Jun 21

Episode 1: The Reality of the Rapture

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A brief look at the reality of the biblical end times prophesies – or
lack there-of.

Transcript:
The predicted Rapture date came and went last week and it’s already falling out of the public eye.

Non believers had a wonderful time poking fun at it. Some Christians were offended. So I had to pause and think about this. Was it rude to make fun of their most cherished beliefs? Was it bad form? Should non-believers not go there? For most Americans, the answer is no. Most Americans were indoctrinated into Christianity at an early age – and have thus earned the right to make fun of it. They are probably not outsiders poking fun in bad form.

I personally was indoctrinated at an early age. As a result, I spend the majority of my childhood terrified by the rapture. There was a period of time when I would panic every time one of my siblings was not where I expected them to be because I though they had been raptured without me. I was especially terrified one night when I was home alone during a lunar eclipse and was quite certain that 1/3 of the moon had turned to blood and we were experiencing the tribulation.

So for me, making fun of the rapture, was like going back and poking at a bully who used to kick my ass in school every day. And I’m not gonna lie – it was a great laugh at the expense of others!

The biggest reaction I saw from Christians was that they were annoyed by Harold Camping’s stunt. He misrepresented the faith. I think it was great to have the Rapture front and center in the public eye.

It was a great time for nonbelievers because the Biblical end times predictions are almost as embarrassing a belief as the Biblical creation stories.

Mainstream Christian billboards like this one are interesting because they highlight the real issue. The fact that it’s much easier to believe in end times prophesies if the date is a moving goal post.

Let’s try a thought experiment to test your faith.

Think about how difficult it is to start working out and eating right. How much easier is it to say I will probably start in a few weeks than it is to say – I will start tomorrow morning. But after a couple weeks go by – the typical action is to push it out a couple more weeks, and a couple more, and a couple more.

Now what about the end times? Here is a list of events that Revelations states will happen.

A great earthquake will cause the dead to physically rise from their graves to be judged before God. An army of 200 million will kill 1/3 of humanity. The ground will open up and release locusts to harm us. 1/3 of the sun, moon, and stars will be smitten. The seas will become blood. Most importantly, Jesus will descend through the clouds to save the day and the faithful will magically wisped away to heaven.

So how sure are you that these things will happen within the next 6 months, How about the next two years, the next five years. How about the next 50 years? Do you find that it is exponentially easier to believe as we push the date out beyond your current planning cycles? Trying to map these things to a present reality is ridiculously difficult for a sane person to do. Future and Fantasy go nicely together, but bringing the fantasy too close to the present becomes incredibly awkward.

The purpose of this channel is to get you to ask yourself these two questions. 1) How strong is your faith? 2) Why?