The Rapture as Self-Abuse
In a moment of weakness I was thinking a little about Pre-Millenial Dispensationalism — you know, that wacko, non-Biblical concept about the end-times, The Rapture, does Jesus some pre-Trib or post-Trib thing invented in the late 19th century, when it struck me that the whole thing is a fantastic sublimation of sexual desire, both by its inventors and its followers.
I'm not particularly Freudian, either, so it surprises me that this should be so obviously true. Ah, well — more as the idea develops and I get around to writing about it.
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on Monday, 24 July 2006 at 20.24
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Just looking at the etymology entry for that one word, "rapture," at the Wikipedia reference you linked to, I see incredible opportunity for slip and slide in the system.
Small wonder it's subject to various interpretations, like most of these things.
Admittedly, it's presumptuous of me, but I can't help it. I tend to see this insistence on declaring what God's endgame is (assuming He has one mapped out) as highly presumptuous. What's more, those propounding the supposition evoke more the spectacle of people caught up in neurotic compulsion than deepseated religious convictions arrived at through examination of conscience.
But then, in my conception, God didn't plan every detail of everything and doesn't monitor everyone's progress, for good or ill, on a daily or hourly basis. Rather, He came up with a clever design, mostly in broad strokes, wound it up, sparked life into it and then stepped back to see what, if anything, becomes of his handiwork.
I suspect He's probably checked in periodically, experiencing deep disappointment, moments of surprise and satisfaction, and the occasional belly laugh at what incredible fools we mortals be.