I agree that the Rapture is a good movie.
Now, here's the real zinger. I'm a Christian.
Not all of us believe in Millennial Dispensationalism, ie, the end of the world as literally depicted in Revelations. Not all of us are nutjobs like Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, and the wackos in this movie.
Some (hey, MOST) of us acknowledge science, and have no problem with Darwin's theories of evolution. Why? Because they're backed up by 150 years of heavily scrutinized and vetted research. We care deeply about the stewardship of the earth, about truly helping the less fortunate, and about creating a just society for everyone, regardless of what they believe.
While we try to live a certain way, and follow the specific rules of our religion, we are tolerant, kind and compassionate. We have gay, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist friends.
Most of us believe that God is reflected in every person, and try to behave towards everyone in a manner consistent with this idea. Like everyone else, we often fall seriously short of doing this right.
Whether or not there really is a God, is of course, nothing that can be proven until each of us dies.
The truth is, no matter what each of us KNOW IN OUR HEARTS to be the truth about this, there's no real way to really know in any impirical way until it does or doesn't happen.
That being said, I think The Rapture succeeds in portraying a person who can only embrace extremes. She leads an extremely libertine lifestyle, and hungers for something deeper. She becomes an extreme born-again Christian, and still finds herself, in the end, light-years away from having any of her questions answered, or deepest thirsts quenched in any kind of meaningful way.
Coincidentally, she never takes any responsibility for her life, pre-or-post-conversion. In the end, she's still the same irresponsible, self-centered, shallow woman she's always been.
We meet people like this every single day. All of us ARE these people, to one degree or another.
One thing I especially like about the film, is that it portrays her beliefs on her own terms. The Rapture is real, it comes, and she is not among those "taken up". This is a cause of great confusion and anguish for her. She did everything right, didn't she? Why is she still here?
If it turns out the Dispensationalists are correct about the Rapture, I think it entirely possible a lot of them are going to be standing aroung watching other people (and perhaps people they're CONVINCED ARE GOING TO HELL) get "taken up", wondering why they're not included.
I think one of the very powerful themes in the movie is that there are two very different kinds of religious certainty.
One is the kind where your beliefs allow you to reflect meaningfully on the fundamental questions of existence. The other kind is the kind where you perceive reflection as fundamentally unnecessary because you have all the answers to everything for all time.
One kind of certainty keeps you thinking. You know in your heart certain things to be true. Your certainty of these things compells you to ask, "what are the implications of this, in terms of my personal relationship to God and the world around me?"
The other kind of certainty keeps you from thinking. You know in your heart that you have all the answers. They were given to you by God, and if you adhere to them, there is no way you could possibly do anything wrong, because you are following His instructions to the letter. Furthermore, the consequences of your actions on creation and other people, no matter how violent or destructive, are negligable because you simply following God's instructions.
Matt Channing
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