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I've seen a couple of similar small 'businesses', verging on spoofs, that offer the ability to relay a note or a message to any of your loved ones left behind a

I've seen a couple of similar small 'businesses', verging on spoofs, that offer the ability to relay a note or a message to any of your loved ones left behind after the rapture. I generally don't like the tone of the people behind these things - dig enough and you always find a bit of 'look at the silly religious people hurr hurr hurr'. I'm sure all of us have irrational beliefs of some sort, and if can you put yourself in the mindset of a believer in the rapture, it's actually quite responsible to be concerned about the state of one's affairs on Earth after your sudden disappearance. Unfortunately 'the rapture' in popular Christian consciousness has died down a bit since the Left Behind series wrapped up. The peak time for this sort of business was close to a decade ago.

abalashov 16y ago
Because of the vaguely insurance-oriented tinge to the business model, though, it does raise a very key issue: If you're (the hypothetical "you") so committed to your concrete, literal beliefs about rapture, why won't you put your money where your mouth is? If my faith in the imminent end of times, or some other, more minor prophecy of my faith burned with the strength of a thousand suns, I would cash out all my assets and put them in a betting pool in support of it!
- gyardley 16y ago
  Probably because the 'imminent' bit is questionable. Matthew 24:36 - "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Certain preachers have seen 'signs' of the rapture's imminence - Hal Lindsay's made many ridiculous predictions over the years - but these have all been based on Biblical interpretation, while the 'no one knows about the day or the hour' passages are quite clear. Of course, the rapture itself is based on some rather interesting interpretations of something in the Book of Daniel. Widespread belief in it is less than a century old.

abalashov 16y ago

Because of the vaguely insurance-oriented tinge to the business model, though, it does raise a very key issue: If you're (the hypothetical "you") so committed to your concrete, literal beliefs about rapture, why won't you put your money where your mouth is? If my faith in the imminent end of times, or some other, more minor prophecy of my faith burned with the strength of a thousand suns, I would cash out all my assets and put them in a betting pool in support of it!

gyardley 16y ago
Probably because the 'imminent' bit is questionable. Matthew 24:36 - "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Certain preachers have seen 'signs' of the rapture's imminence - Hal Lindsay's made many ridiculous predictions over the years - but these have all been based on Biblical interpretation, while the 'no one knows about the day or the hour' passages are quite clear. Of course, the rapture itself is based on some rather interesting interpretations of something in the Book of Daniel. Widespread belief in it is less than a century old.