I've been re-reading a very interesting book by Carl E. Olson, Will Catholics be "Left Behind"?: A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers and am finding a lot of it to be quite intriguing. So here are a few questions here for people:

1. Do you believe in the Rapture?

No

2. Why or why not?

Because I believe it's a convoluted, twisted, warped misinterpretation of Christianity and its sacred books.

3. If you answered yes to #1, are you a Pre-Tribulation(it'll happen before seven years of horrible stuff) or Mid-Tribulation (3.5 years in)?

n/a

4. Do you know who is credited with starting the modern Rapture movement?

John Nelson Darby, who preached in the mid-19th century. Yes, this movement isn't even 200 years old, although some might think the Church Fathers believed the same. Nope, some of ideas he and his followers had (resumption of animal sacrifices, the Church being an accident/substitute for the Israelites, that there are two distinct plans for salvation, etc.) would likely have been condemned as anathema.

5. If you answered no to #1, do you believe in the Parousia of Christ (Second Coming)?

Yes, but it can't be predicted.

6. The Left Behind series: a lot of truth mixed in with the fictional account or a lot of dangerous bunk that undermines Christianity?

A lot of bunk, because it seems to focus so much on damning people, very little to nothing on how to live according to the principles of Christianity, plus it just seems to be more self-righteous than self-effacing. But that's just my opinion about it.

7. (Because I know some will want to say it anyways ): Is all of the above a bunch of hooey and not worth believing, whether it's Rapture stuff or Christianity in general?

Oh, I'm a practicing Christian, so it's just a disagreement with interpretation, not with every single tenet.

8. Those Rapture bumper stickers:

a) I laugh when I read them, then shake my head in disbelief

That's me

b) I smile and agree with the sentiment

c) I proudly display one on my car

d) What the hell is a Rapture?

9. Should the Apocalypse of John/Revelations be viewed literally or metaphorically?

Metaphorically. There's too much symbolism present for it to be read as a blow-by-blow account of some future event, especially since it's very possible the events described could be related more to the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD as to anything else.

Bah, I'll just stop at 9 and see what answers are given. I just hope that people can agree or disagree civilly, but is that asking for too much here?


Dylanfanatic

Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

OF Blog of the Fallen