What are you doing Saturday?

Now I don't want to mislead anyone.  I am not a Christian.  I do not believe in The Rapture or anything else tied in with the Christian idea of the Apocalypse.  I have no problems with people of the Christian faith, they for the most part of wonderful people.  This is just my humble opinion on this matter of the coming Rapture.

It seems that this Saturday, May 21, 2011 is the day that the Rapture happens and all good Christians are taken up to Heaven while the rest of us heathens get to suffer here on Earth.  The Rapture you say?  Yes my friend, The Rapture.  That time when God will gather up all his Sheep into his bosom and the Anti-Christ will take over the earth and there will be great Tribulations for all us non-believers to live through until the Last Day when God will end it all and the Beast will be thrown back into the Pit for all eternity. 

The person making this claim is one Harold Camping and Family Radio.  These people also believe that the world was created thirteen thousand odd years ago.  Ignore the fact that the Bible teaches that God will not reveal the exact day of His Judgement but that you will know it by the signs.

Now the Bible does not mention the word Rapture but there are passages that describe such an event.  These passages are from the King James Version of the Bible.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (King James Version)


15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (King James Version)


51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Luke 21:36 (King James Version)


36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Matthew 24:40-41 (King James Version)


40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.


So if you are a believer in Christianity, the Rapture is something that is supposed to happen one day.  Just not this Saturday. 

It really saddens me that people believe this is going to happen.  People's lives are going to be changed when the day comes and nothing happens.  How many poor dogs, cats and other pets are going to be put down because some idiot believes that the Rapture is this Saturday and does not want their pet to suffer?

Of course there is that part of me that hopes when the Rapture does not happen a large percentage of the idiots off themselves.  Of course they are probably to cowardly to do so.

I am curious as to what excuse will be given when the time comes and goes and nothing happens.  I am hoping they get creative with it but I'm not holding my breath.

Books, Movies and the Foo Fighters

Let's start with books.  I just finished The Hot Gate by John Ringo.  Book three in the Troy Rising series.  As usual I finished the book in one setting.  The author claimed that people would be upset as they were with one of the Prince Roger books because he kills off a couple of characters.  I was not upset but I guess I can see why someone would be.  With Mr. Ringo, you learn to expect someone you have grown to care about die.  If you have not read the other two books in the series, Live Free or Die and Citadel, go out and buy all three.  There are two more books in the plans, let us hope they are coming soon.

I am currently reading A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge.  I am enjoying it and will be buying the rest of Mr. Vinge's works as I can. I am almost finished, I have about three hundred pages left to go.  I can say that reading this book and reading The Hot Gate at the same time, caused me to have some very interesting dreams.  Fighting armored spiders in tunnels in zero gravity.  Very interesting dreams. 

When I finish A Deepness in the Sky, I plan on reading The Amazon Legion by Tom Kratman, the fourth book in the Legion del Cid or Terra Nova or Carrera's Legions novels.  Another wonderful series brought to you by Baen.  I am a bit disappointed as there are no negative reviews on Amazon.  Perhaps the Colonel's writing has finally exploded some heads?

Let's talk movies now.  I saw Thor on it's release day and enjoyed it.  I never read any of the comics, so this movie is the first I have ever been exposed to the comic book character.  I did not understand the extra bit at the end of the credits though.  Guess I will have to wait for the Avengers movie to know what that was all about.  Next up this summer is the Captain America movie which looks like it is going to be awesome.  I can't wait for that.

I also watched the movie Salt.  It was actually pretty good.  It gave me a couple of twists that I was not expecting and the ending is not what I thought it would be. 

Another I watched was Toy Story 3.  It was much more adult themed than the other in my opinion.  It would still appeal to children, but there were more adult themes through out.  I can say that the ending actually made me tear up.  First time that has happened in a very long time with a movie.

I also watched the movie Monsters today.  Space probe crashes in Mexico, the probe has alien life forms on it.  They breed and a large part of Mexico is turned into a quarantine zone up to the American border.  It was actually an okay movie.  I would probably buy a copy to keep and maybe watch again in six or eight months.

 The Foo Fighters released a new album entitled Wasting Light.  I think it is one of the best albums to be released in a very long time.  I have listened to it almost twenty times by now and I am not sick of it yet.  They actually used one of the songs in the movie Thor.  It plays when the credits roll.  So yes, you should go out and buy the album and play it and love it and enjoy it.