Saturday, May 21, 2011

In case of rapture, this blog is fully automated

There has been much discussion about a group in the US predicting the "rapture" of believers today. I probably don't need to repeat that predicting dates for eschatological events is silly and unscriptural ("no one knows the day or the hour" - Matthew 24.36). Nor that the very idea of the rapture - a sudden removal of believers from the earth by the hand of God - is also based on a misreading of a couple of passages. Lacking the time to give a full account at this point (other things have dragged me away), I suggest this post or this short piece by N. T. Wright.

Of course, this idea is but one manifestation of a Christian hope that gets things upside down. We are not going to heaven; heaven is coming to us.

8 comments:

Stuart said...

Raptural Science - Raptureology - Will never get off the ground ;-)

Donna said...

Just letting you know, it's quarter to 11 here and nothing is happening... I'll keep you posted.

byron smith said...

Donna - I assume that since I haven't heard from you again that the rest of us have been left behind.

Stuart - I wouldn't dream of calling such a field lightweight.

byron smith said...

Demotivational: The (final?) word.

byron smith said...

"The madcap fundamentalists said the world was going to end last week. Always a joy for the Dawkins squad to find a case study of “Christians” acting bonkers. It was fascinating to see how the story went viral, initially on the web and then in the mainstream news media. It seemed to me like one of those tribal rituals where the real fear is fended off, is held in a way that seems containable, by putting on a wee pretendy ritual: and, lo and behold, it’s all OK after all. We don’t need worry about devastation scenarios because they’re all a hoax anyway."
- Alasdair McIntosh.

byron smith said...

Classic comedy: Will this wind....

byron smith said...

Frank has some thoughts on certainty and - good on him - wrote an open letter to the group, inviting them to embrace this as a redemptive moment.

byron smith said...

Video: Messing with Dispensationalists.