Pharyngula

Posted by: Ströh | July 28, 2010 4:08 PM

Awesome! A full summer all to ourselves. Better start converting some suckers, don't want those beaches too crowded.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | July 28, 2010 4:17 PM

the Rapture will occur on 21 May, 2011, and the world ends on 21 October 2011.

Sweet. That means all those lame asses will be gone in time for my 40th Birthday.

Posted by: gadow | July 28, 2010 4:19 PM

Wait, I thought we had until December 20, 2012? Damned apocalyptionists, can't keep their stories straight.

Posted by: BlueEeyore | July 28, 2010 4:21 PM

My students really fret about this sort of nonsense while I resist the urge to bang my head against the wall.

Posted by: Caine, ghetto féministe | July 28, 2010 4:22 PM

the Rapture will occur on 21 May, 2011

Oh, I wish. I wish there was a god who would be happy to claim these folks and take them far, far away.

Posted by: nealedwards | July 28, 2010 4:23 PM

I was worried that this meant we wouldn't get to see the Green Lantern movie. But then I realized it's just the RAPTURE that will happen in May. So... only the Christians are going to miss that movie, and the world won't be destroyed until afterward.

Posted by: Mattir-ritated | July 28, 2010 4:23 PM

Just remember that bumpersticker: When the Rapture comes, we'll have this place to ourselves. Might be nice, actually...

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage | July 28, 2010 4:24 PM

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Rev. 3:3 (NIV)

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. Matt 25:13(NIV)

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Matt 24:42 (NIV)

Posted by: rippingrich | July 28, 2010 4:28 PM

Wahoo, I hope I know someone who is gone, I need a new truck.

Posted by: koyote_ken | July 28, 2010 4:32 PM

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Deen | July 28, 2010 4:33 PM

And then the earth ends again on December 21, 2012.

Posted by: Randy | July 28, 2010 4:34 PM

But May 21st is a Saturday! The rapture always seemed to me like something that would happen on a Monday. And Oct. 21st is a Friday. Imagine powering down the work computer, relaxing a bit and then...

Posted by: cairne.morane | July 28, 2010 4:36 PM

So, if you're a Fundie you may as well skip the election in November seeing as how it's not going to make any difference.

Posted by: UXO | July 28, 2010 4:40 PM

@oihorse: We need some sort of public challenge for these fuckwits - something along the lines of, "I'll give you $500 RIGHT NOW, if you sign over your house/car/etc. as of May 22, 2011."

Posted by: Andyo | July 28, 2010 4:44 PM

Well with all these predictions, someone will have been right when the world ends. Clever bastards.

Posted by: Birger Johansson | July 28, 2010 4:46 PM

John Nelson Darby invented the current view of "the rapture" just a century and a half ago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism
I have never heard of it outside anglo-saxon churches. Does that mean the anglo-saxons will have a rapture while us "Johnny foreigners" must wait for the actual end of the world?

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlbsw95J7oolARaE79TlMVfEFs460fZwbs | July 28, 2010 4:47 PM

Don't worry. They will accept donations even after 10/21/11.

Posted by: Halbatross | July 28, 2010 4:49 PM

Nothing at all about cookies in that. What's up? I'm used to getting cookies before big events.

Well, regardless, I look forward to the extra space after the Rapture. I've got dibs on the nearest televangelist estate. come fornicate with us!

Posted by: steve | July 28, 2010 4:52 PM

I notice that they are still accepting donations. Wonder what the cut off date is.

I've ordered the rapture bumper stickers and birthday cards for the special people in my life.

Posted by: Ben Goren | July 28, 2010 4:57 PM

Sounds like it’s time for all of us to offer our services to Eternal Earth-Bound Pets. I just sent ’em an email….

Cheers,

b&

Posted by: Beardo | July 28, 2010 4:58 PM

I dunno guys, they're quoting the Bible and everything. This looks legit.

Posted by: AMW | July 28, 2010 5:00 PM

I hope this definitive knowledge helps the good folks who run Eternal Earth-Bound Pets make a killing.
http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/Home_Page.html
I am not affiliated withe Eternal Earth-Bound Pets. I merely admire their moxie and enjoy their FAQs, e.g., "Q: How do you ensure your representatives won't be Raptured.
A: Each of our representatives has stated to us in writing that they are atheists, do not believe in God / Jesus, and that they have blasphemed in accordance with Mark 3:29, negating any chance of salvation."

