From Rapture Ready

[GeeMack]

I've posed my question twice now. Here's the third go-around, kurious_kathy. You claim to be ready for the rapture and your trip to blissful forever-ness. Are you equally prepared to spend the rest of eternity burning in Hell given the likelihood that you've chosen the wrong idol?

Are you too scared to actually consider a reply? Could it be you're just another ignorant Christian? Perhaps you simply overlooked the question. So what do you say, kurious_kathy? Ready for a one-way ticket to Hell?

 

[Roadtoad]

I've posed my question twice now. Here's the third go-around, kurious_kathy. You claim to be ready for the rapture and your trip to blissful forever-ness. Are you equally prepared to spend the rest of eternity burning in Hell given the likelihood that you've chosen the wrong idol?

Are you too scared to actually consider a reply? Could it be you're just another ignorant Christian? Perhaps you simply overlooked the question. So what do you say, kurious_kathy? Ready for a one-way ticket to Hell?

She won't. Kathy is unable to admit she's wrong. She lies.

 

[Piscivore]

What I want to know is this: when the day of Rapture arrives and all the good Christian folk fly away up to heaven, will they wave down to us or will they act all self-important and try to pretend that they can't see us on the ground waving up to them? A bit like the people sitting in first class on trains - they never wave back either.

No, but you can get them to notice you if your "child" accidentally chucks "their" juice box into the compartment...

Just sayin'

If I seriously believed that Christians were going to float up in the sky and leave the rest to suffer, I'd be investing in large quantities of harpoon guns. Come one, come all, everyone gets a turn.

 

[Ladewig]

Are you judging me now?

I'll judge you, too. After reading your arrogant nonsense (such as your claiming that suicidal depression is not a mental illness but rather is Satan cousing trouble in someones' life), I judge you to be a hindrance to today's society. Your nineteenth century opinions about how to treat illnesses makes it more difficult for people ashamed of their illness to step forward and seek treatment.

I would watch out for that if I were you...

And what, pray tell, will your God do to me because of my judging you?

... as only God has the right to do that.

Au contraire , KK. Everyone in this world has the right (perhaps even the duty) to call BS when it is presented in a public forum.

Once again, we see why you are the very worst person to proselytize on this board. Seriously, either leave and send someone who knows what fallacies are or stay and open your mind. Your conversion fantasies are a waste of your time and will not win you brownie points with God.

 

[Roadtoad]

No, but you can get them to notice you if your "child" accidentally chucks "their" juice box into the compartment...

Just sayin'

If I seriously believed that Christians were going to float up in the sky and leave the rest to suffer, I'd be investing in large quantities of harpoon guns. Come one, come all, everyone gets a turn.

Why waste the ammo?

If they're right, there would be no way we could hit them, and any suffering we endured, they'd be excluded.

Of course, we'd also be proven right, that the god they followed was an outright bastard. They'd be welcome to him.

 

[Farencue]

I can imagine KK getting raptured up to the clouds and then all of a sudden being plonked hard on her butt back on Earth.
Then a booming voice comes out of the swirling mist:

"KK you have been rejected due to your uselessness - you failed to convert those sceptics and atheists. Now get out there and try harder you lazy piece of $%^@"

 

[tsig]

What's the difference between being raptured and dying? In both cases you ain't coming back.

 

[Monster Machine]

Are you judging me now? I would watch out for that if I were you as only God has the right to do that. I'm not perfect and neither is anyone else, this is why Jesus came to save us.

Shall I point out your own judgments, now, Kathy? Perhaps you are now getting a taste of your own karma.

I am still recovering from 2 sergeries so getting out again is a slow process but I am working on it. My body is just not able to go and do like it use to. I also think there are others ways to serve God besides doing things that take physical stamina. Sharing the truth with others every chance I get is one way I believe I am serving God, afterall isn't it the truth that sets a person free?

I am not sure what the point of your preaching is, Kathy. According to you, God has to draw us to him supernaturally. God does not need you. God does not need anyone to soapbox on his behalf. Is your God so weak he cannot do anything on his own?

P.S.Do you know who Joni Erikson' Tada is? She is such an inspiration to me. I'm not sure if she's done books on the rapture, but I love some of the others she has done like,"Heaven Our Real Home" and "When God Weeps."

If this is an attempt at drawing a comparison between yourself and Joni, you have more gall than I ever could have believed. Your attempt at a comparison only highlights your self centered attitude.


Back on topic regarding Rapture Ready:

You are in sin and not following your God's words. You are fixated on such simple flag waving doctrine and end times myth. Do you propose to know the mind of God like the others on Rapture Ready? Do you not read your bible?

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

The point is not to be ready when, but to be ready whenever. You already have your bags packed. THAT is why you are being judged by me.

Matthew 25:

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."


I see nothing to suggest soapboxing in this list from the bible, Kathy. Think about it as you recover...

Monster

 

[MIKILLINI]

Are you judging me now? I would watch out for that if I were you as only God has the right to do that. I'm not perfect and neither is anyone else, this is why Jesus came to save us.

