Call Me Spider-Man Because I'm Swinging on the Interwebs

Here's the stuff I've been reading this week:

Cruising around Patheos I found this blog about Christianity and Pop Culture. As a fan of metal music, this post hooked me - follow author Matthew Linder on Twitter.

Zack Hunt over at The American Jesus killed it this week:

• An Angry God vs. A God Who Gets Angry, (and this HuffPost Religion piece about the correlation between the belief in an angry God and emotional problems)
• This quote by Thomas Jefferson about John Calvin, and
• This picture of Jesus bringing his A-game which could only be better if it was a GIF.

Rachel Held Evans wrote about making humor work.

SUNDAY UPDATE: This post by Christian Piatt about about religion and race really struck me - especially this quote:

"Put another way: while we’re busy navel-gazing and discussing the meaning of Nietzsche’s 'death of God,' non-Anglo religious leaders were busy dealing with real-world problems, right in front of them."

Also, this CNN Belief Blog piece about when religion becomes evil was an interesting read.

Finally, Jen Hatmaker wrote about when it's time to cut people who are toxic to your life loose.

Upcoming this week, I am working on a longer piece and won't be posting every day. Thanks for checking in.

Follow me on Twitter: Sophia's Logo or Aaron Rostad

The Rapture in Pop Culture

(NOTE: If you only watch one video from this post, watch the very last one from the Rap-Sures)

The rapture is big business in Christian culture. As the publishers so willingly tell you (with a giant sticker on the front cover), the Left Behind series has sold over 65 millions copies. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' end times series was a sometimes entertaining and often cheesy depiction of life for those who had missed out on Jesus' magical, mystery tour to the afterlife. The books spawned an even cheesier movie starring Evangelical wunderkind Kirk Cameron:

"The future, as foretold by the Bible, has come to pass."

And if that wasn't enough, the 2000 release is being redone with Nicolas Cage:

Left Behind owes much to the 1972 film A Thief in the Night:

I wasn't alive in the 1970's, so would someone who was mind telling me if all movie trailers were like this back then? Just a collection of random music and action shots?

Anyway, original Christian rocker Larry Norman was responsible for the soundtrack to the film. This led to perhaps the singular instance of a legitimately good rapture reference in Christian pop culture, dc Talk's cover of Norman's song, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready":

dc Talk wasn't the only 90's "hip-hop" group to release rapture songs - my favorite is from kids rap group, The Rap-Sures, "Get Right, Or Get Left." If you only watch one video on this blog, this is the one:



I am sure I have left out good rapture material, post yours in the comments.

Yesterday: History of The Rapture
Tomorrow: In Defense of the Rapture
Bonus Material: Jesus Meme: Rapture Edition

Rapture! Week

Last week I had planned on writing about the rapture - the belief that Jesus will return to instantly take Christians, living and dead, to heaven. Then, the attack at the Boston Marathon happened and I was drawn into the coverage. As I watched the news, my notes for this blog grew and grew until I had about a week's worth of material. So, this week will be Rapture! Week.

Here's the schedule:

Monday (Today): History of The Rapture
Tuesday: Rapture in Pop Culture
Wednesday: In Defense of The Rapture
Thursday: Consequences of Believing in the Rapture
Friday: Making it Personal
Bonus Material: Sometimes I Make Jesus Memes: Rapture Edition

On Friday I will be talking about my own personal thoughts, especially as I was growing up, impacted me. I would love to hear from you too - email sophiaslogo@gmail.com with your own story about how a belief in the Rapture affected you.

"History of The Rapture" will be up soon - stay tuned.