It seems crazy to me that so many Christians are convinced the rapture is going to happen because it shows a misunderstanding of the primary theology of modern Christianity. The primary way modern Christians usually interpret the “predictions” of Revelation is that the rapture is something not predictable. Pastors will say “we are living in the end times “ and act like it may happen soon, but the entire point is that the day or the hour is not known.

This point used to terrify me as a child, worrying that one day I’d wake up and my family was gone. There were many mornings where my dad was outside doing something in the morning and I thought I had been left behind because he was usually up before me and I couldn’t find him. Anyone else growing up in fundamentalist households ever experience this?

Ironically, the entire eschatology of modern Christianity is rooted in a prediction that did not come true. If you read the gospels, especially Mark which is considered the oldest, Jesus is an apocalyptic rabbi. He is constantly implying that the messiah will come to destroy the Romans and save the Jews.

However, this doesn’t happen. Thus begins the centuries long attempt to reinterpret what it all meant. The book of Revelation was most likely written in this context, with the author still predicting that Jesus would return and destroy the Roman Empire. The number 666 is commonly interpreted by scholars to refer to emperor Nero. Apparently there was an idea that Nero wasn’t actually dead and would return. That’s why his name is the mark of the beast.

But this still didn’t happen. Modern Christian eschatology is born out of trying to reinterpret what the book meant since the predictions about Rome did not in fact come true.

I hope I didn’t infodump too much, studying the scholarship of Christian literature is a hobby of mine because I realized just how incorrectly i had been taught by my fundamentalist family and community growing up and have been interested in learning what the likely actual history was and understanding it in the broader context of the time period. I got really into the Mythvision channel a few years ago and that kind of fueled this interest.

It seems crazy to me that so many Christians are convinced the rapture is going to happen because it shows a misunderstanding of the primary theology of modern Christianity. The primary way modern Christians usually interpret the “predictions” of Revelation is that the rapture is something not predictable. Pastors will say “we are living in the end times “ and act like it may happen soon, but the entire point is that the day or the hour is not known.

This point used to terrify me as a child, worrying that one day I’d wake up and my family was gone. There were many mornings where my dad was outside doing something in the morning and I thought I had been left behind because he was usually up before me and I couldn’t find him. Anyone else growing up in fundamentalist households ever experience this?

@robustjumprope My Mormon experience with the rapture happened in 2012 with the Mayan calendar shit. Luckily within my family they did not care about any raptures, but my friends did. I was genuinely scared and took a day off school and went on a road trip with my family. Mormons have a obsession with the history of the indigenous in both south and north america, because they have their own version of indigenous history in their book of mormon. So they believe they are connected somehow to the indigenous ruins, especially the the Mayan calendar. The people at church were talking and telling me "welp, it might happen" and me and other kids were becoming anxious with the countdown.
It's not as bad as my mother's rapture experience since her parents were evangelical. Her parents brought all their daughters to their room to wait for Jesus to take them. They were telling her that when he takes them, all their blood will be left behind because you won't need blood in heaven. My mother had images of the shining playing through her head, haha. It really scared her, which is why I don't think she took the 2012 rapture seriously.

@MeimeiTakuto That’s really interesting to hear about. I do like seeing comparisons of Evangelical and Mormon experiences because there are unsurprisingly many things in common but also a lot of differences.

I’ve never heard of the idea about the blood not leaving, that probably would’ve scared the shit out of me haha. I think my family was mostly influenced by the Left Behind series, so that’s what most of their ideas reflected.

@robustjumprope Yeah, the two like to compare to each other but Mormons like to pride themselves by acting reverent and softspoken, while they scoff at the loud ass evangelicals. Funny that even the mormons would even call them "performative." Although, in recent years, Utah mormons been appearing on tiktok and instagram to be influencers and family vloggers, which would be looked down in the pass, but mormons change their priorities all the time. Especially when money is involved.

the thing they share in common are mlms and competitive spiritualism, and racism.