Originally Posted by
Cypress
The rapture doctrine was invented by American evangelicals in the 1830s.
Rapture doctrine is considered laughable by the Eastern Orthodox church.
I was mostly terrified because even then I knew I did not believe. It was a struggle getting past some of the ingrained responses and impressions that you are given as a member of one of these churches. When I was about 10 I told one of the Youth Pastors I didn't believe.... that was a MISTAKE>....
Holy moly.
In some ways I benefited from my mistake though.
I was signed up for classes in the Bible College, for instance. I learned American Sign Language... (so that I could be forced to translate on Thursday night services). I studied the bible in Greek and Hebrew... I was forced onto the Israeli Dance team, the Art Ministry, and Prison Ministry (I used ASL there too to translate for the folks trying to convert the prisoners). Almost 100% of my life was at that danged building being forced to say and act as if I believed.
However by the time I was 18 I was so frickin' angry at what happened that I believed at that time I would never forgive. Thankfully I was wrong.
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
- -- Aristotle
Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
- -- The Buddha
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- -- Aristotle
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