Debunking the Rapture

[Why Syzygy]

x-post from Political Video forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=385

I recommend reading the thread, but if you want to skip it, the youtube is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frqIH5eATWg

This is where the Rapture lie originated (in the 1820s):
On one particular evening, the power of the Holy Spirit was said to have rested on a Miss Margaret Macdonald while she was ill at home. She was dangerously sick and thought she was dying. In spite of this (or perhaps because she is supposed to have come under the “power” of the spirit) for several successive hours she experienced manifestations of “mingled prophecy and vision.” She found her mind in an altered state and began to experience considerable visionary activity.

The message she received during this prophetic vision convinced her that Christ was going to appear in two stages at His Second Advent, and not a single occasion as most all people formerly believed. The spirit emanation revealed that Christ would first come in glory to those who look for Him and again later in a final stage when every eye would see Him. This visionary experience of Miss Macdonald represented the prime source of the modern Rapture doctrine as the historical evidence compiled by Mr. MacPherson reveals.

ETA: Belladonna was at one time a popular prescription for all types of illnesses. There's a more contemporary example of other visions having come during it's influence (Bill Wilson). I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Ms. Macdonald weren't under the influence when she received her "prophecy".

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Its a minimally held position

With little to no support

[tanyev]

2. Interesting.

I knew the Rapture was a crock o' crap, but I hadn't heard those details before. It reminds me of a children's book I just read, The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau. In the story a woman was seeing visions, but she was so incapacitated (stroke, maybe?) that she needed constant care. Another woman took it upon herself to interpret all the mutterings of the first woman, and she whipped the town into quite a state of fear about what they should and shouldn't do. It was quite satisfying when the first woman finally regained consciousness and could tell everyone that her "interpreter" was full of shite.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

3. There was a lot of weird shit happening in the 1820's and 1830's

A sort of religious revival that spawned weird Christian sects like Mormonism. (Before anyone flames me, I grew up Mormon and know just how weird it is firsthand)

The things that are alleged to have happened to people during those times is remarkably similar to the manifestations of mental illness or drug use.

BTW - your first link goes to the vid forum itself instead of to the actual thread. Maybe that was intended, but I wanted to point it out.

[Why Syzygy]

4. Thanks.

Not intentional.

Here it is:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x278196

[jody]

5. How can you debunk or disprove something that can't be proven in the first place? I've never seen a

single "supernatural event or activity" proved in the sense of scientific proof and I thought it was generally accepted that such things could not be proved.

If that's true, wouldn't the corollary also be true that claims of "supernatural events or activities" can not be disproved?

[struggle4progress]

6. Barbara Rossing (Wittenburg Door Interview)

by Amy C. Thoren
Issue #202, November/December 2005

... DOOR: Martin Luther said Scripture has a wax nose. You can twist it any way you want.
ROSSING: As we see in the story of Jesus' temptation, even the devil can quote Bible verses.
DOOR: What precisely are you trying to expose about the Book of Revelation?
ROSSING: The word revelation is the word apocalypse, which means unveiling or exposing. The Book of Revelation exposes the oppression and domination of the Roman Empire for first century Christians. The question for today is, "What needs exposing in our culture?" In my view, it is the violent and dangerous "gospel" of books like Left Behind that leads to war and an eagerness for Armageddon ... http://archives.wittenburgdoor.com/archives/rossing.html

[Why Syzygy]

7. The fear...

induced by the rapture readies is heartbreaking.
I see in my mother's eyes. I reassure her as often as I can.
She knows I read. So many don't.