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Saying something isn't possible isn't in line with "having an open mind." Perhaps you're right though: Rapture won't happen in the context of what we perceive as reality, but does that say it won't happen to any version of us?
This isn't a thought experiment, the author is speaking theologically.
Which is faith based, and impossible to prove or disprove. I thought that perhaps of, "Nah uh, you're wrong, and I'm right," we could have had an open-minded conversation. Perhaps not.
"When I finally calmed down about a week later, I decided to investigate his nonsensical claim further and attempt to do so with as open a mind as I possible could. It wasn’t an easy process. Or a short one. But once I reached the end of my prophetic investigative journey I reached one clear and indisputable conclusion.
I was wrong.
It hurt to admit it and to be honest it kinda still does. But there was no way around it – the rapture was never, ever going to happen.
You see, I had made the same mistake that Jack Van Impe makes. He shouts (or at least passionately pleas) the loudest and only hears others like him shouting that the end is nigh. So, over time he becomes convinced that the rapture is imminent, that he has it all (or at least a lot of it) figured out, and that everyone who disagrees will be left behind.
Like my prophetic hero, I was screaming the loudest that the rapture was imminent and I only surrounded myself with voices that agreed with me. Because of this, I was never able to hear a crucial piece of information: no one in the church has ever even believed in the rapture until the last 200 years or so."
Nobody Is Getting Left Behind (Because The Rapture Is Never, Ever Going To Happen) | The American Jesus
I came to this very same conclusion a few years ago, but then, that's what education will do for you. Unlike this fellow, though, I believed this long before the internet was big through books from Hal Lindsey and his ilk. Like the author, though, it was just as hard for me to admit, just like it will be hard for some of you reading this to admit.
I also find it amusing that the very same people who will argue with me all day and all night over the fact that the word "Trinity" is not in the Bible will argue with me all day and all night that there is such a thing as the "rapture".
Jack Van Impe? I don't know how to take him....not to knock him down, but from what little I saw of his show,
I'm wary. His preachings doesn't "connect" with me.
The show gives an impression of a caricature of a stereo-typed hell-and-fire brimstone preacher.
This isn't a thought experiment, the author is speaking theologically.
After all, isn’t that the whole point of being a New Testament scholar? To be able to predict the rapture?
This isn't a thought experiment, the author is speaking theologically.
- See more at: Nobody Is Getting Left Behind (Because The Rapture Is Never, Ever Going To Happen) | The American JesusAfter all, isn’t that the whole point of being a New Testament scholar? To be able to predict the rapture?
Oh, I think I may have heard or seen him somewhere along the way. I had a book by a guy named John Hagee, who I guess has a TV show also. Same M.O.
Is he?
- See more at: Nobody Is Getting Left Behind (Because The Rapture Is Never, Ever Going To Happen) | The American Jesus
That's like saying....
After all, the whole point of being a New Testament scholar is to be able to predict the Second Coming.
I don't watch John Hagee, too.
I think you misunderstood where he was going with that.
Because the Bible is a story about a God who journeys with His people through hard times even when it is God who has unleashed the judgment. He doesn’t pluck them out of danger.
Whether that danger is slavery in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, exile in Babylon
Rather than an apocalyptic road map, Revelation is a book of worship. It exists to declare the glory, power, and grace of God. It is not a guidebook to the apocalypse.
Now, I absolutely believe that Jesus will return one day to wipe away every tear from our eyes and make all things new.
I looked at Hagee's page briefly, he is apparently having some kind of conference with a guy by the name of T.D. Jakes in attendance. I overheard some of the people at church last Sunday talking about him, they apparently believe he is a flaming heretic. Prosperity Gospel and all that.
Life is simply a physical simulation of a game you willingly inserted yourself within, while death will be the only way out to its end. No rapture.
Perhaps the 'rapture' is much more gradual than sudden.
Or perhaps there is no such thing. That is why it is called faith and not fact. I can no more prove your god doesn't exist anymore than you can prove that he does.
Go for it!
Go for what?
---------Proving God doesn't exist.
Never mind, I misread your post.
Ok, thought you might have, cause I was confues there by what you were asking. Anyways, thanks for clarifying.
FWIW, I don't have a good grasp on the rapture anyhow. I sometimes think it's one of those beliefs that sound a bit arrogant in thinking one is so much better than another that they will be removed from the misery.
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