Official Rapture countdown thread

[Silent3]

Apparently this Rapture thing is supposed to happen on May 21st at 6PM local time, sweeping the world from time zone to time zone, so that most of us get to see the Rapture rushing toward us from around the world.

This is bad news from the unsaved in the Line Islands, Kiribati. They won't be able to decide, with evidence, to get themselves saved until it's too late. The rest of us, however, will get to hear the news reports about good Christians east of us suddenly disappearing and leaving empty piles of clothes behind. We can then decide to accept Jesus Christ as our Personal Savior based on eyewitness reports.

It's nearly midnight in my time zone, which means it's mere minutes from 6PM in the Line Islands, where the time zone is UT+1400.

Soon it begins! :)

[Silent3]

1. That big earthquake should be hitting just about now. n/t

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

2. Woot!

I'm putting the lamb's blood on my door, never mind the flies or the staring neighbors. And some Jell-o on the linoleum, just for kicks.

It should be lamb's blood, right? Hope I got the right kind....

[Tx4obama]

3. So, it is going to happen at 6pm in 'each' time zone?

That old man should be taken to a mental hospital before he scams any more naive/ignorant people out of their money.

[Silent3]

4. Hmmm... maybe God doesn't recognize crazy time zones like UT+1400

I mean, really! Time zones should only go 12 hours before or after UT. Those Kiribatians (Kiribatites?) are probably godless heathens anyway, and couldn't possibly count as a proper starting point for something as important as the Rapture. Just as well for them anyway, gives 'em a few more hours to commit to Jesus and save themselves.

So let's say New Zealand and the Marshal Islands will be first!

[Silent3]

5. You know, I'm beginning to have my doubts.

Trying to excuse the Kibibati thing does feel like a bit of a stretch, and to top it off, it looks like a number of Family Radio employees were already planning on showing up at work on Monday morning.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/19/news/economy/may-21-end-of-the-world-finances-harold-camping/index.htm?hpt=C1

It's almost as if not even all of the people pushing this cra... um, good news... believe in it. :(

I'll try to hold out for New Zealand, I'll try!

[47of74]

6. Warning: In the event of Rapture

This Ford Fusion will not have a driver;

[Silent3]

7. Any moment now...

[skepticscott]

8. One might wonder why

God, who is supposed to be eternal, needs to operate by time zones. Especially since they didn't even exist when the documents from which this prediction were drawn came into being.

[KaoriMitsubishi]

9. They are just covering for the fact

that the bible suggests in many places that the Earth is flat. According to the bible at the moment JeZeus' return "every eye shall see him" which is impossible on a spherical Earth. Hence the need for time zones and a staggered rapture. It is a classic rationalization of biblical falsehood.

[onager]

10. Dallas Raptured! Eyewitness account!

I've been Googling phrases like "irreverent rapture art." LOTS of fun stuff!

[Silent3]

11. Poe's Law for "art"

I can't tell if that's a naive and crappy painting made by a true believer, or a great parody of the kind of naive and crappy painting a true believer would be likely to make.

[onager]

13. 10 minutes to Rapture, and you make me do RESEARCH?

:P

I was curious myself, and it turns out your first guess was right - naive/crappy painting commissioned by true believers:

Thanks to a helpful hand from investigative reporter Laray Polk, I have located the owners of the painting. I have been wrong in referring to it as “The Dallas Rapture,” btw. It is simply “The Rapture” — the old Southland building logo was wiped off so that the painting could represent Anycity, USA.

The painting was commissioned in 1973 by Leon and Ruth Bates, who now run a ministry called the Bible Believers Evangelistic Association (if you’re a Bible-believing evangelical, check it out here). In fact, if you scroll back down to the painting I point your attention to a yellow van: those are Leon and Ruth themselves zappinig up to heaven. (At first, Leon tells me, artist Charles Anderson only painted in Leon, but Leon insisted that he and Ruth are always together — which I thought was sweet.) Charles the painter is now retired east of McKinney.

http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2010/03/15/the-dallas-rapture-mystery-solved/

For the record - 2:50 PM here in Los Angeles, monitoring various radio stations for mass panic, freeway pile-ups, etc. etc. Some stations predict the rapture at 3:00, others at 6:00.

Nope - just the usual. Tchaikovsky, Beatles, and Death Cab For Cutie.

[Silent3]

14. Thank you for the research. :) n/t

[dimbear]

12. My Friends we are living thru history! This is the very first time ever

religion has been used for a con.

[Silent3]

15. I just stepped out of a restaurant in Akron about an hour ago.

The city was so dead and vacant on a Saturday night you had to wonder for a moment if this Rapture thing might have finally kicked in.

Then again, we are talking about Akron.

[onager]

16. Los Angeles still here...

But I found an obscure local prophecy, circa 1983...

There's gonna be an earthquake in this town
There will be houses falling down
The fire hydrants will blow up
The streets will crack
The pipes will pop

It's gonna kill my Mom and Dad,
They are the only folks I had.
But they better not blame me
Cause it's not my Fault...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceY2zAMkCqQ

Off to make post-Rapture fajitas.

[Silent3]

17. Still two hours worth of May 21st left

But sadly well past 6PM in those two remaining time zones.

[Silent3]

18. Well, that's it. No more May 21st left anywhere.

Heck, it's already May 23rd in Kiribati.

See you all again, December 21, 2012. Depending on what happens on November 6, 2012 I may or may not be hoping for that prediction to come true.