The Museum of Hoaxes
HOME   |   ABOUT   |   FORUM   |   CONTACT   |   PINTEREST   |   FACEBOOK   |   TWITTER   |   RSS
The Top 100
April Fool Hoaxes
Of All Time
April Fool's Day
Gallery
Hoax Photo
Archive

Rapture Check
Status: Religious satire
RaptureCheck.org allows you to check the probability that the rapture has happened -- just in case you look out your window, see no one there, and get worried. Right now the rapture is listed as "Getting Close." Here's how it determines the imminence of rapture:

I made an assumption that the people who would regularly check RaptureCheck would be dispensationalist Christians concerned about the rapture. I further assumed that many, if not most, of these people would be raptured when and if the rapture occurred. RaptureCheck tests for the 100 most recent accesses from unique IP addresses of the above image. The rate at which the accesses are increasing or decreasing determines what it displays.

If I understand this correctly, it means that the more unique visitors rapturecheck.org receives, the less likely the site is to think that rapture has occurred. This logic seems questionable. After all, if rapture does occur, and all the sinners start checking rapturecheck to find out what's going on, the visitor rate will increase dramatically, causing the site to think that the rapture hasn't occurred.

Rapture Check is the creation of Cindi Knox, who writes that she's also a member of the band Terrycloth Lobster, "the greatest band you've never heard" (because it doesn't exist).
Categories: Religion
Posted by Alex on Wed May 21, 2008
Comments (6)
More from the Hoax Museum Archives:
Soooo, the more we blog about rapturecheck.org, the longer we can put off the Rapture! cool smile
Posted by Erica  in  Unraptured  on  Wed May 21, 2008  at  12:13 PM
When I checked just now, the status was "too late?"
Posted by Sakano  in  Ohio  on  Wed May 21, 2008  at  05:54 PM
aw, I thought this thread was about Debbi Harry and Blondie's hit from the 80's. Dag... guess I'll have to eat guitars
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Wed May 21, 2008  at  06:49 PM
Possibility of this website (or a facsimile thereof) being incorporated into the next (inevitable) 'Left Behind' film/novel?: Medium
Posted by Hugo  on  Wed May 21, 2008  at  10:03 PM
This logic seems questionable.


Dude! These people believe that a magical sky fairy will miraculously transport them to heaven on an arbitrary whim. I think their problems with logic are a teensy bit more serious than their measurement methodology.
Posted by The Barefoot Bum  in  San Francisco  on  Thu May 22, 2008  at  05:34 AM
So, if it's based on lots of people NOT logging in, if we all ignore it, will rapture happen then? And how will I know, as I am a sinner who would beg to be left behind with all the interesting, sane people?
Posted by Nona  on  Tue May 27, 2008  at  06:47 AM
Comments: Page 1 of 1 pages

Note: Comments by non-members are all checked by a moderator before appearing on the site. This may take a while. If you're not a spammer, you can join here.




Smileys