Fantastic, yes. If we are all agreed upon the definition that is.

— adj
1. strange, weird, or fanciful in appearance, conception, etc
2. created in the mind; illusory
3. extravagantly fanciful; unrealistic: fantastic plans
4. incredible or preposterous; absurd: a fantastic verdict
5. informal very large or extreme; great: a fantastic fortune ; he suffered fantastic pain
6. of, given to, or characterized by fantasy

Holy Lord here comes a Rapture, or is it just a solar climax. The END IS NEAR, so REPENT or prepare for the worse. One or the other or both. The Four horse men will ride, so prepare or get REAPED, about the same as getting F'd. 😈
I'm sorry but I've been sailing with Captain Morgan, again.

LOL!

Same problem here only with Bushmills 18 yrs.
Clear sailing to you Cap'n.

Antsy

Just to clarify Antsy. They will probably be stuck with us sinners...

Try to find "The Rapture" in the bible. It isn't in any authorized editions except by one C.I. Scofield an evangelical minister. He put the story into his version and it was widely published at the turn of the last century so many american congregations didn't realize it was only authorized by himself.

Look through Revelations in any good ol' King James Version and you won't find a reference to bodies being carried up into the sky. My co-worker and friend has a doctorate in Theology and teaches religious studies in the evenings at a local college; it was a topic that came up in a long car ride this week.

So I hope that we can all get along when we need to and work together regardless of whom we burn our incense for.

Perhaps you should read the rest before claiming such things.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 (KJV)

14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Fantastic...

@ Dang' - could it be that this "event" already happened and that the numbers were so small (among the living and dead) that no one actually noticed? The self righteous stay that way and the ignorant ever remain???

We all have our views. That is what is great about a "free society". Lets keep it that way. I have seen some offensive material on Christianity as well as other religions. I would never want someone to feel as though they could not say what they want as long as it does not incite violence. People believe what they want and its as simple as that. Converting people IMO is a little off in though. I believe that someone reads and then accepts or denies God. Someone coming forward to an alter to be saved is almost like getting the degree before taking the class. If there is no understanding of what or who God is then accepting him is usually done on guilt or emotion build up by a well designed sermon.

Lucifer knew God and did not love Him, but hated Him. So nothing can ever be done for Lucifer. Men who hate God, do not know Him, and you can not truly hate someone you do not even know. You can only hate what you think they are, not what they truly are.

Most men that claim to hate God, only hate the idol that they have built in the own mind. If they can come to know Jesus, they will come to love Him.

But the same is true about love. We can not truly love someone we do not truly know. For we can only love what we think they are, NOT what they truly are. This is the problem with so many professing Christians. The do not love God, because they do not truly know Him. They only love what they THINK He is. But that is not worshiping God, but it is IDOLATRY. For when we do that, we are loving the god we have formed in our own minds.

IDOLATRY IS THE GREAT SIN OF THE CHURCH, JUST AS IT WAS THE GREAT SIN OF ISRAEL.

Crybaby - where in any post do I see anything about "hating God".

I CHOOSE not to believe, that is my right, my opinion and you have NO right to judge me as I choose not to pass judgement on you.

If you choose to believe that I live in "GREAT SIN" because of my choice, then obviously you don't understand faith nor religion and simply use it as an excuse to be excused.

~Make it a great day!

AlbertaPrepper

Man up.

You sound like a little sissy.

Isn't it strange how once some are questioned by others who don't agree with them they fall back on name calling. AP is right there is no mention of anyone hating God. Sometimes we read what we want to read not what is written. Even so no need to stoop so low as name calling.

i feel like im reading a transcript of the peace talks between israel and palestine.

I CHOOSE not to believe, that is my right, my opinion and you have NO right to judge me as I choose not to pass judgement on you.

AlbertaPrepper

I go to church. I believe in God even if I don't have all the answers. I try to live my life according to these principles.

If others don't believe then fine - whatever, I've got other things to worry about then whether somebody I've never met believes what I believe.

Now, there ARE obnoxious, aggressive atheists who are not content to simply not believe. Asshats like Chris Hitchens and Bill Maher. They must insult and attack Christians at every opportunity. (I notice they tend to shut up when groups of Muslims are around.) Then they have the nerve to say that Christians are ramming THEIR beliefs down people's throats.

I'm certain Christopher Hitchens and Bill Maher have had some unusual things shoved down their throats but beliefs aren't one of them.

Guys like Alberta prepper, I don't have a problem with.

~Make it a great day!

You too.

i feel like im reading a transcript of the peace talks between israel and palestine.

The rockets and mortars would have been flying about page 2 .....

Perhaps you should read the rest before claiming such things.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 (KJV)

14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

This is a long response and is in direct response to the Rapture... not religion.

