So everybody ready for the rapture tomorrow? I've been seeing billboards for it all over town.

What the hell is that?

And you thought real estate prices were bad before, imagine what happens when 10% of the population vanishes.
Maybe less...
Oh sure everyone *says* they are so christian and they will be gone in case of rapture, but pride is a deadly sin isn't it?
BUt hey, I gues anyone not posting after tomorrow can prove me wrong :)

Um, sure, Rapture.  If you pull out the bible and start thumping it, you find that it says God comes for his children after the 7 plagues hit, not before.

I remember a whole bunch of people sitting in the bleachers of the local stadium looking up at the sky when I was jogging one day a while back.  Might have been another one of these.

Ah, another apocalypse.  Seen them come and seen them go.

Come to the Rapture thread and talk about it. Because actually, the Bible says we will be with Jesus to be caught up in the air with him during the 7 years of Tribulation before Jesus returns to the Earth.

Ha, now he (Harold Camping) changed the date to October 21st 2011.

Ok well technically now he's saying the rapture did happen...but the spirited away events will be taking place in October.

Wait, what? People were raptured, but they just haven't been raptured yet? Are they on layaway?
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:19, Wed 25 May 2011.

I'm thinking the process is run much like the DMV.  Number 53?  53?  Anyone got 53?  No?  Okay, number 54.  54?

Yeah, everybody who's getting into Wonka's factory has already been given the Golden ticket.  and October is when they get in.

I saw this video and thought it ... telling:
http://www.boingboing.net/2011...-who-filmed-cop.html

A woman gets arrested for filming a police traffic stop. She's not otherwise involved, and is standing in her front yard for the entire thing.

Who watches the watchers indeed. Clearly the answer they don't want is 'us'.

My sister used to live in Rochester. Things have, from what she has told me, been getting more and mor eintense between residents and the police since a speeding police car *not* responsing to an emergency ran over a teenage girl, killing her, and there was no investigation or disciplinary action taken.
The problem is that constitutional rights only go as far as the people willing to protect them.

Not posting for a debate on this one.  It is just an article on research about children and the concept of possession.

http://www.sciencenews.org/vie..._own_up_to_ownership

Just to let you guys know, I'm off on holiday for the next week, so won't likely get a chance to reply to anything until I get back.  So if you don't hear from me, it's not because I'm ignoring you! :)

In reply to Tycho (msg #25):

Real life always trumps arguing with us.  Enjoy your holiday.

Thanks, will do!

Okay, so I have a question (mostly to katisara, as I'm interested by Catholic take on these issues, but I won't mind others weighing in):

I've been reading about "Left Behind" books lately and I've learned that a lot of the things mentioned there are, apparently, tied to a specific branch of Christianity called "pre-Millenial dispensionalism". That came as a bit of news for me as, back when I was still a Catholic Christian, I was told that Rapture, the rise of Antichrist etc. are things mentioned in the Bible... And the youth group at my parish was screening "Thief In The Night" movie to its members. Which, now I learn, is not presenting Catholic teachings, neither...

So, katisara: what is, actually, the proper Catholic take on the End Times?

We don't have a lot of information on the end times. We have some prophetic dreams in the book of Daniel, which are pretty clearly metaphorical, and the book of Revelations which is considered to be mostly metaphorical. Without consulting Catholic Encyclopedia, I can tell you broadly that the beliefs I'm familiar are:

We won't know when the end has come
It will suck mightily
It ends with everyone dying
Everyone will be judged, with the good getting new, perfect bodies in a perfect world, and the evil will be damned

I don't think the RCC has taken a hardline stance on how to interpret Revelations (which is probably a good idea), so I've met Catholics who believe in the rapture and the sea turning to blood, and I've met ones who figure the world will end in a conventional war turning to nuclear holocaust, and they all seem to fit into the same church.

I'm not Catholic nor am I an expert on Catholic teachings, but here's what I can contribute.

The Rapture isn't mentioned by name.  It seems to stem from something Jesus said, about how the faithful would rise to heaven within their lifetime.  I believe the term was coined by Cotton Mather, but I'm not sure.  There's a general consensus that there will come a "time of Tribulations", the faithful would be gathered up and brought to heaven, and the rest would left behind and the world destroyed.

There's considerable doctrinal argument over rather or not the Rapture will come before, middle, or after the Tribulations.  Nearly every era has complained that their time was "the Tribulations", so I don't know how much of this is actually biblical.

Revelation deals with the end times, but it also reads like a bad acid trip.  If you read John's work, he was always a bit florid and odd in his writings.  At any event, he describes the rise of the evil beasts.  One of them looks like "the Lamb" and convinces people to follow him.  This is where the idea of the antichrist comes from.

I met one person who was raised Jewish and turned Christian who believed that Revelations was a retelling of the gospel and later parts of biblical history presented in metaphor and prophecy for security. Acording to him the three beasts had already come and gone, along withthe false Lamb, nearly 2000 years ago.

Thank you, people. That clarified some things for me...

By the way - you know, these "Left Behind" book sound pretty awful. The final parts apparently feature scenes with Christ ripping unbelievers apart etc. This is supposed to be Christian literature..???

I glanced through the back cover about Buck Williams, Ray Steele and his smoldering hot daughter, Chloe Steele and picked it up thinking it was some deviant soft core porn. No, apparently 'left behind' isn't referring to a single butt cheek. Its plot and internal consistency is about what I'd expect from pornography, but I got to the end with no money shot. I was rather disappointed.

Water powered car, can run for about an hour at 50 MPH on a quart of water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...0&feature=relmfu