What will you do after the Rapture?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well, I will certainly do my best to repent during that time.  I'm not so confident that I would be worthy of being one of those taken.

um, I thought Catholics don't believe in this nonsense. Only Southern Baptists, Pentecostals and a few more looney out there groups like the Jehova's Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists.

But if I and all other mainstream Christians turn out to be wrong and I'm still here, I guess I'll change. But I personally think the odds of this are about the same as me never receiving another lap dance ever again.

You know what would be funny? If I was getting a lapdance, then it happens, and then the stripper disappears!

[J.R. Brown]

I know many of you think it is a myth or story.  But for a minute, imagine it being true as described in the Left Behind books.  One day, millions of people are missing.  What will you do?  Switch to Christianity?

What's your point in all of this? Do you see yourself as superior to others because you are a Christian? Christianity isn't an exclusive club. Jesus died for the sins of every human. All you have to do is accept and believe that he did this. The people who already know Jesus are supposed to inform others of the love of Christ. Not judge non-believers like you are doing. Unless you are a non-believer and are being sarcastic. Left Behind Books? All of the books of the New Testament give hints to what will happen when Christ returns.

[Bono]

I know many of you think it is a myth or story.  But for a minute, imagine it being true as described in the Left Behind books.  One day, millions of people are missing.  What will you do?  Switch to Christianity?

What's your point in all of this? Do you see yourself as superior to others because you are a Christian? Christianity isn't an exclusive club. Jesus died for the sins of every human. All you have to do is accept and believe that he did this. The people who already know Jesus are supposed to inform others of the love of Christ. Not judge non-believers like you are doing. Unless you are a non-believer and are being sarcastic. Left Behind Books? All of the books of the New Testament give hints to what will happen when Christ returns.

No, CHrist did not die for the sins of every human.
Christ died, indeed, for many people, but not all (Matthew 26:28). Specifically, Christ died for the invisible Church -- the sum total of all those who would ever rightly bear the name "Christian" (Ephesians 5:25).

[12th Doctor]

Well, I will certainly do my best to repent during that time.  I'm not so confident that I would be worthy of being one of those taken.

um, I thought Catholics don't believe in this nonsense. Only Southern Baptists, Pentecostals and a few more looney out there groups like the Jehova's Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists.

But if I and all other mainstream Christians turn out to be wrong and I'm still here, I guess I'll change. But I personally think the odds of this are about the same as me never receiving another lap dance ever again.

You know what would be funny? If I was getting a lapdance, then it happens, and then the stripper disappears!

Acctually, we don't.  I was mocking them.

Catholics believe that the world will never "end".  When the Second Coming of Christ arive, it will be a world changing event.  The order of things as we know them to be will cease to exist.  Other than that, there really are no specifics, I think.  End times theology has never really interested me much, to be honest.

[Storebought]

As a scientist on Earth, I'd be too fascinated by the quantum mechanistic underpinnings of the tribulations to worry much about my impending eternity in the Lake of Fire.

I have a question: what, exactly do the Elect do in heaven once they get there? Part of the joy in living (such as it is) comes from the discovery of some unknown natural truth; if all truths are immediately apparent in heaven, then what?

[Blue Rectangle]

From a sequel of Left Behind:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

So basically the only Catholics worthy of salvation are those that are actually Protestants.

[Richard]

Only about three of you actually answered the question.  I'd still like answers from the rest of you.

A bit more background: the people that will disappear are the true Christians (which only God knows who they are).  One day, in a moment, they will disappear, and there will be tribulation after that.  And yes, I do not believe all Catholics will disappear, just like I don't believe all Protestants will disappear.  But I believe it like it is in the Left Behind books (from what I've read... I only read two so far.)

As a scientist on Earth, I'd be too fascinated by the quantum mechanistic underpinnings of the tribulations to worry much about my impending eternity in the Lake of Fire.

I have a question: what, exactly do the Elect do in heaven once they get there? Part of the joy in living (such as it is) comes from the discovery of some unknown natural truth; if all truths are immediately apparent in heaven, then what?

There is no elect.  A short timeline:

First the rapture, where all the true Christians that know Jesus Christ as their Savior will go to Heaven.  In Heaven, they will appear before Jesus to be awarded for their services.

On Earth, the next 7 years will be rather bad.  The Antichrist (a Jew) will rise and make a deal with Israel.  They will see him as the coming Messiah, promised in Genesis 3:15.  Peace will reign in Israel for the next few months.  After 3 1/2 years, the Antichrist will break his treaty, and rise up against Israel, intent to destroy them.  The kings from the north, south, and east will join him.  (Russia, the Arabs, and the Chinese)  It will all come down to a grand finale called Armageddon at the end of 7 years, where Jesus will return with those raptured and descend into Jerusalem and personally defend Israel.  They will see their mistake and call him the one true Messiah.

