60 Minutes (02/08/04) 'The Righteous Army' On The Rise

[Wonk]

CBS) Evangelicals - Christians who place a personal relationship with Jesus Christ above all else - have become a major factor in American politics and culture, says a prominent Christian theologian.

They now number an estimated 70 million, have several prominent American leaders, including President Bush, among their ranks and their beliefs are echoed in an emerging conservative movement.

Correspondent Morley Safer reports on evangelicals on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

(snip)

Some find the Rapture a problematic idea in today's diverse society, a controversy the other "Left Behind" author, Jerry Jenkins, understands. "I realize that our message is inherently offensive and divisive, especially in this new age of tolerance," says Jenkins. "But I am telling you this because I really do believe it."

more...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/05/60minutes/main598218.shtml

related story...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=352402&mesg_id=352402

[eileen_d]

1. That is the funniest damn quote

"I realize that our message is inherently offensive and divisive, especially in this new age of tolerance," says Jenkins. "But I am telling you this because I really do believe it."

What's this guy saying, "Don't shoot the messenger, even if he's ready to shoot you?" :puke:

[Wonk]

66. QuickTime & mp3 here for those who missed it

45 M QuickTime

3 M mp3

"You know we see it in foreign countries and we think,
'How can this religious fundamentalism become so violent?'
Well, it's that same shrill rhetoric, it's that same shrill power
that motivates. ... And that's happening in this country."
- Tom Daschle

[Fargin Ice Hole]

70. Bow Down and worship me!!!!!!!

<>

[JasonDeter]

77. This has truely been an enjoyable thread for me and other Christians.

And what a wonderful country! So many opinions by so many who know nothing about what they're talking about. But it is entertaining LOL!

[eileen_d]

91. I wasn't talking about "Christians" in my post

I was talking about a stupid statement made by one man. Sorry you're having a rough time.

[Cannikin]

93. What do you mean?

We're ignorant for not believing in fairy tales?

[DU9598]

2. Please

The article states: "Central to evangelicals' faith is an event that can happen at any time called the Rapture, when God takes all true-believing Christians and children under 12 to a better place while all others suffer the tribulation and are damned."

Does that mean AWOL could just disappear? I really think that would make American a better place as well. Maybe that would be good for all concerned.

[WoodrowFan]

3. Under 12??

"children under 12" will be raptured? Damn, would that be a bitch, have the rapture occur the day AFTER your 12th Birthday? sorry kid, you got left behind. here, have some bitter herbs.

[anti-NAFTA]

34. Why 12?

They just picked a number out of a hat to add some spice to their bogus doomsday stories. Why not 13, the year when according to the Hebrews of the Old Testament children become responsible for their actions?

[drdigi420]

48. i think that is one and the same

keep in mind that these ppl are idiots and math probably isnt their strong point

[Pikku]

67. Brings new meaning to "No Child Left Behind..."

Yikes. Also, I don't get why their bodies get beamed up along with their souls? That didn't even happen to Jesus. He left his body here.

Right?

Anyhow, they lost all my sympathy when they said that it didn't matter what kind of life you lead, you wouldn't be raptured unless you were one of them. Most of the best people I know are not "one of them."

[ProdigalJunkMail]

85. nah...according to scripture

he took his body with him...

theProdigal

[smirkymonkey]

56. LOL!

What if you have fake ID? Will that work?

[girl gone mad]

4. These people would..

drink the kool-aid, no questions asked.

Our founding fathers were smart enough to foresee the danger of mixing government and religion.

[Unforgiven]

13. Yes

but the good lord willing, that won't stop them!

[MasonJar]

5. Please. These are not the teachings of Jesus. He had tolerance

for all people except the moneychangers. What Bible are these idolators reading? They must have written it themselves.

[markus]

19. They are idolators

and their false god is the inerrant scripture.

[Poiuyt]

6. 70 Million People?

What's the population of the US? Doesn't that seem like an awfully high percentage?

[SmileyBoy]

8. I think they mean Evangelicals of all protestant groups.

There are Evangelical Lutherans, Evangelical Presbyterians, Evangelical Methodists, etc.

