about The Rapture and tonight it's just hit me like a ton of bricks. (If you don't believe it, please don't respond to this thread). I feel as though even though I (and many other people) are attempting to reduce their chance of being left behind, we're still screwed. How to get past the depression that sets in?

I never really believe in the "rapture" doctrine back in my Christian days. It never made much sense taking into account that is only mentioned one time. Besides no rapture is ever mentioned in other apocalyptic themed books.
Considering that most Christian are aholes why would you want to go there anyways? There sure are going to be lots of them up there otherwise it'd be an empty place.

Worry more about how you treat people today and less about saving your own butt.

What for? There is always a God willing to forgive your aholenessess. You just repent and then two minutes later, you can go back to be an ahole again.

Hey if it isn't one thing that'll get us it's another. I am depressed by the prospects of the giant caldera under Yellowstone Park blowing and rendering global warming moot. Well actually it's a toss up between that and Apophis hitting the Earth in 2029.

The irony wasn't lost here :) http://www.texastwisted.com/headlines/photos/big_tex_bragg.jpg