The 7 years will also have many events that will kill 2/3 of all of earth's population.

After Armageddon, there will be 1,000 years of peace.  Satan will be bound.  To the end of that period, he will be unleashed one last time.  After his destruction, he, the Antichrist, and the false prophet will be cast into hell.  The rest of mankind will be judged by God Himself on the White Throne.  Those whose name are in the Book of Life will enter Heaven.  The rest will go to Hell.


Now: some advice.  No matter how ridiculous you think this stuff is, just remember this.  You may not believe it, but if it actually happens, remember this thread and the advice.  Do NOT take the number.  You will be offered the choice to join the Antichrist, or to join Jesus.  You will be given a choice: take the number of man on your hand or your forehead, or be executed.  You have to choose the latter.  You will be saved.

[Bono]

As a scientist on Earth, I'd be too fascinated by the quantum mechanistic underpinnings of the tribulations to worry much about my impending eternity in the Lake of Fire.

I have a question: what, exactly do the Elect do in heaven once they get there? Part of the joy in living (such as it is) comes from the discovery of some unknown natural truth; if all truths are immediately apparent in heaven, then what?

You could play bridge with Edward the Confessor.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Only about three of you actually answered the question.  I'd still like answers from the rest of you.

A bit more background: the people that will disappear are the true Christians (which only God knows who they are).  One day, in a moment, they will disappear, and there will be tribulation after that.  And yes, I do not believe all Catholics will disappear, just like I don't believe all Protestants will disappear.  But I believe it like it is in the Left Behind books (from what I've read... I only read two so far.)

As a scientist on Earth, I'd be too fascinated by the quantum mechanistic underpinnings of the tribulations to worry much about my impending eternity in the Lake of Fire.

I have a question: what, exactly do the Elect do in heaven once they get there? Part of the joy in living (such as it is) comes from the discovery of some unknown natural truth; if all truths are immediately apparent in heaven, then what?

There is no elect.  A short timeline:

First the rapture, where all the true Christians that know Jesus Christ as their Savior will go to Heaven.  In Heaven, they will appear before Jesus to be awarded for their services.

On Earth, the next 7 years will be rather bad.  The Antichrist (a Jew) will rise and make a deal with Israel.  They will see him as the coming Messiah, promised in Genesis 3:15.  Peace will reign in Israel for the next few months.  After 3 1/2 years, the Antichrist will break his treaty, and rise up against Israel, intent to destroy them.  The kings from the north, south, and east will join him.  (Russia, the Arabs, and the Chinese)  It will all come down to a grand finale called Armageddon at the end of 7 years, where Jesus will return with those raptured and descend into Jerusalem and personally defend Israel.  They will see their mistake and call him the one true Messiah.

The 7 years will also have many events that will kill 2/3 of all of earth's population.

After Armageddon, there will be 1,000 years of peace.  Satan will be bound.  To the end of that period, he will be unleashed one last time.  After his destruction, he, the Antichrist, and the false prophet will be cast into hell.  The rest of mankind will be judged by God Himself on the White Throne.  Those whose name are in the Book of Life will enter Heaven.  The rest will go to Hell.


Now: some advice.  No matter how ridiculous you think this stuff is, just remember this.  You may not believe it, but if it actually happens, remember this thread and the advice.  Do NOT take the number.  You will be offered the choice to join the Antichrist, or to join Jesus.  You will be given a choice: take the number of man on your hand or your forehead, or be executed.  You have to choose the latter.  You will be saved.

newflash: the Left Behind books are FICTION.

[12th Doctor]

From a sequel of Left Behind:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

So basically the only Catholics worthy of salvation are those that are actually Protestants.

What a load of biggoted sh**t.

[David S]

I know many of you think it is a myth or story.  But for a minute, imagine it being true as described in the Left Behind books.  One day, millions of people are missing.  What will you do?  Switch to Christianity?

As I recall the number is 144,000 people. In the US alone about 2 million people die every year. If you ratio that up to cover the world population and then figure it on a daily basis it works out to about 110,000 people dying every day. So maybe 144,000 disappearing would hardly be noticed.

[Gabu]

Only about three of you actually answered the question.  I'd still like answers from the rest of you.

A bit more background: the people that will disappear are the true Christians (which only God knows who they are).  One day, in a moment, they will disappear, and there will be tribulation after that.  And yes, I do not believe all Catholics will disappear, just like I don't believe all Protestants will disappear.  But I believe it like it is in the Left Behind books (from what I've read... I only read two so far.)

As a scientist on Earth, I'd be too fascinated by the quantum mechanistic underpinnings of the tribulations to worry much about my impending eternity in the Lake of Fire.

I have a question: what, exactly do the Elect do in heaven once they get there? Part of the joy in living (such as it is) comes from the discovery of some unknown natural truth; if all truths are immediately apparent in heaven, then what?

