Before the rapture, there was a constant debate between practitioners of different faiths over who had the right idea behind creation. Of course, the only way to know for certain was to die and for most people, this was out of the question. When you really take a look into many human religions, however, you begin to notice a pattern.
This pattern was angels. Across the globe, many ancient religions adopted the idea of heavenly mediaries between humans and whatever god or gods they believed in. Many of these beings even took the form of human beings and walked among them.
Now how is it that these ancient cultures, separated by thousands of miles of land and sea, came to such similar conclusions? Who were these strange beings, and what was their divine purpose?
...
The day the rapture came began like any other but by noon the world was in chaos. It was all over the news. Beings of pure light, descending from the sky to take away the faithful. Planes fell from the sky, cars stopped in the middle of the street, and in hours essential services began to falter as billions disappeared from the Earth. By the end of the day, the rapture had ended. Cities across the globe were frozen in time as their inhabitants were nowhere to be found.
By sunrise the next day, it was clear, though, that not everyone had ascended. Those that had remained bore a mark etched into the flesh of their forehead in a language no person could read.
These people began their work piecing back together what remained of society, and the question of what the symbol could possibly mean was put on the back burner for the first years after the end.
In Christian theology, it is said that the faithful would be taken into God's kingdom before the end times. But the remains of humanity still had among it even the most devout of Christians. In fact, it had become apparent that those taken during the rapture had nothing in common. They came from different races, classes, religions, sexualities, and cultures. Yet the only common denominator they shared was that they were human.
This puzzled theologists and scientists alike. What set them apart from those who were raptured all those decades ago? Years passed, society was rebuilt slowly, and the human race began to flourish once more. As the population began to rebound, it was discovered that every new child conceived after the rapture was born with the same symbol on their head. Perhaps this cruel scar the survivors possessed had some clue as to why they were not chosen by God.
The question of what the symbol meant came to the forefront of the greatest minds humanity still had to offer. Ruins and temples around the planet were scoured for any clue of what it could mean.
The answer came deep in a burial site in an isolated area of the Valley of Kings in Egypt. In the central chamber of the tomb, massive paintings containing horrific scenes covered the walls. In the images, what looked like angels harvested crowds of people like a farmer would harvest a field of wheat, as people with the mark fell to their hands and knees in worship. The angels also bore a mark on their heads, similar to the one found on the survivors. These marks were found in various other areas of the chamber surrounded by other unknown symbols and more familiar hieroglyphs.
With the knowledge that the hieroglyphs and the symbols were somehow related, humanity's last remaining linguists set to work on translating the foreign glyphs. Slowly the pieces began to fall together, until the two symbols and their meanings were deciphered.
With the language fully translated, the symbol's meanings were presented for the first time at a summit of the world's foremost religious and scientific leaders. One of the linguists fed the symbols into a machine and the screen in front of the auditorium came to life. Horror filled the room as the symbol on their heads was translated as "inedible" or "do not harvest, not fit for consumption" when used in the phrases found in the chamber. The mark the angels bore, was loosely translated as "Otherworldy" or, "not from this planet" in context.
BreachAndClearV2 t1_j9l4x6x wrote
Reply to [WP] After the Christian Rapture happened to everyone's considerable shock, those left behind (and those born to them after) all had a strange, unremovable marking appear on their foreheads. It took decades to translate, but the result was horrifying; "Do not harvest, not fit for consumption." by savagekingsavage
Before the rapture, there was a constant debate between practitioners of different faiths over who had the right idea behind creation. Of course, the only way to know for certain was to die and for most people, this was out of the question. When you really take a look into many human religions, however, you begin to notice a pattern.
This pattern was angels. Across the globe, many ancient religions adopted the idea of heavenly mediaries between humans and whatever god or gods they believed in. Many of these beings even took the form of human beings and walked among them.
Now how is it that these ancient cultures, separated by thousands of miles of land and sea, came to such similar conclusions? Who were these strange beings, and what was their divine purpose?
...
The day the rapture came began like any other but by noon the world was in chaos. It was all over the news. Beings of pure light, descending from the sky to take away the faithful. Planes fell from the sky, cars stopped in the middle of the street, and in hours essential services began to falter as billions disappeared from the Earth. By the end of the day, the rapture had ended. Cities across the globe were frozen in time as their inhabitants were nowhere to be found.
By sunrise the next day, it was clear, though, that not everyone had ascended. Those that had remained bore a mark etched into the flesh of their forehead in a language no person could read.
These people began their work piecing back together what remained of society, and the question of what the symbol could possibly mean was put on the back burner for the first years after the end.
In Christian theology, it is said that the faithful would be taken into God's kingdom before the end times. But the remains of humanity still had among it even the most devout of Christians. In fact, it had become apparent that those taken during the rapture had nothing in common. They came from different races, classes, religions, sexualities, and cultures. Yet the only common denominator they shared was that they were human.
This puzzled theologists and scientists alike. What set them apart from those who were raptured all those decades ago? Years passed, society was rebuilt slowly, and the human race began to flourish once more. As the population began to rebound, it was discovered that every new child conceived after the rapture was born with the same symbol on their head. Perhaps this cruel scar the survivors possessed had some clue as to why they were not chosen by God.
The question of what the symbol meant came to the forefront of the greatest minds humanity still had to offer. Ruins and temples around the planet were scoured for any clue of what it could mean.
The answer came deep in a burial site in an isolated area of the Valley of Kings in Egypt. In the central chamber of the tomb, massive paintings containing horrific scenes covered the walls. In the images, what looked like angels harvested crowds of people like a farmer would harvest a field of wheat, as people with the mark fell to their hands and knees in worship. The angels also bore a mark on their heads, similar to the one found on the survivors. These marks were found in various other areas of the chamber surrounded by other unknown symbols and more familiar hieroglyphs.
With the knowledge that the hieroglyphs and the symbols were somehow related, humanity's last remaining linguists set to work on translating the foreign glyphs. Slowly the pieces began to fall together, until the two symbols and their meanings were deciphered.
With the language fully translated, the symbol's meanings were presented for the first time at a summit of the world's foremost religious and scientific leaders. One of the linguists fed the symbols into a machine and the screen in front of the auditorium came to life. Horror filled the room as the symbol on their heads was translated as "inedible" or "do not harvest, not fit for consumption" when used in the phrases found in the chamber. The mark the angels bore, was loosely translated as "Otherworldy" or, "not from this planet" in context.