Posted by: Caine, ghetto féministe | July 28, 2010 5:05 PM

Janice in Toronto:

Oh great. So we get rid of 144,000 of them.

Oh no, the raptureheads aren't getting in on the 144 action. The 144,000 are all going to be Jewish male virgins (that's all required) who will spend eternity on their knees in worship.

I think the god who is going to whisk the rapturoids away is not the god they're expecting...

Posted by: opheliagonemad | July 28, 2010 5:21 PM

37:

It's not that "New Age" stretches back, necessarily, it's that it's all encompassing except for certain times and places that the Christianists think were the bestest, most holiest times evah! These include the first 50 or so years CE in the Middle East, the Middle Ages in Europe as well as the Crusades, the Reformation (Protestants mainly), the US in the early days of the colonies, parts of the Victorian era, and of course, the 1950s on "Leave it to Beaver." Don't ask me how "New Age" as a time period apparently skips about--I suspect the TARDIS or a TARDIS like device.

Posted by: Margaret | July 28, 2010 5:36 PM

Does anyone know if Sam Harris is actually correct in his rapture expectancy figures? That is, that something like 40% of Americans are fairly confident in Jesus' return within their lifetimes ... 40%!

41% think Jesus will come back by 2050: here

Posted by: CJO | July 28, 2010 5:53 PM

If there is any better illustration of the inherent shortsightedness and self-absorbtion of the average human than this, I don't know it. It's this quintessentially human mixture of self-pity and exceptionalism --oh, woe is us, but isn't it just amazing, and sort of wonderful too, that it's us!? Our problems are universal, but the people of every age manage to see the same old issues as somehow unique to themselves.

It has always been the End Times, and yet, somehow, doomed generation after doomed generation, we muddle through. Ironically, widespread understanding of this quirk of ours probably would change the world.

Posted by: justlurking | July 28, 2010 5:53 PM

Will the jeebus lovers still plan to host this September's big Quran burning?

Posted by: Cosmic Snark | July 28, 2010 6:01 PM

These Harold Camping cult members are slithering through many of the forums I frequent. They are seriously disturbed god-zombies... so bad they make regular fundies look normal. I have had much interaction with them, and they are the most deluded Xtians I have ever seen. They're barely human.

They mindlessly parrot Camping's schtick that every sentence in the bible is parable. They call it "allegorical interpretation". When everything in the bible is treated as a parable, you can make any verse in the bible mean anything you want it to. I've seen these loons referring to cubits as a measure of time in their pathetic attempts to "prove" the May 21, 2011 rapture date. Camping's silly theological "number-crunching" is numerology, expressly forbidden in Xtianity.

They also believe that one cannot ask for Jesus to save one's soul. Because, according to the Camping cult zombies, all who will ever be "saved" were saved before the creation. They believe only 3 percent of humanity will be saved. Of course, they all think they are in that 3 percent. One thing I do find amusing is that these babblers do exactly to fundies what the fundies do to unbelievers - tell them they are not saved, tell them they have no idea what the bible says, etc. Seeing the fundies get fundi-ed is immensely amusing.

They also believe that Satan took over the Church in 1988 (tellingly, the date in '88 that Camping set for Satan's church takeover was less than 2 weeks from the date he was booted from his own church for preaching his bizarre doctrine. Camping is just a disgruntled sleazebag fired pastor who started his own cult. I really look forward to May 22, 2011. On that day I plan to have much fun mocking and taunting these brain-dead cult zombies.

Posted by: Dr Van Nostrand | July 28, 2010 6:01 PM

My neighbor has one of those bumper stickers. I've also heard him talking to my other neighbors about it. He's also a conspiracy nut. I've heard him talking to my other neighbors about those as well. I always pretend like I'm in a hurry when he's around which keeps our conversations very short, but polite.

Posted by: blf | July 28, 2010 6:11 PM

Could the kook be confusing his raptures with his B-Arks? Isn't 21-May-2011 when loading of the first B-Ark starts, and 21-Oct when the final one is scheduled to lift off?

Posted by: Cosmic Snark | July 28, 2010 6:14 PM

I wonder how many of these folks would be willing to sign an absolute power of attorney to a non-Christian or non-believer, effective May 22, 2011?

None. They always have an excuse.

I've seen a lot of people try to place bets with these Camping bots. They all refuse on the grounds that gambling is a sin.

