I've been re-reading a very interesting book by Carl E. Olson, Will Catholics be "Left Behind"?: A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers and am finding a lot of it to be quite intriguing. So here are a few questions here for people:

1. Do you believe in the Rapture?
Absolutely not.

2. Why or why not?
The notion is pure nonsense.

3. If you answered yes to #1, are you a Pre-Tribulation(it'll happen before seven years of horrible stuff) or Mid-Tribulation (3.5 years in)?
... I don't even want to know.

4. Do you know who is credited with starting the modern Rapture movement?
I wish it had been someone who'd died before they could begin it.

5. If you answered no to #1, do you believe in the Parousia of Christ (Second Coming)?
No.

6. The Left Behind series: a lot of truth mixed in with the fictional account or a lot of dangerous bunk that undermines Christianity?
A lot of dangerous bunk. Anything from those sort of "Christians" is dangerous.

7. (Because I know some will want to say it anyways ): Is all of the above a bunch of hooey and not worth believing, whether it's Rapture stuff or Christianity in general?
No. Christianity is fine, in many of it's various forms. But certian aspects of it are "hooey".

8. Those Rapture bumper stickers:

I would answer that I laugh at them, but I have never seen a Rapture bumpersticker. People around here don't usually put religious bumberstickers on their cars, or at all in general. How trailer-park of them.

9. Should the Apocalypse of John/Revelations be viewed literally or metaphorically?
... Metaphorically, like most everything else in the Bible should be.

Bah, I'll just stop at 9 and see what answers are given. I just hope that people can agree or disagree civilly, but is that asking for too much here?
Oh indeed.

PS - I'm Roman Catholic, and only moderately religious.


Beware the Groove