Rapture to occur 5/21/2011?

[Tourney64]

Just heard from relatives in Australia, where it is 9:26 PM. All is well there, and from what I understand it was supposed to happen at 5 PM at each location.

[Lemon Thrower]

I don't want to start a religious debate, but I find it funny how people believe the Bible to be nothing but truth. There are other religions out there, and those religions' followers are just as sure that they are right as Christians are sure that they, in fact, are right. As for the end of the world, people might as well be quoting from the Quran, tea leaves, or the stars as opposed to the Bible.

I don't want' to start a religious debate, but i'll hijack this thread and mock your religious beliefs.

i find it funny that some people believe we evolved from apes, or that life spontaneously started from plasma.

[psi]

On the other hand, your reply is no less of a hijack than the post you quoted.

[scrapper2010]

The theory of evolution does not say that we evolved from apes. That is a common misunderstanding. There is strong physical evidence that humans and apes share a common ancestor. Just as house cats and tigers, or beagles and great danes. It's also not a be all to end all theories, meaning it does not claim to know the answer to how life began, that is another field of science altogether.

[Thogey]

That's always what happens. Christians and anti-Christians, start this stupid discussion about evolution.

One line in Genesis, obviously it's not that important or Christ would have devoted more of his time discussing the point.

I'm a Christian and I just don't see why the theory of evolution is such a hang-up. It looks like creation has some sort of plan. Heck all the bugs and animals and fish have very similar structure and symmetry, this can't be a coincidence.

But understanding the origins of the universe and life on Earth does not get your soul to heaven does it?

It does not provide guidelines for civilized behavior does it?

[Thogey]

BTW No Apocalypse in Prescott yet.

[Corsair]

LT-

Have to respond to that. First, I wasn't mocking. Second, I am a Christian. I just keep an open mind. Third, agree with Thogey on this, I don't know why evolution has to be the big issue. Why couldn't it have been God's plan for evolution? That's the theory I run on. The only thing I was questioning was how people take the Bible to be utter truth. It was written by man. It was edited by man in the 300's AD. Man decided what to keep and what not to, just like all the other holy books on the planet. All of them come from the mind and the hand of man.

[Roadrunner]

LT-

Have to respond to that. First, I wasn't mocking. Second, I am a Christian. I just keep an open mind. Third, agree with Thogey on this, I don't know why evolution has to be the big issue. Why couldn't it have been God's plan for evolution? That's the theory I run on. The only thing I was questioning was how people take the Bible to be utter truth. It was written by man. It was edited by man in the 300's AD. Man decided what to keep and what not to, just like all the other holy books on the planet. All of them come from the mind and the hand of man.

I really don't understand how you can claim to be a Christian while at the same time not believing the Bible is God's word and is not infallible.

You can't have one without the other.

[Corsair]

If being a Christian means that you shut your eyes and clamp your ears whenever someone speaks fact just because it contradicts what you believe in, then I'm not a Christian. If being a Christian means that you believe in the story that an Almighty God sent his only Son to Earth to die for our sins, then I'm a Christian.

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

If being a Christian means that you shut your eyes and clamp your ears whenever someone speaks fact just because it contradicts what you believe in, then I'm not a Christian. If being a Christian means that you believe in the story that an Almighty God sent his only Son to Earth to die for our sins, then I'm a Christian.

Being a Christian is more than just believing God sent a savior (that is just the beginning). It means being obedient to Christ's teachings. The New Testament states that even the "demons believe, and they tremble". One must examine their heart and mind and determine if they are a "disciplined one", that is to say, a disciple of Christ.

Are you a Christian? Only you, and the Lord, can answer that. Would Christ claim you as one? Let your conscience be your guide.

Now back on track of this thread. It is UN-Christian to proclaim the day and the hour Christ will return. Says so in the Bible. Look it up. Anyone who does so is a false prophet. "For no man knoweth the day, nor the hour. Not even the Son of Man."

There are verses that lead people to believe in a "rapture". Christ spoke of "twos" where one will be taken and the other one left. This is blown out of proportion, IMHO.

[Roadrunner]

Well, I was going to respond, but Sheikh just hit the nail on the head.

[Neckro]

[hobo finds]

[John_doe]

No one can possibly predict the end of the world. It is beyond human comprehension.

[psi]

Not all Christian sects believe that the Bible must be completely correct on all matters in order to be an authority on spiritual matters. Compare the ideas of infallibility and inerrancy. Some people have argued that the mathematical constant pi is exactly equal to three, based on one particular interpretation of a Biblical passage. I can't really speculate on the spiritual significance of that belief to such people, but I do have a strong belief that it would introduce a large degree of inaccuracy to calculations.

[Corsair]

Not all Christian sects believe that the Bible must be completely correct on all matters in order to be an authority on spiritual matters. Compare the ideas of infallibility and inerrancy. Some people have argued that the mathematical constant pi is exactly equal to three, based on one particular interpretation of a Biblical passage. I can't really speculate on the spiritual significance of that belief to such people, but I do have a strong belief that it would introduce a large degree of inaccuracy to calculations.

Do you know offhand what passage says that, psi?

[psi]

Here is a link I found on that: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/bibleval.htm

"And he [Hiram] made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one rim to the other it was round all about, and...a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about....And it was an hand breadth thick...." — First Kings, chapter 7, verses 23 and 26

The author makes the argument that the passage is not really saying anything incorrect if you take into account the 'hand-breadth' of thickness of the circle described. He argues that the 10:30 ratio is comparing an internal diameter to an external circumference. Edit: I may have that backwards.