So one day, I thought I'd try a different tack. I challenged the two most insane Campingites on my discussion forum, who happen to be brothers, to donate $521.11 (5/21/11) to the Ronald McDonald House sick children's charity IF, and ONLY IF, 5/21/11 came and went with no rapture. (I wanted to take away any appearance of gambling for personal gain for myself, and thought donating to a worthy children's charity would be a good way to put them in an uncomfortable spot. I even offered to match the $521.11 they donated). Since Campingites are well-known for saying they cannot be wrong about this date being the rapture, I told these two bozos that if they are right about that date, then it would be a no brainer to accept my challenge, because they would be raptured and gone on that date. And I also told them that they would be helping sick children if "somehow" they were wrong about the date.

They told me they wouldn't, because no amount of money would help the "left behind". What sick bastards. Their crazed religion has robbed them of 100% of their humanity. Sick kids? Who cares? It's the end of the world, baby! Let's party!

Posted by: Lotharloo | July 28, 2010 6:16 PM

Oh it's just rapture. I thought you were going to share a more personal story with that title.

Posted by: Timberwoof | July 28, 2010 6:21 PM

"But what about the International Date Line?" The IDL was invented by the Railroads who wanted to subvert God's Time. It's all part of the Siderialist Conspiracy that the astronomers have been inflicting on us since Copernicus (Read all about it on the sci.geology newsgroup.)

Posted by: eleusis | July 28, 2010 6:27 PM

Apparently, Camping has been preaching these exact dates for at least two years:

http://calladus.blogspot.com/2008/07/harold-camping-and-end-of-world.html

The weird thing is that, while I see a lot of quotes on that web site supporting the position that the exact date can be known, I see nothing elucidating how it was calculated. I guess you have to buy the books.

Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites | July 28, 2010 6:29 PM

So one day, I thought I'd try a different tack. I challenged the two most insane Campingites on my discussion forum, who happen to be brothers, to donate $521.11 (5/21/11) to the Ronald McDonald House sick children's charity IF, and ONLY IF, 5/21/11 came and went with no rapture. (I wanted to take away any appearance of gambling for personal gain for myself, and thought donating to a worthy children's charity would be a good way to put them in an uncomfortable spot. I even offered to match the $521.11 they donated). Since Campingites are well-known for saying they cannot be wrong about this date being the rapture, I told these two bozos that if they are right about that date, then it would be a no brainer to accept my challenge, because they would be raptured and gone on that date. And I also told them that they would be helping sick children if "somehow" they were wrong about the date.

They told me they wouldn't, because no amount of money would help the "left behind". What sick bastards. Their crazed religion has robbed them of 100% of their humanity. Sick kids? Who cares? It's the end of the world, baby! Let's party!

Ri-i-i-ight. That's the reason. Cheap, faithless fucks.

Posted by: Noddin | July 28, 2010 6:34 PM

Hello again. If Doctor Meyers is writing a novel I will offer my help. I have not visited this blog for a long time. However, I offer a valuable alternate view of religious issues. I am versed in languages and traveling everywhere. I have seen disgusting objects.

Many theists and atheists find me a warm cup in thought. After they open their eyes. I do not accommodate for stupid monkey thoughts. But I plug holes that others cannot understand. This is my present for you.

Please. Contact PZ Meyers for me and tell him I can help him write a new perspective in a book. I have an interesting alternate view of many topics. I am asking now. Do you get it?

Some people encounter me and think I am not considering them. No. You are wrong. I have considered your views and dismissed them. I do it with respect, mostly. I have surely seen more than you in the World. OK.

Can you take a moment to think about it? Thank you. I wish you well and I hope to see you all soon.

Posted by: eleusis | July 28, 2010 6:38 PM

#72

Why don't you just write your own damn book? Can you not get a publisher?

Posted by: James F | July 28, 2010 6:42 PM

"28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds. That...is when the world... will end."

Posted by: Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort | July 28, 2010 6:45 PM

@BigMKnows: But Dog did write a book, it's called the Elbib.

Posted by: Smoggy Batzrubble OM4Jesus | July 28, 2010 6:47 PM

Many theists and atheists find me a warm cup in thought.

Dear doG,

I find you a warm cup of sick.

Yours in Christian love
Smoggy

Posted by: GODis10-7 | July 28, 2010 6:52 PM

Zeteo #51,

My birthday is May 17, 4 away from May 21, I'll be 27
27 + 4 is 31 or
27 separate the digits, 2 + 7 + 4 is 13; rest of your proof...
I guess I get second in the anti-christ race, right-hand man?
Also, numbers are fun.

