Is the Rapture to Christianity what the 72 virgins are to Islam?

Question

Neither have any scriptural backing, but are all kinds of crazy believing them.

Some interesting and thoughtful answers here. :-)

Answer 1

They are probably more alike than you realize.

You'll get it when fundamentalist Christians take up suicide bombing (really, what better way of having your body taken directly to god than blowing yourself up.) It's a tactic that works very well in assymmetrical warfare, and it's not going away.

Answer 2

You are definitely a very interesting woman ! What a question ! The short answer would be no. The reason is simple. In the heaven we as Christians are told about in Scripture, there will be NO giving and taking in marriage, and in a place where sin cannot exist(due to us being in the presence of the Lord), there will be no sexually related issues. I would say that in the eyes of God, fooling about with 72 virgins would fall in the category of sin, which cannot exist in heaven. They just tell the Muslims that so they will go blow themselves up. A lot of the ordinary Muslims are kept uneducated, thus the only thing they can go by is what the Imam tells them. I'm afraid this 72 virgins thing is a pipe dream they have been brainwashed into believing. Our heaven will be bliss in God's presence, period. Who needs anything else ?

Answer 3

To an extent. There is a very keen difference though.

Christians who believe in the rapture are simply waiting for it and lacking in long term planning (i.e. part of why America doesn't care much about the environment, because half of them believe Jesus will return within the next couple decades so). The rapture does not make architects and engineers (educated people) fly planes into skyscrapers, the muslim belief does.

The difference is between waiting for your reward (a long wait for a train that's not coming) and having to die while killing nonbelievers to get your reward. The latter (the muslim alternative) is much worse, at least in the short term.

Answer 4

Jesus never said anything about a rapture.
Mohammad never said anything about 72 Virgins
While very many Christians believe in a rapture, very few Muslims believe in '72 Virgins'

Answer 5

islam teaches that you will have 72 something virgins when you die. However, My beat for you is that you should have that many on earth it's a lie.

Answer 6

Have you seen the picture with abunch of nuns standing around with shotguns and it said underneath "Do you think these are the Virgins the Muslims had in mind?"

Answer 7

i am christian and i agree
the only thing that worries me is if i convert to Islam and die a martyr what if there is a misinterpretation of the Koran and i get a 72 year old virgin

Answer 8

Both bring joy to the hearts of those who believe in them, even with the knowledge that countless people will die and supposedly suffer in hell in the process.

I think that's an interesting (and sickening) form of self-involvement.

Answer 9

"the 72 virgins are to Islam" We dont have this in Islam. This is propaganda.

Answer 10

Don't those 72 virgins have rights and exist as people unto themselves? I am sick of them being referred to as if they were a set of silverware won at a raffle.