Issue 102
News: The Rapture?
If you've heard about the Left Behind series, read Chick Tracts like I do, or even seen the one episode of The Simpsons that parodied it, you know all about the Rapture. Apparently, at some point in time (sort of nowish, if you want to be specific), all Christians (or at least belonging to the same particular brand of Christianity that the speaker believes in) will be taken by God into Heaven, presumably leaving Europe a world superpower and America virtually depopulated because the fundamentalists live in some fantasy world wherein America is, in fact, a "Christian Nation", whatever that means, and Europe is a bunch of Godless heathens because they teach evolution in schools freely without being subject to what they percieve as God's wrath (no joke, many fundamentalists claim that rises in bad things in America since the Bible was taken out of schools, despite the fact that these things are not happening in Europe). One particularly notable thing about this idea is that while it is accepted as truth in most evangelical circles, this has virtually no backing in the Bible. Indeed, the few Bible verses cited as "proof" for this idea have a tangential, at best, relation with the idea of the Rapture we have now, if you believe in that sort of thing (which I am not inclined to do). The idea, in fact dates all the way back to the 1800s. Indeed, since the 1970s, there has been a "RApture Industry" for those people who decided to make up the least believable story about what will happen when God finally snatches up the Christians and leaves the world to the "Heathens" in Europe, including the claims of Hal Lindsey, who said that the Russia would eventually take over Israel. What Russia would want with the only part of the Middle East not rich in oil I have no idea. As well, there was one pamphlet which claimed that it would occur on Rosh Hoshana 1988. As you can see, this hasn't happened. The fact is, as much as it looks like the world couldn't get worse, and that the End is, in fact near, the sun always rises, and what things get worse will often cease, eventually.
Band NAme of the Day: Spanish Flu. It brings to mind the aphrodisiac/Eddie Van Halen instrumental and the pandemic I will mention in my film idea.
Film Idea of the Day: It will be a remake of Bergman's The Seventh Seal updated to a soldier returning from WW1 to find out his fellow countrymen, and possibly himself, are dying of the Spanish Flu. He chooses to play a game of chess with the Grim Reaper. After being spit upon by an infected preacher, he loses.
Film Review of the Day: The Deer Hunter. This movie is rapidly becoming my favorite movie, and may even displace A Clockwork Orange. As shocking as it is, it is justified due to the fact that the Vietnam War had a shocking effect on those who fought it, particularly on people like Nick and Mike (Walken and DeNiro's characters in the movie), and shows us what inhumanity man is capable of committing.
Quote of the Day: "Blind faith is all we have to go on. Aliens, now there's something that might just be possible. Everlasting life and big demons with red-hot pokers, I don't think so."
__________Bishop O'Neill, Father Ted.
Link of the day: My New Favorite Timewaster
If you've heard about the Left Behind series, read Chick Tracts like I do, or even seen the one episode of The Simpsons that parodied it, you know all about the Rapture. Apparently, at some point in time (sort of nowish, if you want to be specific), all Christians (or at least belonging to the same particular brand of Christianity that the speaker believes in) will be taken by God into Heaven, presumably leaving Europe a world superpower and America virtually depopulated because the fundamentalists live in some fantasy world wherein America is, in fact, a "Christian Nation", whatever that means, and Europe is a bunch of Godless heathens because they teach evolution in schools freely without being subject to what they percieve as God's wrath (no joke, many fundamentalists claim that rises in bad things in America since the Bible was taken out of schools, despite the fact that these things are not happening in Europe). One particularly notable thing about this idea is that while it is accepted as truth in most evangelical circles, this has virtually no backing in the Bible. Indeed, the few Bible verses cited as "proof" for this idea have a tangential, at best, relation with the idea of the Rapture we have now, if you believe in that sort of thing (which I am not inclined to do). The idea, in fact dates all the way back to the 1800s. Indeed, since the 1970s, there has been a "RApture Industry" for those people who decided to make up the least believable story about what will happen when God finally snatches up the Christians and leaves the world to the "Heathens" in Europe, including the claims of Hal Lindsey, who said that the Russia would eventually take over Israel. What Russia would want with the only part of the Middle East not rich in oil I have no idea. As well, there was one pamphlet which claimed that it would occur on Rosh Hoshana 1988. As you can see, this hasn't happened. The fact is, as much as it looks like the world couldn't get worse, and that the End is, in fact near, the sun always rises, and what things get worse will often cease, eventually.
Band NAme of the Day: Spanish Flu. It brings to mind the aphrodisiac/Eddie Van Halen instrumental and the pandemic I will mention in my film idea.
Film Idea of the Day: It will be a remake of Bergman's The Seventh Seal updated to a soldier returning from WW1 to find out his fellow countrymen, and possibly himself, are dying of the Spanish Flu. He chooses to play a game of chess with the Grim Reaper. After being spit upon by an infected preacher, he loses.
Film Review of the Day: The Deer Hunter. This movie is rapidly becoming my favorite movie, and may even displace A Clockwork Orange. As shocking as it is, it is justified due to the fact that the Vietnam War had a shocking effect on those who fought it, particularly on people like Nick and Mike (Walken and DeNiro's characters in the movie), and shows us what inhumanity man is capable of committing.
Quote of the Day: "Blind faith is all we have to go on. Aliens, now there's something that might just be possible. Everlasting life and big demons with red-hot pokers, I don't think so."
__________Bishop O'Neill, Father Ted.
Link of the day: My New Favorite Timewaster
Labels: Religious Right
posted by DerekAxe at 8:47 PM
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