[salin]

28. I would guess that they are counting all Protestant Christians

as "evangelical".

[Wapsie B]

81. That is exactly what they are doing.

I belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. That doesn't mean we're all a bunch of fire-breathing fundies. Evangelical simply refers to Protestant churches using the Gospels as the foundation for their teachings. No way in hell are there 70 million followers of the likes of Pat, Jerry, and Jimmy.
The problem with all this is that us mainstreamers have been so polite and accomodating to these blasphemers that we've allowed them to hijack the very meaning of Christianity.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Divide by 10, or possibly by 100, to find the number of "true believers"..

...70 million?? When pigs fly.

[no_arbusto]

41. That seems very high. US population is currently 292.5 million.

http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/popclock
Apparently nearly 25% of the US is suffering from delusions of grandeur.

[SmileyBoy]

7. Thanks for the heads-up.

Coming on in 45 minutes.

[CastorTroy]

9. IMO

Bush is not "one of them". He is using all those misguided souls as tools. This is no differnent from Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, they use the same dim people as sources of a nice income.

[Qanisqineq]

10. Woah...

My sister, a formerly very liberal democrat, met a guy a couple years ago and almost overnight became a "bible-banging" (no offense intended) conservative, Bush* supporter. This has led to us being almost completely estranged as she claims I am going to hell. She asked for some of these "Left Behind" books a year ago, I had no idea what they were about.

My husband is in Iraq and she sent him a few letters that made him want to throw up so he burned them. Guess he's on his way to hell too.
:evilgrin:

[Mari333]

17. ack bothering our soldiers with that crap!!

I wrote off my sister and law and my own brother when they called me and said
" we will pray for your stepson when he goes to Iraq and you must be so proud" (they are both nauseatingly overt born agains who owe my mom money but told her they wont pay her back because her husband died and didnt provide enough for her)
I pretty much let them have it on the phone.
We wont be speaking again.

[Robin Hood]

21. Wow!! WTF is that?!!

"because her husband died and didnt provide enough for her".

So there fore they have no obligation to pay her back the money that they owe her? Why am I surprised? Lack of critical thinking and common sense reason is par for the course for these freaks of nature.

[SoCalDem]

46. Mari... You can have the last word on the money

Make sure your mother writes everything down.. How much they owe her..

Some day when there is a division between you and him, whatever he owed her, will go to YOU, or be deducted from anything he would have gotten (same thing)..

Something similar happened in my family.. My sister took out so many laons against my mother's house (she had power of attorney),but one ONE of them she screwed up and the load was in HER name, not my mothers.. We found this out by going to the records department and going through page after page of re finance after re finance (my mother did not even know how to balance a checkbook,.these were not HER idea).. anyway. There was this one loan in my sister's name for almost 25,000.00 and I got a lawyer to make sure that this was deducted from the share my sister would have gotten..She ended up actually having to pay each of the siblings $779.00 out of her pocket..

There was no way to re-coup any of the other "funny " stuff, but at least on that one she got nailed..

[DCDemo]

11. Thing is, the Rapture is a modern concept

And I think "THE number" of Christians and newly-converted Jews who "finally see the light" is 144,000...which isn't very good odds, if you ask me.

heh

[Mari333]

14. The Left Behind crackpots

Tim LaHaye and his wife Bev are absolutely whacky. Their books are a mainstay of BS and they are making a hell of a lot of money off peoples end times fears///and unfortunately promoting our foreign policy which is part and parcel of the insane Armageddon Lobby
http://www.againstbombing.com/ArmageddonUpdates.htm
LaHaye looks like the devil and imo if there was a satan , this is his face

BUY MY BOOK I LIVE IN A MANSION WHILE YOU SUCKERS AT WALMART BELIEVE ALL THE SHIT I TELL YOU

[nostamj]

52. two more 'corporate Xtians'

marketing JESUS!<tm> to the ignorant and fearful.

christ would puke on their soulless faces.

