cerumen

Well my circle of Christians in no way fits this description. It is hilarious to think you envision us all sitting around wishing for the end of the world. Spend some time in a church versus reading about it online and you would know this.

Og

It's metaphor. World doesn't actually end. It's like the virgin birth story. Spiritual awakening is what it's describing. Unfortunately, people can't see the forest for the trees, so they talk about some weird judgment day or rapture or whatever.

Paul's philosophies (supposedly) were based around his idea of christ returning in his lifetime. It didn't happen. So what. The motivating power of the ideas towards a stronger spiritual existence (connection with the divine) is what it's about.

Og

The reality of this metaphor and how the christians have taken it for denoting an actual event is illustrated in the gospel of mark.

Mark 13
That's the source for the majority of the "end of the world" + rapture concepts. Almost the whole chapter is jesus talking about the end of days.

Rapture is perhaps from Mark 13:20 "...no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose..."

Kind of out of context but that's the only thing I can see about mark's description that would correlate with rapture. But the point is that this text really makes the idea of the end of the world a concrete reality.


The Gospel of Thomas which was unearthed in the last century and wasn't canonized speaks of it in a beautiful metaphorical way.

Starting at verse 113:
His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"
Jesus said, "It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying 'here it is' or 'there it is'. Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it."

That is.. It's here already. The end of the world is an awareness.. A waking up... Enlightenment. Buddha means "one who has woken up"

Who knows which one is actually what it says.. Thomas' jives a lot better with the idea of the story as a guide for life (i.e. a mythology of metaphors).

Anyway.. Thought that was an interesting distinction in the catholic canon and in the gnostic texts.

MickinEngland

Good point, but don't forget Jesus said "Then you'll see me coming on clouds of glory..", so maybe he will arrive like that.
But at the same time we might all suddenly get zapped by a spiritual awakening as you said, in which we'll be like the blind suddenly receiving sight, able to understand the Big Picture at last..

Og

Jesus arriving in some Mark 13 version + revelation of the second coming just doesn't seem to be too much in accord with reality.

I like Thomas' idea of awakening to the kingdom of heaven all around you already. Unlike the way you just presented it mick, individual spiritual awakening is something that the individual discovers as part of their own experience. It's not something that would "zap" happen to us.

That kind of language is just framed around making the myth concrete and therefore missing the point (i.e. calling the finger pointing at the stars a star itself).

rzeznikrocks

Is anyone here familiar with the marian apparitions in Garabandal?

The things they claim are going to happen are really whacked out and have already been proven wrong because they were suppose to happen years ago. This is where my catholic mother got all her "end of the world" ideas that she scared me with when I was a little kid...

I'm not sure what they are preaching nowadays but would be very interested in hearing what they are claiming now.

Geshtinnanna

I thought when Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, that was the end of the world.

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Chapstiquelova

Yup. Its not really like we're counting it down. We know its gonna happen, and we're not afraid of it. Prophecies are coming true. We're presently "near" the end. How near? Have no clue. The bible says NO ONE knows. but we have prophecies that will happen yet. Over what period of time again idk. No one does.

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Fool for Christ - 1 corinthians 4:10

1 Timothy 4:12
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.

John 15:18-21
http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm

Gettin' In Tune

I just pray that my pilot is not a christian when the rapture comes

duck

I will agree wholeheartedly with that!!!!