Still here. Thinking about investigating the local evangelical church to see if I can drum up a member list with addresses. They tend to have some pretty nice stuff...
You know, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe most people will experience everlasting life on Earth, in perfected bodies, with loved ones and happiness (after all, only 144,000 are going to Heaven). Perhaps this is that.
The "perfected bodies" thing sounds good. That should be my followup post. If THAT happened, I bet a WHOLE BUNCH of my friends list will have noticed by now.
Me, I've got a really annoying blister on the palm of my left hand.
Um. And, ew. I appear to still be lactose intolerant. Light a match.
I don't need to, I grew up with them (my father's family) and I understand the doctrine completely. If you really want to know, I would be willing to explain it.
I can't tell. I'm sitting on my bed, eating fresh yogurt with local honey on top, listening to my beloved working on a music project in the living room while a cool breeze blows across my bare feet. I think I might be in heaven...
I was raptured for no obvious reason-- it may have been a typo on the list or something-- but when I got up there it was really annoying and with no gays or Jews or, you know, any interesting people at all really, the music was really boring so I came back.
(Any heaven with no Pet Shop Boys is no heaven for me!!!)
(The Doctor says: "That should be '¡Yo!'." Thnidu replies: "No it ain't, Doc. That's not Spanish, it's colloquial American English." The Doctor walks off muttering into his nonexistent beard.*)
I'm still here and had a nice Shabbat instead. Also, I didn't see a single airborne person this afternoon, and no earth-shattering earthquakes or even strong breezes were in evidence.
Weeeellll as it happens, at 9ish Saturday evening I was enjoying a falling water at the Good Luck bar on Cuba St, although as this experience was closely followed by karaoke at a Korean BBQ restaurant, I am forced to the conclusion that this atheist has not actually been raptured.
I'm still here; I expected nothing less. I did have a nice time in Shul today, though, and only got a little wet when it rained on me on the way home after gaming. (We played Guillotine, Year of the Dragon, and Ninja Burger; any themes were unintentional.)
The rapture, as a narrative device, has always fascinated me... I know, someone did that - but, as far as I can tell, they were only interested in the 'discovery of faith' narritive arc; it's a legitimate one, and has a lot of emotional resonance with a lot of people, but it does nothing for me.
No, what I'm interested in is the rapture as natural disaster, and the process of recovery afterwards. Also, the idea that God will chose by content rather than name, in other words He will take the people that do good works and not the people who worship him.
Hmm... and perhaps that Heaven is also, or can be, what we make of Earth, and that the rapture is a catalyst for the transmation... although if that were the case, one would have to figure out what happens to the people who are raptured, presumably in a way that doesn't break the premise that they are 'taken bodily into Heaven.'
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-21 11:17 pm (UTC)as an atheist, I pretty much didn't have a prayer, either.
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Date: 2011-05-21 11:46 pm (UTC)You know, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe most people will experience everlasting life on Earth, in perfected bodies, with loved ones and happiness (after all, only 144,000 are going to Heaven). Perhaps this is that.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-21 11:52 pm (UTC)Me, I've got a really annoying blister on the palm of my left hand.
Um. And, ew. I appear to still be lactose intolerant. Light a match.
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Date: 2011-05-22 02:04 am (UTC)(Any heaven with no Pet Shop Boys is no heaven for me!!!)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-22 02:08 am (UTC)משיח לא בא. משיח גם לא מטלפן.
(Translation: “The Messiah isn’t coming. The Messiah isn’t even calling in.”)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-22 02:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-22 02:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-22 03:03 am (UTC)(The Doctor says: "That should be '¡Yo!'."
Thnidu replies: "No it ain't, Doc. That's not Spanish, it's colloquial American English."
The Doctor walks off muttering into his nonexistent beard.*)
* Anyone here remember "Bumbejimas"?
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Date: 2011-05-28 01:50 pm (UTC)No, what I'm interested in is the rapture as natural disaster, and the process of recovery afterwards. Also, the idea that God will chose by content rather than name, in other words He will take the people that do good works and not the people who worship him.
Hmm... and perhaps that Heaven is also, or can be, what we make of Earth, and that the rapture is a catalyst for the transmation... although if that were the case, one would have to figure out what happens to the people who are raptured, presumably in a way that doesn't break the premise that they are 'taken bodily into Heaven.'
Kiralee