There is no elect.  A short timeline:

First the rapture, where all the true Christians that know Jesus Christ as their Savior will go to Heaven.  In Heaven, they will appear before Jesus to be awarded for their services.

On Earth, the next 7 years will be rather bad.  The Antichrist (a Jew) will rise and make a deal with Israel.  They will see him as the coming Messiah, promised in Genesis 3:15.  Peace will reign in Israel for the next few months.  After 3 1/2 years, the Antichrist will break his treaty, and rise up against Israel, intent to destroy them.  The kings from the north, south, and east will join him.  (Russia, the Arabs, and the Chinese)  It will all come down to a grand finale called Armageddon at the end of 7 years, where Jesus will return with those raptured and descend into Jerusalem and personally defend Israel.  They will see their mistake and call him the one true Messiah.

The 7 years will also have many events that will kill 2/3 of all of earth's population.

After Armageddon, there will be 1,000 years of peace.  Satan will be bound.  To the end of that period, he will be unleashed one last time.  After his destruction, he, the Antichrist, and the false prophet will be cast into hell.  The rest of mankind will be judged by God Himself on the White Throne.  Those whose name are in the Book of Life will enter Heaven.  The rest will go to Hell.


Now: some advice.  No matter how ridiculous you think this stuff is, just remember this.  You may not believe it, but if it actually happens, remember this thread and the advice.  Do NOT take the number.  You will be offered the choice to join the Antichrist, or to join Jesus.  You will be given a choice: take the number of man on your hand or your forehead, or be executed.  You have to choose the latter.  You will be saved.

I'm probably going to offend a lot of people with this comment, but that sounds like a bunch of elitist crap.  The "true Christians" will go to meet Jesus because God likes them more than everyone else.  Right.  In other words, anyone who thinks that he or she is in that group gets to feel superior to everyone else who that person perceives as not being in that group.

I'm sorry, but I just cannot believe that God would create humanity just to damn 90% of them to eternal suffering.  It just doesn't work for me.  I simply can't believe it, so I guess I'm going to have to get damned to hell along with the rest of them because even if I converted to Christianity, I wouldn't be a "true Christian".

[John Dibble]

I'm sorry, but I just cannot believe that God would create humanity just to damn 90% of them to eternal suffering.  It just doesn't work for me.  I simply can't believe it, so I guess I'm going to have to get damned to hell along with the rest of them because even if I converted to Christianity, I wouldn't be a "true Christian".

I'm with you there, Gabu. I would refuse to worship a god would send people to hell just because they didn't worship him on Earth. People should be judged by who they are, not who they worship.

[A18]

Conversion to Christianity is not entirely correlated to being part of the elect, depending on what you consider Christianity.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

As I recall the number is 144,000 people. In the US alone about 2 million people die every year. If you ratio that up to cover the world population and then figure it on a daily basis it works out to about 110,000 people dying every day. So maybe 144,000 disappearing would hardly be noticed.

155,000 die each day.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/xx.html#People

[John Dibble]

Conversion to Christianity is not entirely correlated to being part of the elect, depending on what you consider Christianity.

Yeah, I know many Christians don't believe you have to be Christian to get into heaven - if they are right then I respect their God and would worship him. My only problem is the 'you must hold this particular set of religious beliefs to be saved' type God.

[bgwah]

I only read the first Left Behind book (unaware of what it was about) and after I finished--that was enough of that series for me!

I heard that the books get very violent and radical after the first several books. I remember reading an article about the last book coming out, and when Jesus arrived all the "non-Christians" had their eyes dissolve and were burned to death.

Not to mention the books are poorly written...Definately not good literature. Just some guys milking the evangelicals for all they're worth buy feeding them with these violent, twisted, and demented stories.

And the books are just stupid. If I recall correctly, the first one starts out with Russia randomly nuking Israel, but "God" (or something) uses his magical powers to blow up Russia's airfoce and save Israel. That didn't make very much sense!

Evangelicals would just love to be able to go "haha, I told you so!" because quite frankly, they have no solid proof that anything about their religion is real.

It's funny, it seems like a true Christian would be out saving people, not jacking off to violent books where all who disagree with them are burned and tortured forever.

[patrick1]

Jesus I agree 100%.  ^^^^ A huge problem that I have with many of the more militant evangelicals is that many believe that all they have to do is believe and they will be saved. That just doesn't cut it in my book- you should have to earn heaven through good works, charity and faith. Be a good person.  The word rapture is never even used in the Bible.  The second coming is spoken about in revelation.  This series of books is just inventing their own back story and it becomes accepted as part of the bible by the ill informed.  Milton did the same thing in Paradise Lost- many of the stories we have of the Devil and Lucifer come from there.

