the living and the dead. They also believe that God will send the unrepentant sinners to hell and the just to heaven. However, they are constantly trying to pin down an exact date. Contrasting that, the Catholic Church believes that it is not important when this will happen, but to be ready when it does (McBride & Praem, 65-66). The whole gist of this article is that because we have faith, in immediate union with Jesus through the power of the human spirit, we can get on with our lives, (McBride & Praem, 66) and basically its everyday activities. The religious happening do not have to be taken literal but maybe in some sort of symbolic meaning. What I learned from this article was that sometimes certain groups may take what the Bible says very literal. I think that often the Bible may use symbolism to make a point. In the letter written to the Thessalonians from Paul, he uses imagery to show them how the Rapture will happen. Back then the people very much believed in the three heavens, so to say that the people would rise puts that believe into action. Not being Catholic either, I do not necessarily believe everything that was stated in the article. The second article, Visions of Heaven, Dreams of the End, had a lot to do with the end time and how the Book of Revelations addresses the issue. The article starts by saying how humans have always dreaded the turn of the century and what comes with the new millennium. The whole article is mostly based on the writings in the Book of Revelations. The article explains how the word revelation means to reveal. Out of all of the books in the Bible, Revelations reveals many good and some very scary details about the last days of the world. A man named John the Seer writes the Book of Revelations. It is said that he was a visionary (Rev 1:1-3) who was exiled and sent to the island of Patmos. He was a prophet of his day and what is written in the Book of Revelations was supposedly told to him by an ...