[drdigi420]

15. christians would be funny

if they werent so damned dangerous

[Mari333]

18. There are many great christians who dont buy into this crap

and many who are absolutely wonderful anti war, peaceful people who advocate the concept of Christ as a loving, tolerant, and compassionate empath philosophy that is all embracing and promotes the best and most gentle of spirit.
Unfortunately, they arent listened to as much as the loud bible thumpers who whack people on the head with KJV1611's.
Luckily, I know the bible better then most of them do, so I just shoot scripture back at them and they run away.

[coloradodem2005]

57. Yeah.

For example: Jimmy Carter.

[Jose Diablo]

58. Mari333, agreed

Not all Christians believe in that wacky end times stuff.

That 'end-times' eschatology started around 1800 by the 'Millerites'. I think it was the Millerites. Anyway, most mainstream christians view the end-times as depicted in Revelation as symbolic, not literal.

A literal interpretation opens the believer up to tremendous manipulation by leaders in the church. For example, I have seen church leaders recruit new members by saying more or less "join our group because we are the 'only' approved church that God recognizes". In other words if you don't join, God will kill you in the coming tribulation. I thought fear was something to overcome. Not something to be used to induce people to join. To me that smacks of 'cultism'.

I had a couple of recruiters coming around my house for a while until we had a show-down on this very issue. They left and never returned. Stamped the dust from their feet more or less.

Not putting in a plug for any religion here, just pointing out the tremendous potential of being manipulated by 'well meaning' people mislead by their own church. The pressure to belong to a group is very powerful, and can used unethically to enrich a few. Its not really about belief in a God with these folks. To the leaders, its about control, money and power.

Guard your minds.

[Mari333]

72. I just wish all the non extremists would take back the concept of

Christianity. It doesnt belong to this bunch, and how dare they think they can define it for everyone else?
2 guys came up to me and my friend who were setting up our peace vigil for the soldiers who died in Iraq, in our small town here.
We have all the dead soldiers faces on a sign, and the words "This Price is Not Worth It"
One of the young men looked at me and said
"Have you heard of Jesus"
I told him
"We are BEING Jesus right now."
He looked oddly at me, and as he left I said
"Whatever you do to the least of them, you do unto me"
they walked away looking a bit upset.

[Jose Diablo]

74. You see the difference between the living God

and the doctrine. It is more important to live the ideal rather than just talking it.

For me that is the power of the Christ, in how we are motivated to do the right thing.

Thank you Mari333 for the inspiration for another day.

[NNN0LHI]

16. Thanks Wonk for the heads up n/t

[carrowsboy]

20. Rapture is AWESOME!

I can't wait til it happens!

Me and the Man from Mars are going to do lots of shoe shopping, eat some cars and then go to bars. Cadillacs, Lincolns, too. Mercury and Subaru!

Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody is fly!

[Malva Zebrina]

22. It is pretty obvious to me that religion and belief in gods

is a man made concept that enables evil people to capitalize on the naivite of people , or better yet on their fear of not being able to live after their death, into a political tool.\

People are fearful of death.
they cannot imagine that eventually they will die, like a rose or like anything in nature. They must have the reassurance that they will NOT die and forever be a nothing--they MUST have the reassurance that they will LIVE after death and that reassurance is given to them with religion.

It is just too bad, or maybe even amusing to those who cannot buy religion, that the religion of choice, also advocates violence toward others as a way to gain this life after death.


crazy

[gator_in_Ontario]

23. Watching 60 minutes now...

hopefully it will be like watching the KKK on TV...they will show their ignorance.

[Archae]

24. Not ignorance.

Willful stupidity.

[rman]

89. Point is they do influence policy

Note 60 minutes showing how this Righteous Army is linked to certain big media outlets, ie FOX and talk-radio, cited as achievements. Imagine the money and the political and corporate power behind it.
There may be not as much as 70 million hard-core armageddon-type evangelicals, but it's a significant number that represents a significant force in society, and has a very big say in politics.

They want to get a war on, just like the neocons and war-profiteers. Preferably total and perpetual.
They seem to be fairly succesfull so far.