First off;
I actually do believe in a god (not saying which one) and I'm also pretty sure that whatever my beliefs, The Jesus had a lot of good instructions for all of us, regardless of faith/lack thereof. So did Buddha and Mom Theresa.

To clarify;
The quote from Thessalonians is a misinterpretation of what was a common literary device of the time. Stories of going out to meet someone was a reference to welcoming someone to your home/city/group. Welcoming is the key part here; think of it like a red carpet invite to someone very important. This image is apparently so common in literature of the time that they didn't have to spell it out.

In this story; when Jesus comes back, people will go out to greet him in joy and celebration... and then they go where? Do they sit floating around in the sky forever? Probably not. The story doesn't say because it doesn't have to. They would probably all return from whence they came, bringing Jesus with them down to Earth as that was where he was going in the first place. They were only going to meet him it says. There is no suggestion in the writings that they will all float away and be safe while the rest of us burn in pools of lava. Keep in mind, this was written at a time when the Christians were being scattered and hunted by Rome; they needed an uplifting message of hope from their leader. "Jesus will come back to us and we will overcome" etc...

I again point out;
Thessalonians is not connected to Revelations by any other scholar in the past 2000 years except by Mr Scofield and the subsequent evangelical fundamentalists who quote him. I therefore find little evidence to suggest that I must believe in a "Rapture" in order to be a good Christian (if I wanted to be one of course). The Rapture is one of those stories that give the rest of religion a bad sci-fi angle.

Think about it;
Why exactly would Jesus, the guy who was willing to save the worst sinners of his time; prostitutes and tax-collectors, suddenly change his entire doctrine of forgiveness and salvation? Would he simply write off 6 billion ppl to be tortured for all eternity because they don't share a particular school of American-Centric religious belief. This is not simply strange, it's absurd. It is the polar opposite of everything previously attributed to the dude prior to this writings of this Scofield wanker.

(I say american-centric since you pretty much have to be a mormon, an evangelical fundamentalist, or a FOX celebrity to be invited to the Rapture party.)

So, I'm sorry to disappoint you; I'm not a hate-filled atheist. I just prefer to think that Antsy and I will not be alone when the end approaches. In whatever form it takes. I'm also pretty sure we'll be able to deal with any sin that arises within any group we have through an objective and fair application of justice with the resources that are available at the time and based on the seriousness of the sin.

Option B;
If you take every word of every line in the entire bible as literal truth; I got no argument for you and I simply say, "Yes, you are correct in absolutely everything. Everything you believe is the truth".
Just let me back away slowly please. No need for pliers or fire.
Don't worry about anymore discussions or conversations bothering you.
I have no reference point with which to have further human interaction with you. No insult implied but I simply wouldn't know where to start.

I am a non-believer, I don't call myself an Athiest or Agnostic, I just don't believe in a "God"
AlbertaPrepper

This is from wiki page on agnosticism:

"an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in the existence of a deity or deities, whereas a theist and an atheist believe and disbelieve, respectively"
Based on this definition your statement is kind of confusing. You either believe that God exists and that makes you a religious person, you believe that God doesn't exist and you're an atheist or you don't care and that makes you an agnostic.

Not that it matters too much, agnostic, atheist , muslim, budhist, scientologist, christian of any confession or anything else out there, I really don't care. Relation between an individual and God or absence of it, is something very personal and none of my business. I only care about my relationship with God. And I would rather deal with a rational atheist or agnostic than with a religious fundamentalist. Because of that I believe in secularism, the separation between the religion and state. History proves that this works better for mankind. Also I think this is what Jesus meant when he said "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God, what belongs to God". Since we are on this subject I want to say that I would never join any group that doesn't have secularism and religious tolerance as a basic principle. In an SHTF situation the last thing I will need is a religious nuts telling me that I'm a sinner and the world is ending because of me.

Since we are talking about sins I would like to remind everybody about a sin that is mostly ignored and underestimated: pride. Pride is the primordial sin, the original sin, the reason why lucifer was thrown out from Heavens and is the sin that all the other sins are coming from. People are today proud of everything, their knowledge, their possessions, their children and family and so on. It makes it harder to explain a kid why you are not proud of him when he hears "I'm proud of you" everywhere. People are even proud of things that they have done nothing about like their nationality. It's obvious why people are falling into this sin since they are working hard to get everything they have but they forget that everything we have comes from God. But the worst pride of all is religious pride. That is what Jesus is talking about in the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax-Collector. It affects religious people who put themselves above the others because of their virtuous life. The opposite of pride is the virtue of humility. It won't hurt us to feel less proud and more humble from time to time.

May God be with you whether you believe or not.