Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Thor Q. Mada · 10-21-2002, 05:59 PM

Wouldn't it be nice if the Southern Baptists suddenly vanished??

lunachick · 10-21-2002, 06:39 PM

Hey, thanks, everyone!

I have to go take half the neighbourhood's kids to swimming lessons now, but shall return to read more closely and follow the link. Cheers.

Walter_Mitty · 10-22-2002, 05:38 AM

Quote:

What would be mainstream though? I always thought my family was mainstream, i believe my mother is baptist and my sisters are youth-group denomination. They both believe in the rapture.

Cy,

Yeah, I know what you mean. Perhaps I could have worded it better. At this point I'm not even sure what "mainstream" is. IMO they are all different facets of the same cracked gem.

sakrilege · 10-22-2002, 06:59 AM

<a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/rapture.htm" target="_blank">Rapture</a>

Quote:

Theologians remain currently divided over the timing of the Rapture. Their beliefs include:

Pre-Tribulation Rapture: (or "pre-trib") The Rapture happens just before the Tribulation, so that believers will not have to experience any of its disruption and pain. Most conservative Christians currently believe this theory.

Mid-Tribulation Rapture: (or "mid-trib") The Rapture happens about 42 months into the Tribulation. Initially, the rule of the Antichrist is relatively benign. He arranges a peace treaty between Israel and surrounding countries. But three and a half years into his reign as world dictator, events take a sudden turn for the worse.

Post-tribulation Rapture: (or post-trib") The faithful experience the horrors and killings of the Tribulation. All suffer and many are killed. Believers are then raptured at the end of the 7 years of horror.

Partial Rapture: some of the faithful are raptured just before the Tribulation; the rest are raptured during or at the end of the Tribulation.

Partial Rapture (a.k.a. Split Rapture): This is a minority belief among conservative Christians. It is a variation of the Pre-trib rapture in which there are two raptures:

A pre-trib rapture and resurrection occurs before the tribulation, but only for those born-again Christians who have earned special treatment by having been actively watching, waiting and praying for the rapture.

Those born-again Christians who have not been doing these "works" will be have to endure at least part of the tribulation. They will be raptured partway through or at the end of the tribulation period.

[ October 22, 2002: Message edited by: sakrilege ]

Walter_Mitty · 10-22-2002, 07:43 AM

I see it's an evangelical product. That explains much.

stryder2112 · 10-22-2002, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bibliophile:
I see it's an evangelical product. That explains much.

You're more or less correct. Not to further confuse the confused, the Rapture is a fixture of dispensational theology. <a href="http://www.xenos.org/essays/covdisp.htm" target="_blank">This essay</a> does a fairly good job in comparing and contrasting dispensational theology with covenantal theology.

Back to the mention of "mainstream" or "mainline" Christian denominations, the demarkation is really a split between the above two theologies. Presbyterian, the Anglican (or Episcopal), and to some extent, the Lutheran and Catholic follow covenantal theology. Baptists, Pentacostals, and various Evangelical Christians follow some form of dispensational theology. As such, dispensational theology is largely a phenomenon of US Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christianity.

Dispensational theology, while having roots in earlier tradition, is a rather new and a radical departure from traditional Christian theology and eschatology (study of the "end times"). Dispensational theology was popularized by <a href="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stem_publishing/jndarby.html" target="_blank">John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)</a>. Darby's premillenial dispensational theology was the basis for the notes in the <a href="http://www.tyndale.edu/dirn/bios/scofield.html" target="_blank">Scofield Reference Bible</a> published in 1909. This study bible greatly influenced Evangelical Christians and the burgeoning Fundamentalist movement.

More recent popularizers of dispensational theology include Tim LaHaye, author of The Late Great Planet Earth, and Jerry B. Jenkins, author of the popular Left Behind series.

To contrast with Cydonia's experience, I grew up in rurual Nebraska where the population is largely the decendants of German immigrants and nearly everyone is Lutheran. In fact the nearest Baptist church of any kind was more than 90 miles away in Lincoln. The Rapture and the Tribulation were very foreign concepts to my experience: odd-ball beliefs held by fringe, wacky fundamentalists. Nearly all of the adults around me were Lutheran and the ministers all taught a strictly covenantal theology.

Stryder

[ October 22, 2002: Message edited by: stryder2112 ]

BigJim · 10-22-2002, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bibliophile:
As of Oct 2nd the Rapture Index was at 169. Evidently this means people should start to vanish any time now.

Uh no. You didn't read the page you linked.

Quote:

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.

I find many of the categories that they use rather interesting. Unemployment. Interest Rate (apparently the U.S. Prime Rate is the important number here). Oil Supply/Price. Drug use.

Walter_Mitty · 10-22-2002, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Uh no. You didn't read the page you linked.

Actually, yes I did. Though I may not have taken it as seriously as you did. Of course, many cues are lost in Internet communication. Sill, I thought my post made it obvious that I was being sarcastic in regards to the quackery of that index. Nonetheless, if I mislead you I apologize.

Stryder: Go Huskers!

lunachick · 10-22-2002, 04:21 PM

Hey, Bibliophile!

I got a laugh out of it. Complete cranks, every single one o' them.

Dig the meter:

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 belt

Last updated 14th Oct. 02. Index 171.

The End is definitely nigh, folks! I reckon you should all just spend everything, including maxing all credit limits etc, because it won't be long before there'll be no-one to do the debt collecting except God. Hell, yes! I'm going shopping!!

lunachick · 10-22-2002, 04:30 PM

Sakrilege: That was very informative. Cheers.

I love religioustolerance.org.

I'm wondering if Bush may be considered an Anti-Christ in the making? His lot are hell bent on the trib thing, if you ask me.

Thank you.

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10-21-2002, 05:59 PM	#11
Thor Q. Mada Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Asia Posts: 3,558	Wouldn't it be nice if the Southern Baptists suddenly vanished??

10-21-2002, 06:39 PM	#12
lunachick Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: NZ Posts: 7,895	Hey, thanks, everyone! I have to go take half the neighbourhood's kids to swimming lessons now, but shall return to read more closely and follow the link. Cheers.

10-22-2002, 07:43 AM	#15
Walter_Mitty Regular Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: . Posts: 467	I see it's an evangelical product. That explains much.

10-22-2002, 04:21 PM	#19
lunachick Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: NZ Posts: 7,895	Hey, Bibliophile! I got a laugh out of it. Complete cranks, every single one o' them. Dig the meter: 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 belt Last updated 14th Oct. 02. Index 171. The End is definitely nigh, folks! I reckon you should all just spend everything, including maxing all credit limits etc, because it won't be long before there'll be no-one to do the debt collecting except God. Hell, yes! I'm going shopping!!

10-22-2002, 04:30 PM	#20
lunachick Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: NZ Posts: 7,895	Sakrilege: That was very informative. Cheers. I love religioustolerance.org. I'm wondering if Bush may be considered an Anti-Christ in the making? His lot are hell bent on the trib thing, if you ask me. Thank you.

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