[Bono]

Jesus I agree 100%.  ^^^^ A huge problem that I have with many of the more militant evangelicals is that many believe that all they have to do is believe and they will be saved. That just doesn't cut it in my book- you should have to earn heaven through good works, charity and faith.

Wrong, faith alone is what saves, and not any external act (John 3:16, 18, 36; 11:25-6; Acts 16:31; Eph. 2:8-9; 1 John 5:1).

[patrick1]

Jesus I agree 100%.  ^^^^ A huge problem that I have with many of the more militant evangelicals is that many believe that all they have to do is believe and they will be saved. That just doesn't cut it in my book- you should have to earn heaven through good works, charity and faith.

Wrong, faith alone is what saves, and not any external act

Well that  explains your economic policies.^^^

I don't have my Bible at the ready right now but I could thrown dozens of  passages at you where Jesus commands us to treat each other with charity and do good work. 

[A18]

What does that have to do with what saves us?

[Bono]

Jesus I agree 100%.  ^^^^ A huge problem that I have with many of the more militant evangelicals is that many believe that all they have to do is believe and they will be saved. That just doesn't cut it in my book- you should have to earn heaven through good works, charity and faith.

Wrong, faith alone is what saves, and not any external act

Well that  explains your economic policies.^^^

I don't have my Bible at the ready right now but I could thrown dozens of  passages at you where Jesus commands us to treat each other with charity and do good work. 

Good works are a sign of faith, not a means of salvation.

And by the way:
www.biblegateway.com

[patrick1]

Jesus I agree 100%.  ^^^^ A huge problem that I have with many of the more militant evangelicals is that many believe that all they have to do is believe and they will be saved. That just doesn't cut it in my book- you should have to earn heaven through good works, charity and faith.

Wrong, faith alone is what saves, and not any external act

Well that  explains your economic policies.^^^

I don't have my Bible at the ready right now but I could thrown dozens of  passages at you where Jesus commands us to treat each other with charity and do good work. 

Good works are a sign of faith, not a means of salvation.

And by the way:
www.biblegateway.com

Faith alone= theology built so Protestants could keep their money and not give two sh**ts for the poor.
I also love how Prods throw passages around to justify themselves rather than taking the Bible as a comprehensive whole. 

Lev. 20:13 is always good for a laugh.

My general belief on the subject of fauth and good works

http://www.catholicapologetics.org/ap020800.htm

[J.R. Brown]

I know many of you think it is a myth or story.  But for a minute, imagine it being true as described in the Left Behind books.  One day, millions of people are missing.  What will you do?  Switch to Christianity?

What's your point in all of this? Do you see yourself as superior to others because you are a Christian? Christianity isn't an exclusive club. Jesus died for the sins of every human. All you have to do is accept and believe that he did this. The people who already know Jesus are supposed to inform others of the love of Christ. Not judge non-believers like you are doing. Unless you are a non-believer and are being sarcastic. Left Behind Books? All of the books of the New Testament give hints to what will happen when Christ returns.

No, CHrist did not die for the sins of every human.
Christ died, indeed, for many people, but not all (Matthew 26:28). Specifically, Christ died for the invisible Church -- the sum total of all those who would ever rightly bear the name "Christian" (Ephesians 5:25).

Let me clarify. He died for every human who accepts that he died for the sins of man. And truly believes it in their hearts. So, yes "Christians". It's your job as a Christian to spread the good news, not turn people away from the Jesus with judgemental crap like this. People like you, are the reasons why others are intimidated by Christianity. Always telling non-believers that they are going to hell and that you are somehow superior to them for being a "Christian". No one is righteous in the eyes of God. We all sin. If you don't think you sin, you are in denial.

"You therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condeming yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things. Now we know that God's judgement against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgement on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgement?" Romans 2:1-3

-"no excuse". Paul's teaching about judging agrees with that of Jesus, who did not condemn judging as such, but hypocritical judging. "you who pass judgement". A warning that had special revelanve for Jews, who were inclined to look down on Gentiles because of their ignorance of God's revelation in the OT and because of their immoral lives.

Through this thread, it kind of sounds like you are condemning or looking down upon non-believers for their ignorance of NT revelations and their immoral lives, kind of like the way the Jews used to judge others who were ignorant of OT revelations.

[Richard]

I know many of you think it is a myth or story.  But for a minute, imagine it being true as described in the Left Behind books.  One day, millions of people are missing.  What will you do?  Switch to Christianity?

As I recall the number is 144,000 people. In the US alone about 2 million people die every year. If you ratio that up to cover the world population and then figure it on a daily basis it works out to about 110,000 people dying every day. So maybe 144,000 disappearing would hardly be noticed.

You recall wrong.  That number refers to a special bunch of people that will be doing something special.  Only Jehova's Witnesses claim what you're stating.   I don't believe that.  These special people will consist of 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.  They have a specific goal and have been selected for a very specific task.