Is there any way I can construe the Rapture as a conspiracy theory?

[LaraMN]

I mean, it's not a conspiracy in the sense that the overall idea doesn't involve some subversive entity seeking to bring about the end times, but there ARE proponents of the idea that we should allow destructive paths to continue, in order to "bring about" the Rapture.

I need to write a 12-14 page paper on a conspiracy theory text, and I SO want to address the Rapture...

[zingaro]

1. oh yeah there is, actually!

I watched a fascinating special on the guy who *decided* to read scripture in a certain way...

Here's the info I found with a quick Google:

http://journals.aol.com/auntshecky711/aunt-sheckys-news-without-clues/entries/2007/10/23/a-paranoiacs-dream-come-true/2072">dispensationalism

some info from that link:

"According to the show, the Religious Right anticipates the End Times more eagerly than gamers awaited the new version of PlayStation 3. They're not at all worried about suffering through Trials and Tribulations (which are, evidently, painfully in store for heathens like you and me.) That’s because they believe that they are going to be transported directly to heaven by means of The Rapture. The History Channel show explained that the scriptural basis for The Rapture is tenuous, and the notion is by and large a tenet of something called - –brace yourself, Spell-Check! –- “Dispensationalism”, the result of a cut and paste job by a 19th century Protestant minister, John Nelson Darby.
In 1843, an upstate NY preacher by the name of William Miller took Darby’s theory seriously. He convinced a congregation of “Millerites” that the End was imminent. People quit their jobs, sold their property, paid off their debts, and waited to be sucked up into the sky. What happened next wasn't the End, so the Faithful called it “The Great Disappointment.”
So Rev. Miller went back to the drawing board, rechecked the math, and set anew date for 1844. The result? The Second Disappointment. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism">What wikipedia has to say

I'm sure with more than a ninety second search you could find plenty more. What a fun paper to write! Good luck.

edited to fix link

[LaraMN]

2. Oh SWEET!

Thank you!

:yourock:

[gmoney]

11. Paid off their debts?

these people ARE nuts

[Beer Snob-50]

3. well of course

it is a conspiracy in that all these fundementalist ministers came up with this theory on end times to keep their pliable congregation in line. if one were to go with the basic premise that the bible was written by men inspired by God, i believe that we go to heaven if we simply treat our neighbors with respect (not steal his goods, spouse, children, other property, good name, ect).

however that is too simple. we could actually have some fun in our lives. these ministers didn't then and still don't want us to do such things.

[LaraMN]

4. I have to find a single text (by a proponent of the theory)

on which to base my paper.

Therein lies the challenge. It sounds do-able, though.

[Beer Snob-50]

7. you mean the furtile mind of pirate looks at 50 is not enough

many scholars would probably disagree with your professor on that.

[MrCoffee]

5. if you can't, you're just not trying.

[LaraMN]

6. I'm suffering mind-fatigue.

I've had three mid-terms, three papers, and an hour-long presentation/paper project, in the last week or so.
I got nothin' left. I probably ought to avoid thinking about my next paper until my brain's had a chance to recover!

[billyoc]

8. I don't think it's got enough to even make a decent conspiracy theory.

The ravings of some nutter, at best.

[madinmaryland]

9. LynneSin spends a lot of time on the Rapture Ready website.

You might want to pm her!

[IndianaJones]

10. if enlightenment is a conspiracy. nt.

[LeftyMom]

12. Yeah, you have to play up the anti-christ as conspiracy leader angle

The Left Behind storyline would be a good example to look at, or any of the "zomg! The UN is the anti-christ! paranoia stuff" Or any of Jack Chick's stuff about the pope as anti-christ and the Catholic Church as some anti-Christan conspiracy (there's a ton of it on his site, some as articles rather than tracts.)

[LaraMN]

13. Oh! Good catch!

Thanks!
I won't even refer to vegetables or wrestling, in appreciation.

:D

[ChickMagic]

14. Here's something I found

that includes dispensationalist proponent John Hagee who has the ear of the WH:

Dispensationalists are numerous and popular. Well-connected preachers like Hagee have political connections. Dispensational preachers and lobbyists have the ear of the White House and are directly trying to influence foreign policy based on their very questionable theological views, which, by the way, are less than 200 years old. This is more than just a quirky theology that doesn’t affect those who do not hold it. Dispensationalists want to bring about world events that would have catastrophic implications for other Christians and for non-Christians.
****
Lots of info here:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/barnwell/barnwell71.html

Here's another good article:
http://www.founders.org/FJ09/article1.html

Another very good source:

At that time, when I was just a young Christian, the Scofield Reference Bible was the hallmark of evangelical Christianity. You simply couldn't be a Christian if you didn't have a Scofield Bible tucked under your arm---at least that is the way it seemed. The Scofield Reference Bible was edited by Dr. C. I. Scofield, a lawyer who became converted to Christianity under the ministry of D. L. Moody. He studied many of the Plymouth Brethren writings and put together a tremendous set of very helpful reference notes that were issued as the Scofield Reference Bible. He became the great teacher of dispensationalism to a whole generation of people.

It was Dr. Scofield who provided the classic definition of a dispensation. In the first chapter of Genesis he has a note which says, "A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect to his obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God." He saw through the course of history seven periods of time in which God was doing different things with men. He called them: (1) the "dispensation of innocence," which covered the time before the fall when Adam and Eve were in the Garden, in fellowship with God; (2) the "dispensation of conscience," which followed the fall and extended to the time of Noah, when men lived according to their consciences; (3) the "dispensation of human government," which came in after the flood and went from Noah's time until that of Abraham; (4) the "dispensation of promise," which began when Abraham was given various great promises of God by which men were to live, as Dr. Scofield saw it, until the time when Moses brought the law. The (5) "dispensation of law" ran on through many centuries until the coming of Jesus Christ, who introduced (6) the "dispensation of grace" in which we all live, and which is yet to be followed by (7) the "dispensation of the kingdom," which many call "the millennium," the thousand years of Christ's rule on earth which is yet to come. Those are the seven dispensations that many of you have been taught, and as I grew up understanding them.

http://www.ldolphin.org/dispens.html