Rapture

shafique Rapture is a concept in Christianity that fascinates me ever since I saw an episode of Law and Order which dealt with a church who believed in this concept.
In brief, the belief that is before the second coming of Jesus - those 'deserving' Christians who are truly following Christianity will be whisked away and will appear to disappear from earth.
It may be a primarily American belief - but I'm not sure. It seems a bit 'far out' to me - and the wiki entry for Rapture makes interesting reading (but I haven't really studied this subject).
It is interesting also to read the various predictions that have been made for when rapture will occur:

Quote:

• 
  Some notable rapture predictions include the following:
  1792 - Shakers calculated this date.[citation needed]
  1844 - William Miller predicted Christ would return between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844, then revised his prediction, claiming to have miscalculated Scripture, to October 22, 1844. Miller's theology gave rise to the Advent movement.
  1977 - William M. Branham predicted in 1962 that the Rapture could take place by 1977[citation needed]
  1981 - Chuck Smith predicted that Jesus would likely return by 1981.[citation needed]
  1988 - Publication of 88 Reasons why the Rapture is in 1988, by Edgar C. Whisenant.
  1989 - Publication of The final shout: Rapture report 1989, by Edgar Whisenant. More predictions by this author appeared for 1992, 1995, and other years.
  1992 - Korean group "Mission for the Coming Days" predicted October 28, 1992 as the date for the rapture.[37]
  1993 - Seven years before the year 2000. The rapture would have to start to allow for seven years of the Tribulation before the Return in 2000. Multiple predictions.
  1994 - Pastor John Hinkle of Christ Church in Los Angeles predicted June 9, 1994. Radio evangelist Harold Camping predicted September 27, 1994.[38]
  1997 /2009 - In 1983 Richard Schiller (aka Elijah) claimed parallel alignment to all the WatchTower did with the 94 years of the rebuilt Jerusalem 537-443 BC as 1914-2008 AD. In this span of 49 Jubilees (Daniel's 7 weeks) as a 50th it fell on events for every event recorded everywhere in OT which ends with Artaxerxes 32nd year (Nehemiah & Malachi). He felt the events of year 20 equating 455 BC with 1996 AD were more probable an Armageddon than year 32 equating 443 BC with 2008 AD, placing Armageddon in 1997 and 2009 (the most ominous events of the year presumed split for Yom Kippur then Passover. Only Yom Kippur 2009 now remains to fulfill both events.)
  2011 - Harold Camping's revised prediction has May 21, 2011 as the date of the rapture.[39]
  2060 - Sir Isaac Newton proposed, based upon his calculations using figures from the book of Daniel, that the Apocalypse could happen no earlier than 2060.[40][41]
  

(It looks like the predictions for 2009 and earlier were a bit off the mark!
To be honest, I was surprised that people believed this - but less surprised that many Americans did.
Perhaps eh can shed some light on this - he seems to hold a number of quaint beliefs and presents himself as a Biblical expert. I presume that he believes in rapture - because the Bible says so?
Cheers,
Shafique Roadtester There are conspiracy theories about rapture and right wing christian neocons in america and how bush's interest is linked to the middle east. George bush was alledged to have said god told him to go to the middle east to sort out iraq, alqueda etc. Shafique - have your heard about PNAC? (Project for the new american century) senior republican party members were linked to this group. event horizon Shafique, I never knew you were a video game fan boi. Roadtester I think the jehovas witness's are a kind of rapture type cult, they do have a fair number of followers, they keep putting the apocalypse back. Suppposadly so many will be wisked off to heaven the rest will stay on earth. Though I dont know if you can 'upgrade' so you get on the spaceship to heaven? shafique Roadtester - yes I have heard about the PNAC, and its amazing how many of the authors made it to positions of power and how much of what they wrote about Bush et al implemented. Neo-cons get a bad rap these days - but ultimately it looks like they got their way and thus far Obama hasn't done much to turn their 'achievements' around. But let's give him time. As for Rapture and other 'interesting' beliefs - it shows that 'eh' isn't the only one that can draw fantastical conclusions and beliefs from the Bible! Interestingly, he hasn't denied/confirmed that he believes in this either. Perhaps he's already on the 'mother ship'???? :) Cheers, Shafique event horizon The mother ship is invisible and, of course, it levitates. It was actually supposed to be used to descend Ghulam down to the mosque he constructed in his home (the mosque he built to resemble the one in Syria) but apparently Ghulam just said he descended from that mosque and some actually took his word for it. Too bad for Ghulam though. It would appear that his own family thought of him as a con-artist and his wiser followers accused him of embezzlement. shafique But - it appears you still have an internet connection in the mother ship. Is this 'Ghulam' a fellow believer in Rapture of yours? :lol: Cheers, Shafique event horizon Mirza Ghulam Ahmad? Possibly.... He did convince some lost souls that he was Mary and pregnant with Jesus. shafique Ah, I get it - your belief in rapture makes as much sense as a guy claiming to be Mary and becoming pregnant and giving birth to himself. I'd have to agree - Rapture appears to me to be a wierd belief, and yet those who hold it base it on the Bible. I look forward to your explanation of why you agree (or perhaps disagree?) with the belief in Rapture. Cheers, Shafique event horizon Yes, I agree. Mirza Ahmad - a false prophet, conman, was a bit of weirdo. Good point.

1 Dubai Jobs .com The First Place to Find a Job in Dubai
shafique So you denounce those who believe in Rapture just because it is in the Bible? Fair enough - we both choose which parts of the Bible to believe and which parts to dismiss. Cheers, Shafique