Illuminati-R-Us

Until reading some of the threads here this is something I had never heard of. I suspect from reading the wiki entry it is a leftpondian thing. I am familiar with the concept, it is the term that baffled me.

I did love:

"Lindsey suggested, for example, that the seven-headed beast with ten horns, cited in the Book of Revelation, was the European Economic Community, a forebear of the European Union, which at the time aspired to ten nations; it now has 27 member states."

Yaaah, Go EU! *makes devil horns*

Edit typo.

What is it referred to on your side of the pond?

So I guess we have a higher per capita percentage of whack-jobs over here.

troubleagain wrote:What is it referred to on your side of the pond?

Usually Judgement Day or similar. The Church of Scotland position as taught in church and sunday school (and remember we wrote the King James Bible :D ) is of a sorting out of people saved and not saved but in a fairly low key way. Wailing, gnashing and rending of garments by the unsaved obviously but in a dour, stoic way. There isn't a great deal of discussion of the mechanics of it, how it works is all part of God's Mysterious Plan. There might even be elements of predestination in there somewhere but I'm not too sure.

I think the rapture is a fairly recent invention of the fundies.

No, actually, the Rapture has been a favorite of wingnuts for a couple of centuries now. It has its roots in 1800s Pentacostalism (a preacher named John Nelson Darby made it up - go figure) and really had its best time when one preacher in (I believe) the 1860s managed to get literally thousands of people to give up their homes, all their worldly possessions, etc. and travel to and wait for to be called home. When it didn't happen ... well ...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ah! Ahahahah ... Ahh ...

Sorry. I just have to laugh every time I think of that. I'd love to see it happen today, but ... well ... it's bullshit.

Scott

Recent as in not of the biblical era.

Blue Monster 65 wrote:I'd love to see it happen today, but ... well ... it's bullshit.

Well, there was Heaven's Gate.

We (my wife and I) were standing in line at the airport when the Heaven's Gate news came on the TV monitors. She turned to me and said, "Imagine how they'll feel when they wake up the next morning ... AND THEY'RE STILL DEAD!" We both broke out laughing, but it sure upset a few people in line with us.

Scott

Enzo wrote:Recent as in not of the biblical era.

There are a number of universities in the UK where "Modern History" starts with the Rennaisance.

Blue Monster 65 wrote:No, actually, the Rapture has been a favorite of wingnuts for a couple of centuries now. It has its roots in 1800s Pentacostalism (a preacher named John Nelson Darby made it up - go figure) and really had its best time when one preacher in (I believe) the 1860s managed to get literally thousands of people to give up their homes, all their worldly possessions, etc. and travel to and wait for to be called home. When it didn't happen ... well ...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ah! Ahahahah ... Ahh ...

Sorry. I just have to laugh every time I think of that. I'd love to see it happen today, but ... well ... it's bullshit.

Scott

I believe it was Increase Mather (of Salem, MA, infamy) in the early 1700's. But yes, the idea was particularly popular during the revival era following Darby.

I just came across this which made me laugh.

Heid the Ba' wrote:I just came across this which made me laugh.

OMFG

But, I guess the idea is supposed to be, Christian workers are less reliable?

I was curious why they cared about the unsaved though I suppose ascending to Heaven in the middle of your shift would count as unreliable to us followers of Mammon.

Abandoning your job in the middle of your shift? FIRED!!!

It's so good to see that no single religion has a monopoly on producing the most laughable nonsense.

Tangentially I love the Arnold Schwartzenegger film where the ancient biblical prophesy has the end of the world at midnight on a particular day. Midnight, Eastern Standard Time obviously.

The universe revolves around GMT, don't you know? Or is it further south?

Frankly, I'm betting on time stopping around 1437 on a Tuesday. No great cataclysm - just everything stopping. Gotta take a nap, you know?

Clearly the airlines fear the pilots' union. If the flight crew is raptured out of the plane, then their shift never ends. Overtime pay over the course of Eternity would be immense.

And it is not just the pilots. If the flight attendants were to disappear, who would be there to gesture vaguely towards the exits, and say "buh bye, buh bye" at the doorway?

Enzo wrote:And it is not just the pilots. If the flight attendants were to disappear, who would be there to gesture vaguely towards the exits, and say "buh bye, buh bye" at the doorway?

The High Life starring Alan Cumming before he became a film star.

Captain Hilary Duff?

That's a hoot.

Blue Monster 65 wrote:We (my wife and I) were standing in line at the airport when the Heaven's Gate news came on the TV monitors. She turned to me and said, "Imagine how they'll feel when they wake up the next morning ... AND THEY'RE STILL DEAD!" We both broke out laughing, but it sure upset a few people in line with us.

Scott

Yeah. I had a religious uncle (on my wife's side) who challenged me with the concept that if I did not embrace religion and life after death , he could always say "I told you so" to me, but I never could to him ... and was I willing to risk that?

I was ... and am. A nice guy, now deceased. I liked him, but doubt he will get the last laugh.

Hard to begrudge him, though.

KLA2 wrote:Yeah. I had a religious uncle (on my wife's side) who challenged me with the concept that if I did not embrace religion and life after death , he could always say "I told you so" to me, but I never could to him ... and was I willing to risk that?

I was ... and am. A nice guy, now deceased. I liked him, but doubt he will get the last laugh.

So has he told you "I told you so!" already? Or is it too early?

http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/Home_Page.html

Just in case t happens, and the animals don't go too.