I Feel Sorry For These People.

Les over at Stupid Evil Bastard made this post after coming across this webboard. Reading through various posts I couldn't help but feel sad for these people. They believe in various irrational things, and are happy at the thought of a massive war because it supposedly means Jesus will come. Just like so many others over the last 2000 years they will be disappointed. Some will eventually fall away from this vision of the future, and find themselves wondering what harm it has done to their lives. Others will hold onto such beliefs for the rest of their lives and let them determine what decisions they make, many of which will ultimately lessen the quality of their lives. One of the more disturbing statements was from one poster who can't see in their mind their kids past the ages of ten and under, which is coming in the next couple of years. So they hope this is a sign of the Rapture coming and not something else. I can only imagine what kind of stress this person will be under as time passes and it becomes obvious that no one is getting sucked up into the sky. Others must live in states of more general discomfort given that they believe these things and others close to them do not. I saw several mentions of spouses who don't share the beliefs of posters, which must be stressful on a marriage.

I found it amusing to see comments about how too many churches aren't teaching the "right" things about Biblical prophecy. I wonder if people who make comments like that even know the history of Rapture theology. It only really dates to the first half of the 19th Century, and is the product of interpretation. The concept is not mentioned explicitly in the New Testament. Many denominations, including the largest ones such as the Roman Catholic Church, do not accept the idea at all. A modern Rapture believing Christian transported say to the era of Martin Luther would likely find themselves rather dismayed if they described the concept to Luther, who would likely ask them where they heard such foolishness. Given the human capacity to find new interpretations in a text I'm sure 200 years from now some new interpretation will have come along and prove highly popular with millions of believers.