if you read revelation try and skip the first chapter (im not sayng that its not important, it is!) but the rest of revelation actually talks about the rapture and stuff, and it probably wont say the word"rature" in it. The word "rapture" is Greek, it will probably say "taken up" so look for that. Revelation is very confusing, biblical scientists cant even figure it out.
I've noticed that the Christian argument in this thread has more holes than a giant slice of swiss cheese, so I'll elaborate. -------- First of all, you guys keep saying that Revelation cannot be fully understood by even the brightest theologists, yet you speak as if you know exactly how the Rapture will happen, if at all. The Bible is often misinterpreted, but you all act as if you know the exat interpretation and you had a book club with the guys who wrote it every thursday. How do you know that the Rapture isn't a metaphorical story? You don't, yet you act like you do. Also, you keep saying that none of us know when the Rapture will come, but you write off that it could happen in 2012. That's hypocrisy. Saying an exact date when the Rapture can't happen is worse than saying you know when it will. ------- Now to yakooza. You sure aren't helping your cause in this argument. Insulting the beliefs of others to try and discuss a point fails, because any valid points are buried by your insults. -------- Anyway, I personally don't believe in Rapture. Why? Because we almost certainly haven't interpreted it correctly, and there is no evidence from a third party source to verify it. The only verification you have for the Bible is the Bible, which is circular logic, which works about as ell as the impossible triangle. It looks possible on paper, but it fails in reality.
@kirby, what I am saying is that because you didn't have a book club with the guy who wrote Revelation, you can't know for sure if you've interpreted it correctly.
Also, yes I have read some Shakespeare. Shakespeare is easy. Ever tried reading Robinson Crusoe and the Divine Comedy at the same time? I just think that for something as radical as Rapture or the Great Flood, we need more verification than just an often misinterpreted book that most likely has hundreds of mistranslations.
we need more verification than just an often misinterpreted book that most likely has hundreds of mistranslations.
Lets clarify here, the Bible is 99.999% accurate from what it originally was. It is certainly misinterpreted allllllll the time but it is not mistranslated. We have well over 7000 ancient manuscripts of the bible and they all cross reference in some way. Ie: One manuscript says: "eyetwitch likes to de_ate people a little much" The second says: "eyetwitch likes to deb_te people a little much" The third says : "eyetwitch likes to _ebate people a little much" From this we can assume that the word in question is "debate" even if we never have it in full. Oh and btw, my example is drastic compared to any misprints in the manuscripts they have. There are no mistranslations in the Bible we currently have, and if there are its the difference between a period and a semicolon....
Rapture? If you ask me, The Apocalypse/Revelation of John is the raving of a lunatic that's gotten high off of belief in the Abrahamic god.
Whatever original meaning the Bible (Tanakh, prophecies, gospels, and so on.) had has been [partially] lost in translation. Languages are reflections of the cultures speaking them, and nuances found in one may not carry over to another.
tgh777: I have read the bible (KJV, NIV)! Several times! And I'm still not convinced of any truth within the gospels. Also, any event can be retrofitted to any [written] prophecy.
Also, the Tanakh consists of what Christians know as the first five books of their Bible; it is the main part of written Torah.
