Rapture, Smapture

I was just reading this article by Joe Bageant in which he accurately portrays born-agains as self-righteous, fear-mongering idiots in the context of the "Left Behind" series. He makes the point that if Muslems had produced something similar, the Christians would be in an uproar. I think he's right on. I was going to include this in a previous post but I'm glad I waited. It seems as though there are two Jesus' and Lord Almightys(Oh,yeah I almost forgot the Holy Ghost/Spirit). There's the fundamentalist/evangelical versions who are vengeful and who will send you to Hades for one sin and then there's the God is love and Jesus loves me, etc (Sorry, Holy Spirit, there's no I love the Spirit stuff out there). Everytime a stripclub opens, there are a bunch of the fundamentalists protesting. I don't think that helps much as there seem to be more gentlemen's clubs than ever. What I don't understand is that if all the true Christians are going to be "Raptured"( which is biblical BS) why are they bothering to save the rest of us. Don't they realize it's going to get awfully crowded up there? Anyway, when they "save" someone it's only so they can say "I saved someone". It's not about the other person. Everyone has to go down that road by themselves and when they're ready they'll go. Anyway, I really think if there were strip clubs in Jesus' time, instead of protesting he would probably bring some of his apostles in, order a drink then tactfully try to persuade the women there that they were being objectified and convince the patrons that they needed to examine their own consciences to determine why they were there. This is entirely consistent with his behaviour with the tax collectors, prostitutes, and other untouchables of that time. He would invite them to his dwelling for drink and food. Then while he had a captive audience, he would pull out the parables and have deep discussions about the nature of God. Look at how he handled the adulterous woman that was about to be stoned. His care and concern for her was incredible. He said "Let those of you without sin cast the first stone". I read that as if you haven't walked a mile in someone else's shoes, you don't have any place to criticize them. The fundamentalists don't realize that Jesus' response when people challenged his authority for going into the temple and turning over the money changers tables meant that not only would he destroy his temple(life) and rebuild it in three days, He was also destroying the temple(what had preceded him religiously) and it would be rebuilt as the Christian faith(The Holy Roman Catholic Church). That means that all the nonsense the fundamentalists quote from the Old Testament has no relevance. It was included so that the history and culture of the faith could be preserved as well as the prophecies regarding Jesus. It's not meant to be taken literally and definately wasn't back then. People knew when the Old and New Testament writers were being figurative or literal. A little common sense and research will confirm this. Jesus doesn't kill, nor does God the Father or the Holy Spirit. God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is about life and love. I firmly believe that a person's concept of what God is or isn't is directly proportional to their intelligence and/or willingness to learn. Lazy people just want to be told, they don't want to find out for themselves. Intelligence is static - you've either got it or you don't. So I guess what I'm saying is the the fundamentalist/evangelicals are either stupid or ignorant or both.