[Blue_Tires]

25. creepy n/t

thank you 60 minutes for reminding me why i am no longer a christian

[Cleita]

26. You know what? I hope those people do get zapped somewhere

else. Then maybe we can start over again and make a world that could be paradise on earth without the interference of that idiot sector.

I also find it amusing that the people who think they are going to this paradise if they accept Christ as their savior are decendents of the white Europeans who stole this land from the native inhabitants and who brought slaves over from Africa, very unJesus actions. Also what makes them think that Jesus, a Jew, would leave his own people behind?

[moondust]

27. Left Behind = More politics of fear.

"Okay, I'll buy the books!! Just don't leave me behind you guys!!"

[belle]

53. They're also terribly written.

Just piss-poor writing.

[Lorien]

55. I lost a good friend to those f*cking books

He was a sweet guy who, although very naive, I had never considered a total f*cking moron (and a basically evil one at that). Once he got into those books, he just couldn't WAIT for the world to end! He and his wife even stopped recycling and bought a bigger car in hopes that contributing to global warming would hasten Jesus' return (I'm not making this stuff up). They had four children-all girls- who they immeadiatly enrolled in private bible school so that their little ones wouldn't be "left behind". The final straw came when they decided to put down their dogs rather than move them with them out of state (the dogs-black labs- weren't even very old, either) because they wanted to show their girls that animals were only put on earth for our use and amusement, but caring about them meant "hating people" (??!!) What did they get their girls for Christmas a month later? A new puppy. :grr:

[kiahzero]

88. That's horrible!

Also slightly disturbing

[skypilot]

90. "Slighty"?????

Holy f***ing sh*t!!!!

[drdigi420]

29. does anyone still doubt that

religion is dangerous and evil?

[SmileyBoy]

30. OMG, these people are nucking futs.

They're basically saying that 97 percent of Earth's population will suffer in the Rapture.

BULL-FUCKING-SHIT.

[Cleita]

31. Isn't that just SPECIAL for them?n/t

[Mari333]

33. whats even scarier is they shape US foreign policy as long

as *bU$sh is in the WH
and his minions of theocrats and christian reconstructionists
a good take on the end times weirdness and papers studying their insanity can be found here: (Boston U is studying them)
www.mille.org

[Qanisqineq]

32. Just watched 60 Minutes

and I now feel very ill, have goosebumps on my arms, and have shivers along my spine.

Should I be scared? Or am I just coming down with the flu?

[Mari333]

35. Be afraid of them taking over foreign policy

because they are still pissed off that jesus didnt come in 2000 and they WANT to FORCE Armegeddon to happen, believe me..

http://www.againstbombing.com/ArmageddonUpdates.htm

[SmileyBoy]

36. I feel the same way as you do. I feel kinda scared too.

Not for any reason those idiots think. I'm not afraid to die in any stupid BS Rapture. I'm afraid that these sons-of-bitches will try to truly make the Rapture happen if they amass enough power (more than they already have). They might try to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, so to speak.

[Qanisqineq]

40. ewwww, I never even thought of that

I was kidding about being scared (that I'm going to hell or something), but now that you talk about the rapture and all that...ugh.

I am a biologist and, of course, believe completely in the "theory" of evolution. My sister (the one I mentioned in a previous post above) insists I study "fairy tales" and bought me a book trying to "prove" that all studies about evolution are fantasy. I thought I would be open-minded and read it. The book absolutely twisted everything and halfway through it, I tossed it.

[BGrier]

50. Can Bush Order A Nuclear Strike?

Can Bush order a nuclear strike on his own or are their safeguards in place to deal with the possibility of an insane President?

Hey, if it was ever going to happen - Bush would be the guy. No telling what he might do if he loses the election and his fix doesn't take.

[JohnyCanuck]

37. This sort of thing happened before..

Back around 70 CE Israel under Roman rule was racked by various Jewish groups fomenting revolutions and uprisings against the Romans. Many of these revolutionaries were motivated by their belief that the Hebrew scriptures taught that if they were faithful to God a divinely ordained messiah would arise to lead them at the crucial time and assist them in overthrowing the Roman occupiers. They assumed that by initiating a revolution they would demonstrate their faith in God and could therefore expect the Messiah to come charging in at any minute to lead the army of the righteous Jews against the Roman oppressors.

