Another of those daft biblical apocalypse stories.
September 23 is set to mark the beginning of the apocalypse, according to several conspiracy theorists and Christian doom-mongers.
The ‘Rapture’, set out in the Book of Revelation, will see ‘worthy’ Christians lifted into heaven by Jesus, while those remaining will be left to face the end of the world.
Now, an apocalyptic theory known as Revelation 12 Sign, predicts the Rapture will soon be fulfilled with the appearance of ‘a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.’
I recall a similar story a couple of years ago from someone saying something pretty similar. We all got up and went to work the following day. I wonder what happened to him? Anyway, I have no plans to cancel my diary for September 24th. After all, we are expected to believe that a bunch of Bronze Age goat herds were so prescient that they could predict the future thousands of years back to the accuracy of 24 hours and allowing for changes from one calendar type to another. It’s bollocks, of course. As is most of the Bible. Best ignored – or at most, laughed at for its idiocy.
Conspiracy theorists think an astronomical alignment involving the constellations Leo and Virgo, along with various other planets will fulfill this prophecy word-for-word.
Some people will believe anything…
I think a more pertinent question is; why do these bible crawlers and Jeremiahs want the world to end? Can’t they cope with the mundane simple truths of ordinary life?
Just like a lot of people believed the EU was good for this country and it’s way of life.
They’re already saying today bombing was a false flag. They’ll beleive any old shite
Cretins
“September 23 is set to mark the beginning of the apocalypse”. Typical. I’ve just put my savings into a 5 year bond!
You made me laugh Penseivat. Only a Briton would say “Typical. I’ve just …”
They are the gift that keeps on giving these guys are they not? Mr. Jesus did state quite clearly that the second coming would occur within the lifetime of some of his listeners. Ever since it failed to happen there have been prophets of doom predicting the end. There is a priceless video of one of the followers of Harold Camping looking totally bewildered that that the world is still here the day after Camping said it would be gone. This was a bit inconvenient for the bloke as he had given Camping all of his money.
Meh. Another group of people who can’t be bothered to read the New Testament. It is written clearly no one will know when the second coming will happen. The Orthodox Christian Church, the oldest and most true to the Christian tradition. Unsurprisingly not well known in the west, has very strong reservations about the Book of Revelations which even to learned Biblical Scholars is a very difficult book to interperate fully, if at all. Science tells us the Earth will be destroyed in about 4.5 billion years, I think that is probably the most accurate prediction. If people spent more time following the creeds of tolerance, compassion and humility as taught by Christ ( note, not necessarily the Catholic or Protestant Church ) they would garner far more respect for a religion now under seige.
The supposed teachings of Christ are a very mixed bag. Most of his advice was impractical to the point of absurdity. Regarding tolerance, compassion and humility, you have to do some pretty ruthless cherry picking to find anything much in favour of those.
As for the Bible as a whole, it is a collection of writings by various primitive and ignorant tribes about their beliefs, their history and their superstitions, nothing more. These people didn’t have any special knowledge that gave them amazing insights into the distant future.
You’d have to be pretty gullible to believe that they did. Oh…. There’s an awful lot of gullible people out there. 🙂
If you say so. However religion has been used as a way to control populations for thousands of years. The King James Bible is a propaganda re write of an earlier version in Latin of a translation from Hebrew and then Greek, both languages having subtle and not so subtle differences and interpretations to Latin. The Emporer Constatine decided to make the message of Jesus Christ the Roman State religion. If anyone believes he had a conversion a la St. Paul I’ve a knackered set of Suzuki GS 1000 pistons to sell you at bargain basement prices ( A grand each to you guv. ).If you cant
murder them into submission then turn their creed to your or the state’s advantage. What ever you wish to believe it cannot be denied that the Christian religion did have an immense positive influence on the evolution of European and Western civilisation. Whether that pleases you is neither here nor there because it certainly wasn’t Islam.
Bargain!
What you have just said explains precisely why it is not the word of God as claimed. You will be aware of course that idioms do not translate well, so something that makes perfect sense in one language is meaningless when translated. This is the work of men – translated twice and heavily edited into the bargain, so something that might provide some anthropological insight it may be, but something to live one’s life by, definitely not and as for predictions for the future; laughable. Primitive bollocks.
As for religion as a whole, mankind seems to need the fantastical to believe in. As Christianity’s influence has waned others have taken its place – the church of climatology and more recently the altar of public health and tobacco control. Both rely on shoddy research, absurd assertions and blind faith. They seem to be doing rather well among the gullible and easily led.
A very latew thought. How is someone of the 21st century be able to comprehend the mindset of someone from millenia past? Our absolutes are so different that what was comprehended then, cannot be seen in the same light now.
I’m not convinced that the ability to see into the distant future was part of it though.
Neither am I.
The Bible isn’t entirely or possibly even mostly rubbish. I made that claim in a hotel during a family holiday and to prove it I opened Gideon at random and read “The path of the lazy man is beset by thorns”. Which it is, a fact that took the wind out of my sails and got an ironic cheer from wife and progeny since my own laziness is a byword.
That’s the key to mythology. It isn’t fact but can sometimes be true or at least indicate a truth, often quite a profound one.
You state that you made the claim: The bible isn’t entirely or possibly even mostly rubbish, from which point your anecdote makes no sense.
You can read into these myths and prophesies whatever you want to – they are so vaguely written they can be interpreted, which is what charlatans do for the benefit of the easily led.
There is some archaeological evidence to support some of the historic events. Otherwise it’s just Bronze Age bollocks.
Furthermore, assuming that you actually intended to prove that the Bible is entirely or mostly rubbish, a single random rubbish quote wouldn’t come remotely close to proving either proposition. One random good quote disproves that the Bible is entirely rubbish, but not that it is mostly rubbish.
Yes, good point.
As one of the few people who has read the whole thing from cover to cover, I can confirm that it is indeed mostly rubbish. The book of Ecclesiastes has some good bits in it, chapter three got made into a pop song and I think it is chapter nine that has a bit about making the best of your life because you only get one shot at it.
The Byrds.
it’s true, I tell ya.
And as a charitable gesture, I’ll buy your house and all your worldly goods for twenty quid. You can buy a bottle of whisky and deaden the pain of the end of the world.
What’snot to like, eh?
They’re getting a bit disappointing, aren’t they, these End of the World scenarios? Every time some significant date crops up, I mark it in my diary, get out and dust off my tinfoil hat, buy in all the tinned food I can lay my hands on, say a weepy goodbye to all my loved ones, and climb up onto the roof and sit there all night waiting for the Big Bang, or the Second Coming, or the Rapture (why do all these scenarios always have such rude names?) And there I still am the next morning, wet, cold and wrapped in a blanket looking ever-so-slightly silly as my neighbours start emerging and wondering what the hell I’m doing up there. Again. Then I have to live off tinned food for the next three months to use it all up ….