The World Didn't End... - by Queue
CCCToad on 25/5/2011 at 01:04
a little quirp?
exploitation of little ones is a crime.
Nicker on 25/5/2011 at 03:09
Ah! Human hubris. It even extends to our supposed ability to destroy the world.
Since we seem to be unable to make responsible use of the considerable gifts allotted us (abstract thought, opposable thumbs, culture, symbolic language, fire...), we are reduced to the questionable comfort of assuring ourselves that at least we can wreck the world like no other life form ever has.
But unless we manage to find a way to extinguish the sun or split the earth into fragments, our pathetic potential for global pandemonium, pales in comparison to historical and potential sterilisation events. Meteor collisions, supernovas, alien annihilation, time... Next to these we are the rankest of amateurs.
What we really mean is "We are the first species that could ruin the ecosphere upon which we (and any other creatures larger than rats and roaches) depend for our continued existence, long enough to become extinct".
As with our predecessors, our disappearance would just create new niches for something else to inhabit. None the less, self-extinction would be a novel occurrence and worthy of note, by anything capable of recording it after the fact.
We shouldn't feel too bad about it though. If any other creatures could manipulate nature for their own benefit, with the same aplomb as humans, they would almost certainly be a reckless as us.
May we grow wise before we get any smarter.
Azaran on 25/5/2011 at 03:42
Christians who look forward to the Second Coming need to read their Bibles more carefully. Jesus got it wrong. He said the Second Coming would take place in his disciples' lifetime:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory....Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (Matthew 24:30-32, 34)
So it's safe to say there won't be any Rapture. Ever
CCCToad on 25/5/2011 at 04:22
Of course not. There is absolutely nothing in the bible to support the concept of the "rapture". Its merely a concept invented by evangelicals for....I dunno, maybe the appeal of the drama?
Brian The Dog on 25/5/2011 at 08:05
The concept of people being "beamed-up" coming from watching Star Trek?
Azaran on 25/5/2011 at 08:25
Quote Posted by CCCToad
Of course not. There is absolutely nothing in the bible to support the concept of the "rapture". Its merely a concept invented by evangelicals for....I dunno, maybe the appeal of the drama?
It's actually based on a single passage in Thessalonians 1, 4:17:
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
As far as I know, however, most down-to-earth Christians regard this as a metaphor, with a purely symbolic interpretation.
CCCToad on 25/5/2011 at 14:08
Another possible interpretation is that its not referring to a "rapture" in the conventional sense at all.
Only that the believers will be the first to experience "resurrection of the body" after the world has already ended. In other words, there will be nobody left behind and this passage is referring to what happens after everyone is already dead.
fett on 25/5/2011 at 14:33
Quote Posted by CCCToad
Of course not. There is absolutely nothing in the bible to support the concept of the "rapture". Its merely a concept invented by evangelicals for....I dunno, maybe the appeal of the drama?
Everything in this post is wrong.
fett on 25/5/2011 at 14:48
Quote Posted by Azaran
It's actually based on a single passage in Thessalonians 1, 4:17:
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
As far as I know, however, most down-to-earth Christians regard this as a metaphor, with a purely symbolic interpretation.
But evangelicals don't, and unfortunately, evangelicals make up most of the church-going, voting, Christian population in the U.S. at present.
Also, this verse is the basis for rapture theology, but the idea is found even in Jewish literature as far back as the 5th chapter of Genesis. Paul alludes to it frequently in his NT writings due to both the teachings of Jesus and his background in Pharasaic theology, which had speculated about the possibility of a rapture since the diaspora in Babylon.
rachel on 25/5/2011 at 17:02
I just use my book of Python:
...And the Lord said: "Every time I try to talk to someone it's "sorry this" and "forgive me that" and "I'm not worthy"... It's just like those miserable psalms, always so depressing. Now knock it off! "