Unfortunately the Romans finally decided they had enough of these troublesome Jewish seditionists and troublemakers and sent in their army to put down the uprisings once and for all. Guess what. No Messiah appeared to be the conquering military leader as they had expected(the Christians of course would claim Jesus was that promised Messiah, but whether he was or not, he was certainly no conquering general which was what the Jews at the time were looking for). Consequently Jerusalem was sacked and their sacred temple destroyed. Many Jews had to flee their homeland to other countries around the Mediterranean and Rome ended up more firmly in control than ever.

That's just like these religious wackos today who are so utterly convinced that their particular interpretation of the Bible concerning the end times and the rapture etc, is the correct one. It is not at all hard to imagine some fundy generals or politicians starting some Mid-East conflagration leading perhaps to the next world war because they thinks this is what Jesus wants and all the "good" people i.e. (the fundys like themselves)will be raptured while the rest of the sinners will deserve whatever hell is left - just like those Jewish revolutionaries were so certain in their conviction that the scriptures promised the Messiah would come to help them defeat the Roman legions. Imagine if those guys had nukes at their disposal.

[SmileyBoy]

39. What happens if they somehow succeed and force Armageddeon...

...and they all wind up in hell to face Satan after they die to face eternal punishment for the Armaggeddeon that they have brought upon the human race???

How will they feel then???

[Mari333]

42. While Safer was speaking

they showed the evangelicals in church, and Safer said "they take the bible literally word for word"
No, they dont. I didnt see any women in the church they showed with their heads covered in that shot on CBS (Corinthians)..
They pick and choose stuff out of the bible to fit their own prejudices. and their own interpretations. and LaHaye is a snake oil salesman who knows there are reallllllly gullible people out there.
I watched the end times crap back in 1998...and the lead up to 2000..I was fascinated by the insanity that prevailed (Y2K, etc) about a Gregorian number..I wasnt alone
Boston University also studied it.. www.mille.org and wrote any number of papers on these people
fascinating reading...especially some of the papers mentioning the ANGER AND DISAPPOINTMENT AND SCAPEGOATING that will and is being done because Jesus didnt return in 2000.
They will blame, gays, feminists, anyone they can because they are mad
I see that happening now.
In 1999 tons of them went to Israel and sat on the Hill of Megiddo and waited (Im not kidding) with cameras to watch jesus and satan duke it out..The Israelis thought they were nuts , but wanted the tourism
even Pat Robertson, back in the 90s said "
"Wouldnt it be great if a scud missile hit the Temple Mount?" (thats supposed to be a sign of the beginning of their Armegeddon fantasy..)
Now that *bUsh is in the WH, these people think they can push their theocratic agenda and destroy the Constitution
I am sorry that Safer didnt have more people on the show in REBUTTAL to these nuts.

[SmileyBoy]

38. Morley Safer asked the question:

(I'm paraphrasing) "There are bilions of non-evangelicals on Earth. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddists, other Christians, are you saying that all these people will suffer in the Rapture??"

Idiot: "Yes."

[thinkingwoman]

43. the correct answer is...

NO. Imagine the earth AFTER the rapture.

Peace. Bliss. Joy. Tolerance.

I'm so there. I want to believe in the rapture because if it comes to pass we'll finally be rid of all the xtian fundies.

I think that if Jesus loves any of us at ALL he will wipe the earth of the fundies according to their twisted scripture.

But, that's just me. ;-)

[SmileyBoy]

44. Yeah, imagine an opposite rapture (from the fundy version) occurring.

250 million fundamentalist Evangelicals, Muslims, Jews, and other cult members across the world have been wiped off the face of the Earth by God into eternal damnation in hell. It would be like that Left behind series, but instead of the fundies and 11-and-under children leaving, it's all the fundies in the world who disappear instead. All the children would stay here.

The remaining 5.9 billion people on Earth then would live in peace and harmony after that, and then world peace would declared shortly after.

