A revered prophet announces that the rapture has begun and that the chosen are being taken to heaven.
A revered prophet announces that the rapture has begun and that the chosen are being taken to heaven.
Around the world, there are no reports of anyone disappearing or suddenly ascending while plenty of the devout and desperate commit suicide by the thousands.
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Where's the horror in those two sentences?
Unless the people killing themselves are all political figures and their death causes nations to fall into chaos I fail to see how a couple of thousand religious fanatics less in this world are a bad thing.
The horror would be that the biblical rapture is an actual real thing ..... and that no one, even (more like especially) the ultra religious are worthy of heaven.
Would make the whole thing rather pointless, wouldn't it? A god that sets standards so high that none of his creatures can live up to them is quite a dick, isn't he?
And even knowing that, a statistically devastating number of our species would still fall all over themselves to fellate such a being for the mere chance of favour 🤷♀️
A being that creates everything and is in control of everything does not necessarily mean that they are benevolent or malevolent. Maybe they created everything on purpose ... maybe accidentally .. maybe as a joke ... maybe as an off the cuff thing they don't care about ... or maybe they created everything just to satisfy their boredom with eternity. Just because they created beings, it doesn't necessarily mean that they love or like their creation. Maybe we are just another version or iteration from a long line of creations they've made and they just don't care what happens to us. Our existence is meaningful to us ... but it might not be meaningful to the creator.
Well, any "god" that condemns their creations to eternal torture, is a dick in my view. And it doesn't matter if that affects all or just some of them.
I interpreted it as, "the worthy are being driven to madness and suicide". Like, Lovecraft-type shit.
Your story tho.
Edit: alternatively, the ones who are worthy are the ones committing suicide with the belief they'll be raptured. So you're left with the dilemma: if I stay alive, will I miss the rapture; and if I don't, will I go to heaven? The ambiguity and uncertainty makes it terrifying.
The aspect that didn't quite click for me is whether a "revered prophet" making an announcement would be bona fide confirmation that the rapture is beginning. Incorrect rapture declarations -- if one even believes in the Christian Rapture -- have been made before and in those cases, no one has similarly been observed to be taken away to heaven.
Perhaps the horror could be conveyed by way of some sort of unambiguous definitely-from-God sign that the rapture has started. Maybe some kind of battle-royale sign in the sky that counts the number of people taken to heaven -- and it remains stuck at zero. Or taking a page from Liu Cixin's famous trilogy, have the counter be in everyone's field of vision, even when their eyes are closed.