Posted by: drumprof | July 28, 2010 6:57 PM

I'll make sure I have a REALLY hot date that night.

Posted by: Dania | July 28, 2010 7:03 PM

MO'FUCKERs

*giggles uncontrollably*

Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/xaStVywarZ6R9nrlSjv4D8_6GGA0PWmf#765c4 | July 28, 2010 7:13 PM

But now you've got an excuse to plan a party for next spring.

Shit, I'll be partying anyways: after seven friggin' years of torture, I'll finally have my BA. First in my family, too. I'll also be celebrating another fundietard being wrong about the end of the world.

Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/xaStVywarZ6R9nrlSjv4D8_6GGA0PWmf#765c4 | July 28, 2010 7:21 PM

Ha, thanks Kevin! I forget sometimes that yahoo is a mess on here and forget to sign my posts.
Squigit

Posted by: Jules, Bride of Death | July 28, 2010 7:30 PM

Some people encounter me and think I am not considering them. No. You are wrong.

I, for one, am grateful for your deep consideration. I mean, really, you must've considered me for--what--a whole full-stop? Indeed, your open-mindedness is astounding.

Posted by: timpanogos | July 28, 2010 7:32 PM

That's a rip! I thought the fundies were opposed to all "diddling" on principle, and to any form of number manipulation that smacks of gambling.

Now you tell me they're diddling the numbers like Madame Seesall, to come up with the exact date that Jesus said no righteous person could possibly know?

Just one more indication that they don't regard scripture as binding to themselves. Do what I say, not as I do, sorta stuff.

So, will they run their credit cards up the day before?

Maybe someone should notify the FBI.

Posted by: Beadknitter | July 28, 2010 7:37 PM

I think we should all hire a lawyer and sue them if it doesn't happen. How many people are being conned out of their money and ruining their lives because of this insanity?

Posted by: McCthulhu is taking ∞ to eat all the pi | July 28, 2010 7:54 PM

End times weasels are the biggest busket-full of crazy and yet they elude our sanitariums. The alienist has pondered their whacko tales and wonders what cheese-eatin' excuse they'll have when exactly two things happen on rapture day, Jack and Shit..(you know the rest).

Posted by: MadScientist | July 28, 2010 7:57 PM

Screw that, I'm sticking to the ancient Mayan calendar - it gives me a few more days to party.

Posted by: pineapplezippers | July 28, 2010 8:00 PM

Oh, good. It was getting a bit crowded around here. Finally I'll have room for my origami "Watchtower" animals, a harem, and an expanded collection of recipes for cooking babies! It'll be just like Christmas!

Posted by: Lynna, OM | July 28, 2010 8:04 PM

Smoggy! My main man. I just left a note for you on the endless thread ... well, more of a plea really.

Posted by: Timberwoof | July 28, 2010 8:13 PM

"One nutbag, one cup"?

Um. When I play hockey, I wear a cup … in a nutbag, I suppose. Is that what you mean?

Cue the "Jesus Saves" jokes.

21 May is right around when the Stanley Cup series are played. Coincidence? I think not!

Posted by: Cosmic Snark | July 28, 2010 8:22 PM

#96

I think we should all hire a lawyer and sue them if it doesn't happen. How many people are being conned out of their money and ruining their lives because of this insanity?

The last time Camping predicted the end of the world (1994) there were a few folks that sold their houses, ran up their credit cards because they "knew" they wouldn't have to pay them off, etc. Indeed, some people were ruined, although I must say I don't have any sympathy for them. They did it to themselves. I have heard rumors of at least one suicide after the 1994 rapture did not come to pass, although I could never find any verification of that claim.

You'd think after the 1994 debacle, even the most clueless of religionists might be a little more wary this time around. Interestingly, the average brain-dead fundie that is of the ilk usually discussed in this blog is dead-set against Camping and his goofy doctrine. Camping Cult babble does not mesh at all with run o' the mill literal biblical fundie-ism. The Camping cultists are in another league altogether. All they know is what their leader tells them, and they have mastered the art of Play-Doh-ing biblical verses to make them say what they want it to say. MUCH more so than the typical fundie.

I have heard psychologists state that when Camping's latest date-setting fraud fails, it will have the effect of making his followers even more devoted to him. Gee, no wonder Family Radio is worth $120 million...

Posted by: Robbie | July 28, 2010 8:36 PM

It would have taken seven years as stated in the babble, but they edited out the commercials.

