I decided to ring in Armageddon with a pitcher of margaritas. Why? Because bad tequila can be had pretty cheaply, and when you combine it with equally cheap triple sec and lime juice, it makes for a pitcher that costs less than 6 bucks.
Despite my spendthrift ways, I am fairly confident that the world will indeed end, especially since, as Dave Hardy is pointing out, President Obama has pardoned someone for violating the NFA, and the CDC is openly discussing the Zombie Apocalypse.
More disturbing is this guy, who apparently spent his life’s savings buying billboard to announce the rapture. He’s still convinced he’ll be vindicated in the next ten minutes. It’s this kind of thing that makes me think how awfully correct P.T. Barnum really was.
In the mean time, I have to go fire up the grill. We’re having a cookout tonight, since there’s been a break in the constant rain this week. Fortunately, the weather for the next week is really looking up. Particularly, I’m looking forward to the plague of locusts. Those are good eats! And Kosher too.
UPDATE: Still here. The cookout was nice.
I find it curious that this rapture prophesy has gotten so much attention. Why, do you suppose, are so many folks interested in it? I don’t think it’s the crazy in it, as crazy doesn’t seem to be novel in the least.
it’s the money that was spent putting up all the billboards
the guys who came up with this prophesy put a lot of time and effort and money into publicizing it.
I had suspected the whole thing was a money-making venture at some level, but was interested in what others thought was driving it. Thanks. I suppose that any idea can get coverage if you throw enough money at it.
I was looking for some people to give all their worldly goods, I couldn’t find one damn person in my area.
Although I will admit, I knew exactly where I was at 6:08 last night. I was zombie ready!!! LOL
“I had suspected the whole thing was a money-making venture at some level,”
I am pretty sure that it was not. There are many sincerely deluded people in the world. In some ways, the sincerely deluded are the most dangerous.
Yes, I can agree with that. Could it be said that believing the rapture will occur at a specific time is delusional, but that believing in the rapture itself is not? What precisely is the subject of delusion?
>Yes, I can agree with that. Could it be said that believing the rapture will occur at a specific time is delusional, but that believing in the rapture itself is not? What precisely is the subject of delusion?
I’m not a believer, so I’ll just be upfront: I don’t mean this offensively. Now, the definition of a delusion is a belief held either mistakenly or without substantiation. Faith by definition is belief without evidence, so in these definitions isn’t all faith a delusion?
I don’t mean this in an offensive manner, although I know its almost impossible to not sound offensive saying this(because of the extremely negative connotations of a delusion).
Now that I’m done C’ing my A., I think the real delusion here (in the extremely negative, “you believe nonsense” meaning) is believing the explanation makes any damn sense.
http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/outreach/tracts/may21/
I suppose a broader question is why folks believe the various “supernatural” things that they do. While it seems ludicrous (to most) that we can know the precise day of the rapture (like this Camping fellow believed) … those same people might very well believe in some of the things I list below:
1. Belief that there will be a rapture (eventually).
2. Belief in heaven for the “saved” and hell for those “unsaved.”
3. Belief in some kind of “life” after death.
4. Belief in God.
5. Belief in any kind of supernatural influence in the cosmos.
Where is the line between delusion and rationality. Some would argue it objectively lies at the threshold of supernatural explanation. But I know a GREAT many people who believe in afterlife, heaven and hell, and in God, and they otherwise appear to be pretty rational folks. So, it’s interesting.
I’d submit that you can be rational and also believe utter nonsense, if almost everyone around you believes the same nonsense, and they have your whole life. That more or less is the foundation of cults. In a worst case example, Germany 1933 – 1945 — though I guess it is considered uncouth to cite that.
The most important thing is, none of us should consider ourselves immune.
I’m one of those delusional ones that believes in God, salvation through Christ, etc. but I don’t believe that you can predict the rapture. Too lazy to look up the exact chapter and verse but Jesus was asked when he was coming back, and he said something to the effect of “no man can know, only the father”. If you really believe, and take the Bible literally, why would you choose to ignore that statement?
I believe the chapter that Larry was referring to is Acts 1:7 “He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.””.
I will ride with Carl from Chi and Remington.
Succinctly, how could these people predict something Jesus Himself couldn’t?
Doesn’t mean it won’t happen as they told it, just that they flattered themselves too much, put themselves ahead of God, IMO.
Such delusion/confusion is not uncommon these days.
“Faith by definition is belief without evidence, so in these definitions isn’t all faith a delusion?”
Faith is a belief without evidence. What you refer to as faith is really “blind faith”–to believe something without any thought or reflection as to whether or not it is true. Many people have faith in certain things, because those things are the best explanations for what we currently have–and part of faith is holding to a belief because you have reasons to believe it’s true, even though some of the evidence indicates that it is not.
For example, I believe that God created the world. I also believe that natural selection was a key force in the creation of the world. While there seem to be contradictions in these two beliefs, I have faith that both are correct, and that what appear to be contradictions will disappear as my understanding about both grows.
It would take too much time here to explain why I believe in God, but I would make it clear that I hold onto that belief because I’ve read many things, and thought about them for many hours, not despite a lack of thought and research.
In any case, I hold those who accepted this prediction of the rapture to be delusional precisely because they have an excellent source material for the given subject (the Bible), yet they chose to accept the calculations of an individual that directly contradicted said source material.