[Rodebaugh]

still wait'n on rapture.... . .

Only took 10,000 years by mans hand for the wolf to turn into these two cute critters......you don't think god could do better/more?



don't doubt the power.

[Neckro]

still wait'n on rapture.... . .

Only took 10,000 years by mans hand for the wolf to turn into these two cute critters......you don't think god could do better/more?



don't doubt the power.

Yeah right, 10,000yrs, everyone knows the Earth is 6,000.

[Rodebaugh]

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Here is a link I found on that: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/bibleval.htm

"And he [Hiram] made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one rim to the other it was round all about, and...a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about....And it was an hand breadth thick...." — First Kings, chapter 7, verses 23 and 26

The author makes the argument that the passage is not really saying anything incorrect if you take into account the 'hand-breadth' of thickness of the circle described. He argues that the 10:30 ratio is comparing an internal diameter to an external circumference. Edit: I may have that backwards.

I looked up the site and was enjoying it until he gave the length of a cubit as 18 inches. Cubits exist to this very day in carpenters' work. It is 16 inches, not 18. Go to any hardware store and buy a contractors retractable steel tape, like one made by the Stanley Corp. On it you will find every 16 inches is highlighted in red. You know, 16, 32, 48, etc. That is the cubit from long ago and is still used in some carpentry layouts to this very day.

Remember, humans were smaller then than they are now. So, a cubit would have been smaller back then, too. It is 16 inches.

[barrytrot]

Here is a link I found on that: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/bibleval.htm

"And he [Hiram] made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one rim to the other it was round all about, and...a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about....And it was an hand breadth thick...." — First Kings, chapter 7, verses 23 and 26

The author makes the argument that the passage is not really saying anything incorrect if you take into account the 'hand-breadth' of thickness of the circle described. He argues that the 10:30 ratio is comparing an internal diameter to an external circumference. Edit: I may have that backwards.

I looked up the site and was enjoying it until he gave the length of a cubit as 18 inches. Cubits exist to this very day in carpenters' work. It is 16 inches, not 18. Go to any hardware store and buy a contractors retractable steel tape, like one made by the Stanley Corp. On it you will find every 16 inches is highlighted in red. You know, 16, 32, 48, etc. That is the cubit from long ago and is still used in some carpentry layouts to this very day.

Remember, humans were smaller then than they are now. So, a cubit would have been smaller back then, too. It is 16 inches.

I'm surprised the "cubit" was your point of contention. The rest of the "random math" was not very sensible.

Anyway, according to wikipedia 18 inches is possible as are several other numbers greater than 16.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubit

[Lemon Thrower]

LT-

Have to respond to that. First, I wasn't mocking. Second, I am a Christian. I just keep an open mind. Third, agree with Thogey on this, I don't know why evolution has to be the big issue. Why couldn't it have been God's plan for evolution? That's the theory I run on. The only thing I was questioning was how people take the Bible to be utter truth. It was written by man. It was edited by man in the 300's AD. Man decided what to keep and what not to, just like all the other holy books on the planet. All of them come from the mind and the hand of man.

sorry about the ape comment, i was just mocking you.

if you understand the views of Christians, you would understand it was mocking.

evolution as taught in public schools is taught as an alternative to Biblical creation, not a mechanism of Biblical creation. I do have an open mind and have studied science with the mind that God gave me. The fact that He created a universe which is governed by scientific rules is not inconsistent with the Bible.

The reason why your view is incorrect is because the Bible says God created Man, not that he created plasma and man spontaneously evolved from the plasma.

God gave me a brain and i can see that evolution exists. you need to look no further than dog breeders to understand it is a mechanism. Now whether its existence means it is the source of creation is an entirely different creation.

The Bible is perhaps the most studied and verified document in history. If you are a Christian, then you believe it is at least the inspired word of God.

Jesus Christ was an actual person who explained what it meant to be a Christian. You can't make up what it means to be a Christian and claim to be one. In Jesus lifetime, he read and followed scripture (old testament) as if it were the word of God. He never said it was falliable.

[Lemon Thrower]

btw, there is ample scriptural basis for a rapture, although its in revelations which was a dream of Johns and is perhaps the most metaphorical book of the bible. no precise date is given, so i agree with all the comments that its foolish to assume a specific date. the modern protestant focus on the rapture i believe is misplaced.

btw, the guy who was promoting this did not account for the transition from the Julian to Gregorian calendars. If it was going to happen as he predicted, it would have happened 11 days ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_cal ... _Gregorian

[Corsair]

"The reason why your view is incorrect is because the Bible says God created Man, not that he created plasma and man spontaneously evolved from the plasma."

So evolution is incorrect because the Bible says that God created man, not that God created a universe that, on one special location, developed life? LT, the Bible is the work of man's brain. It wasn't written by God. There are dozens of other "Bibles" out there, all saying their own thing, all with followers just as devout as Christians. Had you been born in India, you would laugh at the idea of Christianity, assuming that you'd even ever heard of it. Your religion is based on the flip of a coin. Where are you going to be born? At what time on the planet? Who are your parents? What is the nearest place of worship and what kind of gas mileage does your car get? All of these things relate directly back to what religion a person has, moreso than what religion is actually true. Knowing that, you have to take everything, everything that comes from the Bible or from the Church with a grain of salt. I believe some of it, because I think it helps me live a better life. Would I deny science because my religion tells me to? Of course not.