Posted by: Robert H | July 28, 2010 8:47 PM

waynerobinson4 @103
Sorry to dampen your enthusiasm but 4900+2011=6911, not 7000. I even tried Adaptive Biblical Math™, calculating the ratio of atheist pi, ~3.1416 to Biblically Accurate Pi™, 3 (notice the precision of the Bible value? Nothing irrational there!) which yields ~1.0472. Multiplying that by the original 6911 gives us 7237.1992, which is definitely over 7000. Interestingly enough, the ratio of 7000 to 6911 is 1.02878021 (rounded off, of course, but that's irrelevant since the Bible doesn't believe in decimal notation anyway). Remembering that zero does not exist in the first place, and removing the decimal point (as the Bible (as we all know)) is inerrant, we arrive at 1287821, a palindrome, which means we're obviously on (to) something (palindromes are, by divine design, emblematic). Adding the digits together until we end with a single number we reach 2, which according to the Sephirot means either Wisdom or Understanding, depending on which of the two main contradictory interpretations you adhere to.
Always glad to help (and please pardon any mistakes),
A Retired Math Teacher

Posted by: G.D. | July 28, 2010 8:51 PM

Oh, and Smoggy at #49: I kinda don't want to see Ray Comfort go. Comfort and Jack Chick and John Coleman and people playing in their league are, I think, actually genuinely contributing to the overall enjoyability of life on Earth. Besides, I suspect they're actually harming the causes they're zealously supporting by associating these causes with a kind of lunacy that not even ardent creationists, fundamentalists or climate change deniers would want to be associated with.

Maybe I'm wrong.

I wouldn't mind seeing people like David Barton, Howard Ahmanson or James Inhofe thoroughly raptured, however (in the case of Howard only if he gets to bring all his earthly wealth with him rather than leaving it here for certain groups to inherit). These people are genuinely dangerous.

Posted by: paulmurray | July 28, 2010 8:59 PM

"I thought the end of the world was 7 years after the rapture"

Well, it depends on if you are pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib. In any case, after the 7 years Jesus comes back and sets up his 1000-year reich ... sorry: kingdom on earth, after which the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll.

I wonder what Jesus will do about the oil spill? I suppose that just miraculously fixing things would be cheating.

Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/fGT.ApA4svgZGv5uZPWdIaQWVVO0#7da76 | July 28, 2010 9:01 PM

Pfft Harold Camping of Family Radio has previous. His last prediction for the date of the rapture.....failed.

Posted by: Porco Dio | July 28, 2010 9:16 PM

fuck you evangelists... i'm busy on that day!

Posted by: ralph137 | July 28, 2010 9:38 PM

Rapture came and went. Nobody made the cut.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage | July 28, 2010 9:55 PM

Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.

Considering that Jebus was supposedly 33 when he was crucified. As explained by the fount of all knowledge, wikipedia:

The Gospel of Matthew places Jesus' birth under the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC. The author of Matthew also recorded that Herod had all the male children in Bethlehem two years old and younger executed,[34] based on a prophecy relayed to him by the magi that a new King of the Jews had been born in the town. The order's instruction of "two and under", along with the inference that it took Herod time to realize that the magi were not about to deliver the child to him, implies a birth no later than 6-4 BC. [emphasis added]

So Jebus was 33 sometime between 26 and 29 CE. The Rapture has already happened.

Posted by: Ing: PhD Trollologist | July 28, 2010 9:56 PM

@7

you know it would take a team of 14 laborers 3 weeks to shovel through the layer of bullshit you've buried yourself in before we could find you to tell you how absurd you are.

Posted by: Greg Laden | July 28, 2010 11:16 PM

Excellent! A testable hypothesis!

Posted by: jcmartz.myopenid.com | July 29, 2010 1:02 AM

Wait! The world is not ending on December 21, 2012?

Posted by: YetAnotherAtheist | July 29, 2010 1:44 AM

I just contacted them and offered a wager of $1,000 that they're wrong about the Rapture thing. Be nice if they took me up on that offer, then went through with the deal next year.

Posted by: mistereveready | July 29, 2010 2:38 AM

Just enough time to play nice with my ex gf and get her pregnant then leave. Make the last 9 months of her life a lonely and painful one >_>.

Just joking of course, but that nine month thing had me thinking of wtf would happen if that was even remotely true and someone was to become pregnant.

