It is wonderful, isn’t it. I go offline for a few days and the wonderfully strange concoction of people who make up our fair planet feel safe to come and comment here. Amazing.<\/p>\n

Just over a week ago<\/a>, I wrote a post looking at the insanity<\/strike> alternate world view that makes up a Bravenet board called “Rapture in the Air.” This seems to have resulted in a massive amount (for this blog anyway) of responses – oddly aimed at the related Shelly Corbitt post<\/a> – including ones from the supposed founder of Rapture in the Air. They are almost as funny as the board. However, the pinnacle (for me anyway) of unintentional humour came in the form of a comment from Rita Cosby. I liked this so much, I felt the need to fisk<\/a> it in full in a new post. Here goes…<\/p>\n

WOW\u2026.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you. We aim to impress.<\/p>\n

you guys really are prejudice toward Christians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, actually no. We aren’t even prejudiced against Christians. Generally speaking we are happy to challenge any line of nonsense, whatever its source. There is, of course, a larger amount of posts here looking at the illogical nonsense Christians throw about like chaff. The reason for this is not that we hate Christians more than any other fantasy<\/strike> religion, but we live in a Christian nation. The madness of Christianity actually has a direct impact on our day to day lives. It is basically, shoved down our throats on a regular basis so of course, it is going to get the most attention here. We have tried to include all religions though, and if you were actually bothered to spend more than a second looking you would see this. However, I suspect you have simply come here with this idea because some one in your religious group told you it was true, and you are conditioned not to question…<\/p>\n

What if you find out in the near future that what your read at this site [assumed to mean RITA<\/a><\/em>] is true, do you realize that by then it will be to late to repent and all of you will have to go through the tribulation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An interesting variation on Pascals Wager. Interesting yet equally flawed. I do not for one second doubt that there is the possibility that the erm, future described on Rapture in the Air might come true. However, this possibility has to be weighed up against the possibility that the world will end in Ragnarok. What if you<\/strong> find out in the “near future<\/em>” that the Giants have attacked Asgard and it is too late for you to take your place by Odin’s side in the final battle?<\/p>\n

The future you anticipate is but one of an infinite number of possibilities. The chances of it happening are basically 1 divided by infinity. I am more likely to repeatedly win the lottery every week from now until the day I die.<\/p>\n

Now, I am sure that the good fundies can simply refute any other end of times myth on the basis that the Bible tells them their one is true. However, this is poor reasoning. Even without having to worry about the Bible’s accuracy, the fact remains that “rapture” obsessed Christians are a minority of your own religion – most Christians do not believe in this nonsense, so it can’t really be viewed as doctrinally sound.<\/p>\n

Of course, you will still have one more opportunity to give your life to Christ, if of course you live through the chaos and destruction that will take place during the 7 years of tribulation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Phew. I was worried things would get bad. If you die in the tribulation what happens? If you die before the rapture what happens? What has happened to the countless millions of people who were born and died before the “Born again” cult took off?<\/p>\n

I just thought I would give you a heads up folks, you can either take or leave my advice,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ll leave it, but thanks anyway.<\/p>\n

but ignoring Jesus and His free gift of salvation you are in for eternal life separated from God in a place call hell\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Where is this “place call hell?” Can you point to it on a map?<\/p>\n

this will not be a very nice place to be, especially for all eternity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, this brings me to another point of interest. You claim to worship a loving, caring deity who has, basically, pushed the forgiveness idea quite strongly. There is a two thousand year tradition of your deity granting all humanity with free will and the right to choose their own actions. The New Testament is a tribute to forgiving those who wrong you, being kind to all humanity (etc). From a purely moral point of view, the NT is fairly good.<\/p>\n

Then you present this evil, nasty spiteful deity who is not content with a bit of smiting those who have the temerity to offend his divine majesty but will condemn them to an ETERNITY of torment. Wow. That is amazing.<\/p>\n

Shall we look at this in the manner of an analogy? I think so.<\/p>\n

Imagine, a conversation between a man and his wife. The husband tells his wife he loves her and she means the world to him. One day, the wife goes shopping and forgets to buy the husband’s newspaper.<\/p>\n

In the REAL WORLD, the husband – even if he is a bit upset – would be expected to say “Ok, I still love you.” If he punched her for this, he would (rightly) be open for some jail time. If he beat her repeatedly he would be (again rightly) be spending a lot of time in jail. If he killed her, well in some places he would be on death row.<\/p>\n

Now, in the land of your deity, a similar infraction will result in not just a black eye or broken ribs but ETERNITY in hell.<\/p>\n

Where is the love there? The loving, all good God is actually a monstrous dictator who commits acts so vile they would shock the world if a human did it. He is the ultimate terrorist.<\/p>\n

Do you really not see the logical flaw in saying to people “You have free will to do whatever you choose, but if you do not do exactly what I tell you, you will be punished worse then you can ever imagine<\/em>“? I think we can all agree that dictatorships are a BADTHING\u2122. If God was called Saddam Hussein, America would have bombed heaven to the dark ages.<\/p>\n

Think about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It may surprise you (but it shouldn’t) but I have thought about it. Have you really<\/em> thought about it?<\/p>\n

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    It is wonderful, isn’t it. I go offline for a few days and the wonderfully strange concoction of people who make up our fair planet feel safe to come and comment here. Amazing. Just over a week ago, I wrote … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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