I am still recovering from 2 sergeries so getting out again is a slow process but I am working on it. My body is just not able to go and do like it use to. I also think there are others ways to serve God besides doing things that take physical stamina. Sharing the truth with others every chance I get is one way I believe I am serving God, afterall isn't it the truth that sets a person free?

P.S.Do you know who Joni Erikson' Tada is? She is such an inspiration to me. I'm not sure if she's done books on the rapture, but I love some of the others she has done like,"Heaven Our Real Home" and "When God Weeps."

Are you familiar with the term "broken record?" Obviously, You don't think for yourself; Just rewind the godbot tape and play...Again. And again. Rinse, repeat, over and over ad nauseam.
Do you know Bart Ehrman's God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question — Why We Suffer? Of course you do! This "depressed" you.

You go ahead first and read that all the way through, then maybe I'll consider reading anything you suggest.

 

[boojum]

Are you judging me now? I would watch out for that if I were you as only God has the right to do that.

She says, judgmentally. You do realize that the Biblical injunction against judging others means nothing at all to atheists, don't you?

 

[wendyinthewind]

Perhaps the same demon that causes suicidal depression has caused your illness and surgery will not help? Could it be that you have been possessed?

(it is all that prayer asking for his spirit to descend upon you, never know what you're going to invite!)

 

[LisaLynn]

I don't know if this is the appropriate place to post this or not, but I'd like to share an experience I had about a year and a half ago at the Rapture Ready forum.

I was raised in a fundamentalist church and scared to death by all of the imagery and events that were constantly being preached about the rapture. I had horrible nightmares into my late teens and adulthood about these things. When I got to college I was relieved to see that not everyone believed such things and I took some religion courses and learned a few things I had never been taught before (like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John didn't actually write the books they were named for). It was nice to be around some adults who were not living in constant fear and desperation over literal interpretations of the Bible. I remained a Christian, though, even though I had serious doubts.

Around 2007 I started seeing a lot of things popping up on the web about atheism and I looked into it a little bit, but decided that I couldn't imagine myself just not believing in God, nor did I ever want to give up my belief in God. I thought that atheists just didn't understand the Bible and that's why they were atheists. The doubts persisted though, and led to bigger doubts. I didn't attend a church because of a traumatic thing that happened to me with a minister when I was a teenager, but I did start reading some Christian forums. I thought I could find the answer to my doubts there.

So, I went to some Christian forums and started to share some of my doubts and didn't get any answers. No one was mean, they just told me to pray about it and said they'd pray for me, which I thought was nice, but didn't answer my questions. A lot of my questions had to do with the Bible and the rapture and things I had been told about both while I was attending the fundy church growing up. The forums I attempted to get answers from mostly didn't believe in the rapture, so I went seeking one that did. I found Rapture Ready. At this point my questions and doubts were ALL I thought about day and night and it was driving me crazy to not have answers. I was consumed by my emotional state over this.

I was happy at first because I thought I had found a group of Christians who would understand my concerns and help me through my faith crisis and who understood what I had been taught growing up. I mean, seriously, if I had told a lot of Christians some of the bizarre things I had been taught as truth growing up they would have looked at me like I had 3 heads.

Anyway, I made an account and introduced myself, very excited about joining a group of like minded people who understood me and had probably had doubts themselves at some point. I expressed in my introduction that I was having doubts and had so many questions and was having a crisis in my faith. Boy, did I get a big surprise. I was immediately only allowed to post in one specific part of the board where there were atheists. I was not an atheist at the time, but when I asked why I had been put there and not allowed to post anywhere else, I was told it was because I had said I was an atheist in my introduction post. I said that I was not an atheist, couldn't see myself ever being one either, I just had doubts and was looking for help. That didn't seem to matter, no one believed me. I was completely puzzled by this reaction.

I started to explain my situation and asked some of the questions I had and I was told, in a very cold and unfriendly way to 'READ THE BIBLE IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS!' or to 'Read the homepage'. Well, I had read the Bible, I just didn't understand a lot of the stuff I read. When I stated that and started to ask specific questions about things like how on earth could the US be in biblical prophecy when it isn't mentioned in the Bible, I was again called an atheist, told I was only trying to make people there doubt their faith, and then I was called a troll and yelled at. All of this from supposed Christians whom I thought would just give me the answers I needed to rebuild my faith. Then they banned me for no apparent reason. I was completely hurt and torn down inside from this experience. It took me awhile to get over it.

After that I just started doing Google searches on specific things I had questions on and started finding the answers, not on Christian websites, but on atheist ones. I started looking into specific things like how the Bible was put together, lack of archeological evidence for biblical stories, etc. I met a guy online who was an atheist, didn't judge me for having fundamentalist beliefs and started a friendship with him. He showed me dozens of places on the web to find the truth behind what I was searching for. I cried for months because I found out that a lot of the things I had always thought were true, just simply weren't. It was like waking up one morning and finding out you were on a different planet and the one you had always lived on didn't exist.

