Teh raptur and other dooms day scenarios.

I'm trying to sort out what category of nutjobs I'm going to have to deal with regaurding the so called rapture supposedly taking place on may 21st on this year.

Now, normally I just carry on in my happy heathen existence, but I'm in the middle of texas [literally] and I've seen enough from the nutjob side of christian ity to warrant going everywhere armed for the next few weeks, I also find it funny that so many devout christians are panicking over the 2012 scenario, even though their religion doesn't agree with it..

I don't care for dooms days and I especially don't care for people who think they need to be their own interpretation of their deities right hand and start some early smiting.... I will at least be prepared to handle at least one of these crazy mofos...

I dunno much about Mormons, not looking to convert either. But I'm curious how everyone sees these end of the world types...

I put this in the category of UFO cults an jonestown preferably, but for some reason, its the "violent shootout at a church" that gets me wondering if this will have a violent turnout... I worry rarely, but when it comes to religion or politics or some ones festering sense of compassion/lust Things tend to get more bloody then I prefer.

Don't know where this 'rapture' came from; the Bible says that anyone claiming to know the date of the Rapture is lying, since only God can know that. I don't know why people would just come up with this stuff, either; to get attention, maybe?

My personal feeling? I wish I actually knew someone who honestly believed the world was going to end on a specific date so I could have the satisfaction of pointing and laughing at them *after* it was supposed to happen.

As for the nutjobs, I think that all of us here on the FE boards agree that the represent themselves more than anything. It's when people forget this that the religion the crazies purport to believe in is not being represented that things start to get sullied.

Also, May 21st? I can't say as I've heard this one. Please elaborate.

Latrans wrote:My personal feeling? I wish I actually knew someone who honestly believed the world was going to end on a specific date so I could have the satisfaction of pointing and laughing at them *after* it was supposed to happen.

As for the nutjobs, I think that all of us here on the FE boards agree that the represent themselves more than anything. It's when people forget this that the religion the crazies purport to believe in is not being represented that things start to get sullied.

Also, May 21st? I can't say as I've heard this one. Please elaborate.

k, hope you use firefox.

http://www.google.com/search?q=may+21+2011+rapture&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Heh. The 'just Google it' approach.

That was some interesting reading, and good for a laugh.

On the people going nutso over the potential end of the world, I'd have to ask them 'why?'. Are we not supposed to be good people *all* the time? Isn't a sudden surge of 'ZOMG SAVE PEOPLE' right before the end akin to being good just before Christmas? To paraphrase a famous quote: 'The true measure of a person is not what they do when people are watching, but what they do when they believe *no one* is watching'.

Latrans wrote:Heh. The 'just Google it' approach.

That was some interesting reading, and good for a laugh.

On the people going nutso over the potential end of the world, I'd have to ask them 'why?'. Are we not supposed to be good people *all* the time? Isn't a sudden surge of 'ZOMG SAVE PEOPLE' right before the end akin to being good just before Christmas? To paraphrase a famous quote: 'The true measure of a person is not what they do when people are watching, but what they do when they believe *no one* is watching'.

I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What god desires is here [points to head] and here [points to heart] and what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man - or not. ~Hospitaller.

And yet, by religion you've also seen unspeakable acts of kindness. People who've devoted their lives to the helping of others. I won't deny that people have managed to do horrible things in the name of their god(s), but don't also forget that people do great things as well for the exact same reason and with the same level of fanaticism. Imagine how differently the world would have reacted to Mother Teresa had she taken a 'smite the transgressors' approach instead.

Ultimately, I think that people will do as they desire and will find justification for those actions regardless of their faith. This is especially true of faiths that rely heavily on morally ambiguous works such as the Bible. No offense to that book, but it's amazingly contradictory to itself in spots (particularly between the Old and New Testaments), leaving it rather open to personal interpretation. "Man's unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has always astounded me." - Academician Prokhor Zakharov


On a much less serious note, I seem to have missed the Rapture. This makes me mildly sad. I was all ready to head down to the sporting goods store for a shotgun as the dead rose from their graves.

And the moral of the story, If you set your faith on false revalation, you will get burned, spiritually. And whenever you hear stuff like that...



I read a quote by the Late Great Gordon B. Hinckley, on the huge Y2K scare over 11 years ago.

As we look forward to the passing of a century and the death of a millennium, let the old year go, let the new year come. Let another century pass. Let a new one take its place. Say goodbye to a millennium. Greet the beginning of another 1000 years.

So here's to another 989 years, hopefully less hysterical than theses ones coming up, with the whole 2012 scare coming up.

Slim Shadow wrote:And the moral of the story, If you set your faith on false revalation, you will get burned, spiritually. And whenever you hear stuff like that...



I read a quote by the Late Great Gordon B. Hinckley, on the huge Y2K scare over 11 years ago.

As we look forward to the passing of a century and the death of a millennium, let the old year go, let the new year come. Let another century pass. Let a new one take its place. Say goodbye to a millennium. Greet the beginning of another 1000 years.

So here's to another 989 years, hopefully less hysterical than theses ones coming up, with the whole 2012 scare coming up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/433_Eros

You may panic now.

Nono. Panic does not ensue until the event is unavoidable. You've still got at least two million years and a 50/50 shot at more than one billion.

I suppose you *could* start panicking now, but it'd be really kind of difficult to maintain the momentum over that kind of time frame.

Latrans wrote:Nono. Panic does not ensue until the event is unavoidable. You've still got at least two million years and a 50/50 shot at more than one billion.

I suppose you *could* start panicking now, but it'd be really kind of difficult to maintain the momentum over that kind of time frame.

meh, if it were any closer to us it'd just explode in the atmosphere. and skip off to wherever.

Hay, I just remembered this thread, Eros skipped on by 3 days ago.


N~Joy!