Such a strange thing that would be. To be pushed out, only to immediately be snuffed out by whatever calamity is supposedly going to happen.

Rather odd how many humans just want to get this shit over with. I've been hearing about dooms day crap all my life. Of course none of these fatalistic shit is anything logical.

Posted by: Duckbilled Platypus | July 29, 2010 4:22 AM

I think I'll contact them and ask them if I can have their website after 21 October 2011. I probably have to ask them to give me administrative access as soon as Rapture starts because I wouldn't want them to be taken away before they can hand me the goodies.

I think I know the answer already, though.

Posted by: MichaelEybye | July 29, 2010 6:28 AM

21 May 2011? That's no good. 21 May is not a good day for me. Can we reschedule?

Posted by: brophyfootball | July 29, 2010 6:47 AM

One man's rapture is another man's Zombie Apocalypse

Posted by: brophyfootball | July 29, 2010 6:54 AM

One man's rapture is another man's Zombie Apocalypse

Posted by: dutchdoc | July 29, 2010 7:17 AM

So, all those people who claim the world will end in December 2012, will feel REALLY stupid next year, May 21st! THAT will teach them to make stuff like that up!

Posted by: JM_Shep | July 29, 2010 7:59 AM

What a wonderful birthday present! I get to spend my next birthday without any self-righteous believers?! Can't wait. I will die happy when the world ends the following October.

Posted by: Victor | July 29, 2010 8:38 AM

But now you've got an excuse to plan a party for next spring.

Hell, I now have an excuse to have a party until next spring.

Posted by: Birger Johansson | July 29, 2010 9:20 AM

John Morales @ 119:

"I'm very much looking forward to The Fuller Memorandum by Stross.

(I'd've read it already, except I'm a cheapskate.)"

Re talking about Charles Stross: If we have our CCTVs "SCORPION STARE" enabled (modified to turn the observed object to stone, a la Medusa) we could actually whack Yahweh when he turns up to kick off the Rapture (don't tell the Arizona people, or they will demand the same stuff for their border fence).

The latest novel has an infiltrator at middle-management level who is comitted to selling out to the soul-eating Elder Gods of the other dimensions. In other words, the infiltrator is indistinguishable from Dilbert's boss.

Posted by: Yoav | July 29, 2010 9:45 AM

How about a huge party on May 22nd. We will have all these puzzled xtians to make fun of as they try to figure out what to do now the rapture failed to happen once more. In the very unlikely case that all the xtians actually disappear we can just celebrate the 50 point jump in the world average IQ.

Posted by: Ben Snyder | July 29, 2010 10:21 AM

Aw crap, that's right at the end of finals week. Students are going to be bugging me to get tests back to them before they get raptured.

Posted by: Robert H | July 29, 2010 10:52 AM

waynerobinson4 @135

according to the wingnuts, Noah's flood occurred in 4990 BCE

Posted by: Randomfactor | July 29, 2010 11:11 AM

Wonder if it's too late to book Stavro Mueller's Beta for the going-away party...

Posted by: zeteo.eurisko | July 29, 2010 1:09 PM

GODis10-7 #82: I think that makes you the beast.

Posted by: bernarda | July 29, 2010 1:57 PM

There is a nice site called The Internet Archive. It has old films and documentaries going back at least to the thirties. Here is one one The Rapture.

http://www.archive.org/details/RAPTURE

Posted by: Birger Johansson | July 29, 2010 5:48 PM

What about a secular rapture?
If you have read Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise you will recall the Escaton, the AI who used the Singularity to bootstrap its capacities, and then promptly terraformed a lot of exoplanets and teleported enough people over there to keep the Earth's population below its carrying capacity.

The Eschaton's only commandment was
YOU MAY NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL BEYOND MY LIGHT CONE ...OR ELSE (it makes sense if you know the terminology for the theory of relativity. Making shortcuts through space is related to time travel. The only possible threat to the Escaton would be if somebody traveled to the time before the Escaton was created).
So, if any future Escaton is reading this, I want a transfer to a planet with subtropical climate. No insects please, and no mormon missionaries.

Posted by: Lynna, OM | July 29, 2010 7:39 PM

For those who would like to prepare by having a sort of home/fortress, I recommend using an LDS real estate agent:
http://www.ldsagents.com/

Posted by: Cowcakes | July 30, 2010 3:33 AM

I'm planning a BBQ for all us godless heathens left behind.

Then afterward we can have an "easter egg hunt" and go and find all the material possessions that the godly left behind.