I spent whole days doing nothing but reading and I found myself slowly letting go of everything I had believed in before. I now consider myself a weak atheist and I'm happier than I've ever been. If you haven't been through it, I don't think you can truly know what it's like to get a good nights sleep without dreaming about nuclear war and the end times events that were drilled into me growing up. I'm a much calmer person now, I've discovered a whole world of knowledge that I had no idea existed before, and I read voraciously to make up for everything I missed earlier in life.

In retrospect, I'm thankful for the hateful, mean spirited way I was treated at Rapture Ready. Had they embraced me and actually helped me, I'd have likely been over there today instead of here. I'd also likely have never known 90% of what I've learned about science, archeology, and history. There's no going back now and I'm thankful everyday that I was banned from that place and that I went to seek the truth on my own and for the friend I met online who pointed me in a much better direction than where I was headed.

I know this is a long winded post, and like I said maybe it isn't appropriate for this thread. If it isn't, I'm sorry. I just needed to tell my story and I've never really told it before.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Chaos]

I don't know if this is the appropriate place to post this or not, but I'd like to share an experience I had about a year and a half ago at the Rapture Ready forum.

*snip*

I know this is a long winded post, and like I said maybe it isn't appropriate for this thread. If it isn't, I'm sorry. I just needed to tell my story and I've never really told it before.

Thanks for reading.

Don´t worry, it was very appropriate. And I think you´ll find that plenty of people here went through something fairly similar - most of us weren´t born all godless and evil, you see.

Welcome, by the way, and I hope you´ll enjoy it here. You may not find all the answers you seek here, but you´ll learn something, I can guarantee that.

 

[CrikeyBobs]

Hi Lisa (or is it Lynn?). Welcome to the JREF forums. I found your post quite moving. To be raised with so much fear in your life is difficult to comprehend, and all in the name of worshipping a divine being. To me this sounds like ritualized abuse. I am very glad indeed that you have managed to move away from that life and that things are much calmer for you (not that the real world doesn't have its share of "tribulations").

Based on what you have said, I have to wonder if it is sheer terror that drives some fundamentalists to evangelise so relentlessly, petrified in case they are found wanting and so condemned to an eternity of unmitigated horror. Maybe I should temper my judgement of them.

 

[Moochie]

I don't know if this is the appropriate place to post this or not, but I'd like to share an experience I had about a year and a half ago at the Rapture Ready forum.



<snipped for brevity>

Thanks for reading.

Welcome to the forum, LisaLynn, and thank you for a very good post.


M.

 

[Roadtoad]

Hi Lisa (or is it Lynn?). Welcome to the JREF forums. I found your post quite moving. To be raised with so much fear in your life is difficult to comprehend, and all in the name of worshipping a divine being. To me this sounds like ritualized abuse. I am very glad indeed that you have managed to move away from that life and that things are much calmer for you (not that the real world doesn't have its share of "tribulations").

Based on what you have said, I have to wonder if it is sheer terror that drives some fundamentalists to evangelise so relentlessly, petrified in case they are found wanting and so condemned to an eternity of unmitigated horror. Maybe I should temper my judgement of them.

Maybe, maybe not.

When you have someone like LisaLynn who's been the victim of the terror, that's one thing. But when you're dealing with someone like Kurious Kathy, who is deliberately inflicting the harm, even though she has been told time and again that she's doing harm, I'd say it's time for the gloves to come off and ass-whuppin' to commence.

 

[CrikeyBobs]

Perhaps the same demon that causes suicidal depression has caused your illness and surgery will not help? Could it be that you have been possessed?

(it is all that prayer asking for his spirit to descend upon you, never know what you're going to invite!)

That's an interesting thought. Perhaps Satan (though most probably one of his apprentices, or perhaps an intern or exchange student) is working through her in order to present such a completely absurd image of Creation that we mock and ridicule it and continue with our heathen lives smugly confident that we are making the right choice.

 

[CrikeyBobs]

I'd say it's time for the gloves to come off and ass-whuppin' to commence.

Have at it, sir!

 

[Moochie]

Have at it, sir!

No. I'm positively sure that Kathy can be a friend indeed.

If we are true to ourselves, we will extend the hand of friendship to all, regardless of what pigeonholes we've placed anyone in.

Kathy, I don't believe any of what you've been saying here, but I'm happy to be your friend, no strings attached. Same goes for your husband.

ETA: I say the above in the recognition that anger is generally about "I," and that there would be no "I" without a "we."

No offense to anyone. I understand some things more than I did yesterday.


M.

 

[MIKILLINI]

.

I was raised in a fundamentalist church and scared to death by all of the imagery and events that were constantly being preached about the rapture.
<Snip> A great and honest post.

Thanks for reading.

There are many ways to control people through religion, and in your case, the ones used the most are fear and guilt.

But at least you have discovered that preying on people's emotions is a way to make them behave like sheep.
You now use the ability to think for yourself instead of being manipulated. Welcome to the light of independent thought and the JREF forum, Lisa!