Ask Slashdot: What To Do When the Rapture Comes? 673
Okian Warrior writes "Since the rapture is tomorrow (May 21) at 6:00 pm local time (everywhere), I was just wondering: what plans does everyone have? I've got no specific plans for what to do. What will you be doing around 6:00 pm tomorrow?" If you're on the IT staff, you might want to consult this checklist of things to do or not do in the interim.
Re:Going out on a limb here... (Score:5, Informative)
Then perhaps you missed the one two verses before that: "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."
Perhaps even a little of: "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." Matthew 16:28.
Or: "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." I Thessalonians 4:17.
"Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour." I John 2:18
"This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none..." I Corinthians 7:29.
"They said to you, 'In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.' These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit." Jude 18-19.
I don't think Harold Camping was the first kook by a looong shot.
Re:Make the story end (Score:4, Informative)
The sad thing is some people *are* arranging their finances on such a decision...
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/07/136053462/is-the-end-nigh-well-know-soon-enough [npr.org] (Search for "Martinez", about 1/2 way down)
Re:Going out on a limb here... (Score:4, Informative)
To be fair, most people who are sure that tomorrow ISN'T the rapture have exactly the same amount of evidence behind them as those who think it IS.
Re:Going out on a limb here... (Score:5, Informative)
For those who don't want/care to look this up, Matthew 24:36 states (in reference to the rapture) "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." - NIV translation
Unrelated note: For some reason, I mis-read the slashdot headline as "What To Do When the Raptors Come?"
what do you do when the raptors come?
Re:Going out on a limb here... (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, books that tell you how to live your life should always be written in such a way that they are unclear and require lots of interpretation, preferably by highly trained specialists. Because there's no way THAT system could be abused. God is so wise!
Re:Going out on a limb here... (Score:4, Informative)
You should probably read the section before that. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus said in reference to the temple that not one stone would be left on another. The disciples then asked him when these things would happen, and he proceeded into a rather lengthy explanation with one "rabbit trail" into the end times to address/correct the idea that Jews thought the end of the world would come when the temple was destroyed. He then wrapped it up by answering their initial question of when the prophecy about the temple would come to pass. The structure of the passage makes a lot of sense when you think of the flow of a conversation. People tend to not really look at the surrounding text when talking about this verse and instead take it out of the context of the conversation, a dangerous practice albeit a common one on both sides.
FYI, destruction of the temple was around 70 A.D. Within the timing of the current generation prophecy.
Re:Set piles of clothes out (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, yes, most fundamentalists believe you will be naked in Heaven. However, there will be no lascivious thoughts because that sort of nastiness just doesn't happen in Heaven.
Re:Going out on a limb here... (Score:5, Informative)
The real problem isn't Harold Whacko. The problem is cognitive dissonance. Even though he will be proven wrong -- again -- in a little over three and a half hours (or less -- I would guess that the Bible doesn't account for EDT) will his followers, the ones who have showered him with money, go "Gee, were we dumb! We actually believed this crazy loon!"? No, instead they will find a way of making the non-event into the event, or they will start rumors of some people disappearing, and pretty soon all of them will "know" somebody that was taken up, and then there will be an after the last minute second chance or the good news that Jesus decided not to end the Universe after all because of the faith of Harold's followers.
Leon Festinger observed all of this, documented it, and named it way back in the 60's, and it is what keeps religion alive in spite of the lack of evidence, in spite of the positive evidence that they are wrong, that their predictions are false, that their theistic scripture is a collection of lies and myths, that many of those that preach it are con artists who suck the blood of the gullible.
rgb