The scary thing is these people seem to be looking forward to it! Perhaps just so they can say: ?see, I was right, I'm saved and your not! Na na na na na na!?

Saved? Dude! You just became extinct! My gut feeling is: this earth has been spinning on a precarious axis for at least 3.5 billion years (rocks that old have been found on every continent); it has survived ice ages, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and most every other natural event you can imagine. Earth's inhabitants haven't, however, been that lucky. Dinosaurs that inhabited the earth for perhaps millions of years were wiped out by either asteroids or volcanos (depending on which theory you subscribe to) about 65 million years ago and there have been many other mass extinctions. Some day, no doubt about it (at least in my mind) human life will be wiped out by some natural or man-made catastrophe -- perhaps all at once or perhaps over a long period; but excuse me for finding it extremely hard to believe that an all-powerful God, will start the mass removal from the Earth of all those who believe in Him and then do a seven-year tribulation tap dance to sort out the rest. Sorry but I've read comic books with more believable plots.

I must say, however that the Rapture/Tribulation thing was a very clever addendum to the 'Christ died for your sins' thing. It adds a lot of drama and foreboding to the scenario; it's the perfect answer to the age old kid question: ?Oh yea! What're you gonna do about it??