Now, that's something to smile about. Maybe I should write a book about that. Sort of an "anti-Left Behind".

:):):):):):):):):):):):)

[thinkingwoman]

49. I want an autographed copy

because it will be a bestseller!

Meanwhile, I'll continue to gaze at my "Come the rapture can I have your car?" sticker and dream of utopia.

[oneighty]

54. Rid of Fundies?

No way, Preston John will save them.

Maybe, perhaps.

180

[Ivote]

45. Shades of Jim Jones

There is something inherently wrong with these people. Just like David Koresch, Jim Jones and the Chidren of God Sect. They prey on peoples fears.

[edbermac]

47. Shades of Jim Jones?!

How about Shades of the Taliban? These evangelicals are frightening.

God in Heaven, please save us from these lunatics.

[AG78]

51. Honestly...

sometimes I wonder how we're able to stay together as a country.

I know "freedom" binds us all together, but some views of the world are so different from another.

I know this country went to war with itself once. What tiny, fragile thread will keep it from doing it again in the future? This whole thing just stands on the razor's edge at all times. You don't notice it until you sit down and really think about it.

If there's one thing history tells us, it's that things change. The more they change, the more they stay the same. But they still change. Could anyone ever see the lower 48 ever splitting up into 3, 4, 5 different countries? Not tomorrow obviously. Some day in the future. That questions pops up in my head every now and then. Nothing has ever lasted forever.

It was a creepy show though. Odd little reality we've carved up for ourselves on this planet.

[Killarney]

59. I missed the show... question...

Do you think the show hurt Bush at all (re-election wise?)

I often wonder if some people who knew about the extremists that support Bush would not support him once they found out about the extreme groups he panders too.

[Mari333]

60. Good point!

My mom is Catholic and she didnt know a lot of radical protestant evangelicals think Catholics will all go to hell and the pope is the antichrist..
she knows now, I told her
she thinks they are nuts. Also, she wont vote for Bush because she says he ISNT a christian.

[napi21]

61. Will the show hurt Bush's re-election?

I thought the same thing. There are a lot of people who believe in God, of all different faiths, that I'm sure weren't aware how different Bush & Company really were. My first reaction to the show was....Boy, ais the WH going to be Pi**ed!

Don't you think this will be perceived as exposing them!

[Bozvotros]

62. Evangelicals is not the right term for these folks....

But the Pugs are hoping they can sell this shit.

Lots of Christians loathe Bush, lots of evangelicals do too, for lots of different reasons. Evangelical Lutherans are especially repulsed by a lot of this "old time religion." And there are lots of other evangelicals, who want nothing to do with whacko's preaching the Rapture, tribulation, glossolalia, being "slain in the spirit" etc, etc. Try and make a Missouri Synod Lutheran worship in an Assembly of God Church and you'll see what I mean.

What fundamentalist Republicans (who are a relatively small segment of evangelicals) have been trying to do, with lots of help from the RNC, is very similar to what Osama has been trying to do. Convince basically normal, decent people of faith that they are under attack by crazy godless infidels who want to destroy their religion.

This is not too difficult since people of faith have been taught not to question their religious leaders under threat of horrible flaming non-death for eternity.

Now that national defense has crashed and burned, the big dividing issue for the Pugs is going to be morality, in particular sexual morality. That's right, folks. This election will bring us, Part II, "Clinton's Cock, The Final Reckoning." Big Dick Cheney may even have to offer his daughter up for stoning.

But if this is all they have come November, it won't be enough and people, even Christians who have made a habit out of it, (to quote an asshole-soon-to-be-ex-President) "won't get fooled again."

[napi21]

63. I hope you're right!

I had a long discussion with a cousin of mine who is a Minister, and a re-born Christian. I asked him why so many people in the so-called Bible Belt would never consider voting for a Democrat.

His response was that they vote with tunnel vision....one topic only!

He believes that the Pub philosophy of reducing taxes to the point where there is no money left for social programs is MAD! People need to judge a candidate with pluses and minuses, and whichever one has the most pluses gets your vote.

