Rapture. An Atheist's View.

As we all should know one of the many beliefs of Christians (and it's sub sects) is that of The Rapture. A time where the 'Earth is cleansed of evil', where Jesus descends to destroy the anti-Christ and his army yadda yadda yadda... I trust you know the basic outline.

What most of us may be aware of as well is that may Christians believe we are currently in 'The End Times', i.e.. Wars and uprisings etc...

What I wanted to know is: What's your view on it? What's your take on their 'evidence'? And how do you argue back?

Thank you ~ Adam.

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Permalink Reply by Arcus on February 28, 2011 at 12:50pm

There should be a number of judgements passed:

On the banks - for doing it.

On the politicians - for allowing it.

For the peole - for believing in it and not electing better representatives.

The government - for allowing it to continue.

Too big to fail is too big to exist. The banks should have been nationalized, split up, their stocks annulled and reissued.

More on how to fix a banking crisis here.

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Permalink Reply by William C. Walker on February 28, 2011 at 10:03pm

I'm still waiting for the indictments of these greedy bastards.

Permalink Reply by Arcus on March 1, 2011 at 2:46am

Which ones?

The banks - for maximizing profits?

The politicians - for not putting in place proper regulatory system?

The people- for borrowing beyong their capacity?

The government - for not suggesting fixes to a broken system?

I would say the ones which are already being judged are the people when they get foreclosed due. They are being punished for their lacking knowledge and buying the kool-aid for so many years. The banks to a much lesser extend, though hopefully some of the fired bankers can get a real job. Most of the politicians ended up reelected, which is the fault of the people (democratic responsibility).

There is plenty of blae to go around. Yes, the banks commited a crime, but the people did not exactly revolt against it. I'm sorry to say I have about as much compassion towards those who lost their homes due to overexposure to the property market (in finance called diveresification, common sense alternative 'putting all the eggs in one basket') as I have to those who lose money in MLM or Ponzi scheme. None of them did the due diligience required, cheered along the ride since it was good for them personally, and only panicked once it fell apart.

The banks should be given blame, but the persons who did what the banks suggested should not get away scot free either. Just like the preachers who sell the ideas of killing abortion doctors must be held accountable for their words, the guy who shoots a doc must bear the responsibility for his actions.

Permalink Reply by James Ulness on February 26, 2011 at 7:55pm

Exactly why I don't think it's even worth wasting time thinking about. It's like arguing about the average wingspan of fairies.

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Permalink Reply by Dave G on February 26, 2011 at 3:01pm

I point out that the 'End Times' have been due for 2000 years and every generation is certain it will occur in theirs. Let's face it , Jesus has stood them up.

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Permalink Reply by Jānis Ķimsis on February 26, 2011 at 3:17pm

Show them one of these lists.

The first one, by JREF, is quite funny.

All in all, I consider all end of the world predictions retarded.

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Permalink Reply by Samuel H. Kenyon on February 26, 2011 at 3:24pm

Many humans like to look forward to a historical climax that will happen in their own lifetime. They also tend to think it will be way more important than all those other major changes in our history.

So even nonreligious people can jump on to rapture-like bandwagons. For instance, Singularitarians are quite numerous on the internet, especially in transhumanist circles. They look forward to the "rapture of the nerds", aka The Singularity.

I am a transhumanist, but I'm not a singularitarian.

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Permalink Reply by Samuel H. Kenyon on February 26, 2011 at 3:54pm

The technological singularity is discussed as the point in time when humankind not only becomes immortal but is also merged or replaced by AI, and which there is no turning back, and which we cannot predict what will happen after that. AGI enthusiants expect god-like computers to manage the world. It's like going into a historical black hole. If you read what many transhumanists say on the intertubes, you will see their religious devotion to The Singularity as fact and as their greatest hope.

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Permalink Reply by Samuel H. Kenyon on February 26, 2011 at 3:57pm

The main difference with transhumanists is that some of them are actually contributing towards the future they want, not just shouting prophecies from the rooftops.

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Permalink Reply by Dave G on February 26, 2011 at 3:44pm

Simple, they will be taken care of by Eternal Earth-Bound Pets ( http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/ ).

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Permalink Reply by Lindsey on February 26, 2011 at 3:42pm

Meh. Every century since the beginning of judeo-christian belief has been "the end times". If the definition of insanity really is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then I don't know why christians haven't all been committed to the psych ward yet. You'd think they'd learn a little damn critical thinking after thousands of years of false prophecies.