I truly hope MOST Americans believe that too!

[Killarney]

64. Good point on the one-issue voters

I think a lot of Christians who would only vote Republican in the past because of the abortion issue will re-evaluate this year. Yes, the Repubs are pro-life, but they are also very un-Christian in many ways (violent foreign policy, lying to get the war, no compassion for the poor, etc).

I'm hoping that many people who were one-issues in the past which switch to Dem this year because Bush is too extreme.

[Qanisqineq]

69. You're right

My family is Evangelical Lutheran. The pastor of their church actually says that the bible is basically a bunch of fables written to teach lessons (similar to Aesop's Fables) with some interspersed true stories. Also preaches that creationism and evolution go hand-in-hand, evolution just poorly understood at the time.

I'm agnostic, but I agree with him about the fables and that creationsim and evolution can agree.

[TheMightyFavog]

76. Ahh, yes. the ELCA.

In this Deist's book, they're really cool.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

65. Rapture...Bring it on! Lord knows we could use the peace.

A few less million close-minded, hypocritical, closet racists doesn't sound like a bad thing to me. Bring on the rapture, please!

JB

[Gin]

68. they can all go...I will stay....and feel good about it....Lord...just be

sure to take shrub and his thugs with him....please?

[dawn]

71. I respect whatever they want to believe, but...

If these people truly were Christian, and believed in being raptured, they'd know that only God would be able to decide that. And they wouldn't say that people of other religions wouldn't get to "go." (I have to admit, I don't know anything about this belief.)

Their belief becomes dangerous because they think they are "chosen ones" and don't care about anyone else. This manifests itself in how they treat the planet...they don't think they will be here very long so they don't care about it.

I agree with all of you....the world would be much better if people like Bush* and his ilk were raptured. How about tomorrow?

[Dover]

73. We shouldn't be arguing with them. We should all be helping them PACK!

So long as they promise not to leave anyone of their ilk behind, maybe we can finally experience heaven on EARTH.

[Dover]

75. Ever notice that Evangelicals run their religion like a Pyramid Scheme?

The only way they can keep moving up the ladder is if they get a certain number of others to join. And we all know how those schemes turn out.

[Merlin]

78. Bibles are more dangerous than guns.

And it's interesting that people who own guns tend to also like to thump on their bibles.

[anarchy1999]

79. What do Tim LaHaye and Rev. Moon have in common?

Both want to "force the spring" of the end of the world thru the NWO.

It's true. I read it on RENSE.COM.

http://www.rense.com/general20/unholy.htm

[digno dave]

80. 'I think it(rapture) would be kinda cool!!!"

Narly, dude!!!

[clyrc]

82. I grew up thinking most people would end up going to hell

MY family is Southern Baptist, and when I was a teenager I finally rejected the religion. I figured that maybe I deserved to go to hell, being so sinful and all, but I knew some good non-Christians who really didn't seem to deserve hell. Put me off of religion for years and years, but now I'm a much more tolerant Unitarian.

The bosses where I worked last year all read and enjoyed the left behind books, which made me sad because I liked one of them ( the boss, not the books, which I haven't read.). I wasn't shy about my political or religious leanings, and I could tell the "you're going to hell" look, because the rest of my family still gives it to me.

[ComerPerro]

83. These people are going to be so stunned when they end up in hell

[Beaker]

84. why do so many who claim to be christians not understand "heaven"?

People always talk about dead friends & relatives in terms like: "I know they're up in heaven, looking down", or "I know that he's in heaven with the Lord right now", etc...
when according to the faith- when you die, you're dead. and you will remain dead until the "last day", when christ returns to do some serious judgin'.

why do so many of them get it so wrong?

[drdigi420]

92. they believe a magic man lives in the sky and

controls everything

why are you surprised at any of the other loony beliefs they have?

[SHRED]

86. Heaven's Gate...

...part II.

[General Discontent]

87. I'm a soldier of God

Jesus told someone, who told me, to shoot you right between the eyes, Infidel MotherFucker. Puhleez...... retards.



DWolfman