The Rapture

[Follow the Wolves]

Thoughts on it?

I personally don't believe in it. Got my reasons, I promise.

I'm just curious about other's opinions of it.  

[fagon]

First let's define what the "Rapture" is. The "Rapture" refers to a passage in First Thessalonians, chapter 4, which talks about Christians being "caught up" in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Many Christians believe, and the infamous "Left Behind" books (written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins) promote, that this being "caught up" to meet the Lord will occur before the Great Tribulation which is headed our way in the near future. Christians will simply vanish, meet Jesus somewhere in the air, and then return with Him to Heaven to await the end of time

But notice, in verse 17, Paul says that "...we who are alive, who are left," shall be caught up. Remember that...those who are "left" get caught up to meet the Lord.

The "Left Behind" books get their name from a passage in Luke 17 and a similar passage in Matthew 24 which talk about the coming of the Lord being like the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Matthew 24 puts it this way: "As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man...they ate, they drank, they married and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Then two men will be in the field, one is taken and one is left. Two women grinding at the mill, one is taken one is left."

"See," Rapture enthusiasts say, "One is taken, one is left...the Rapture! Jesus takes the Christians and leaves behind non-Christians!" Two problems with that interpretation: First, Jesus' coming is being compared to the days of Noah and the days of Lot. After the flood, who was left? Noah and his family...the good guys...the bad guys were taken! After Sodom and Gomorrah went up in smoke, who was left? Lot and his daughters...the good guys...the bad guys were taken! Second, remember 1 Thessalonians? It says that those who are "left" get to meet Jesus in the air. The good guys are left behind to meet Jesus.

In other words, you want to be left behind so that you can get caught up in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air and accompany Him back to earth at His 2nd and final coming. There will be no Rapture like the one the "Left Behind" books talk about...that view is not scriptural.  

[KabutoLuvr]

I've read and plan to re-read Terry Pratchett's and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens but have yet to get through more than a few verses of Revelations........... Still, I think Pratchett and Gaiman might've got a few things right.......  

[Retermined]

I personally believe in a rapture. Dunno why, I just feel it's right...  

[fagon]

Retermined

I personally believe in a rapture. Dunno why, I just feel it's right...

But you need actual reasons for belief in something. Our feelings are constantly changing. Making it very poor reasoning. Dare I say blind faith? Especially not good, since we see by faith (Hebrews 11:1-3)  

[Lord Rhapsody]

I do believe in The Rapture. My reasons being, 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17, also Acts 1:6-11.  

[fagon]

The_Great_Rhapsody

I do believe in The Rapture. My reasons being, 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17, also Acts 1:6-11.

So are you a Pre, Mid, or Post?  

[Follow the Wolves]

16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever


I see nothing indicating we'll be taken up prior to all Hell breaking loose.

6So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

7He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

All I see in indication that Jesus will return in power and glory, a way befitting a most powerful and mighty God.  

[Kezel]

The rapture a time feared by non-believers and a longing of believers.......uh is that right haha just writing how I feel haha  

[Marauder_Slade]

I just did a study & I pinpointed the rapture as happening during the 7th trumpet of Revalation in chapter 14 verse 16. So I am a mid.  

[Beth Turner]

The short version?
I believe in the premillennial return of Christ , an event which can occur at any moment, and that at that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies and the living in Christ shall be given glorified bodies without tasting death, and all shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the seven years of the Tribulation. I Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:42-44; 51-54; Phil. 3:20,21; Rev. 3:10.
I believe that the Tribulation which follows the Rapture of the Church will be culminated by the revelation of Christ in power and great glory to sit on the throne of David and establish the millennial kingdom. Dan. 9:25-27; Matt. 24:29-31; Luke 1:30-33; Isa. 9:6,7; 11:1-9; Acts 2:29,30; Rev. 20:1-4, 6.

Or the long version...
The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, which takes place in two parts:
A. That the first part is the rapture, the coming of the Lord “for” His saints.
1. That the period of time preceding the rapture will be characterized by general apostasy within the church (Thes. 2:1-30 ).
2. That while no one knows the day and hour of the rapture, (Matt. 24:36-42, Acts 1:7 ), true believers may know the “times and seasons,” (Lk. 21:29-33, 1 Thess. 5:1-8 ). It could take place anytime and it takes place in the twinkling of an eye (Matt. 24:44, 1 Cor. 15:52 ).
3. That when He comes, He will first by resurrection and translation remove from the earth His waiting church (1Thess. 4:16-18 ) who will caught up to meet Him in the air. “So shall they ever be with the Lord.” He does not set foot on earth at this time.
4. That the dead in Christ shall rise first and then they which are alive and remain. As they are caught up to be with the Lord, they will receive their glorified bodies, which are conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. So shall they ever be with the Lord. (Rom. 8:29, 1 Cor. 3:18, Phil. 3:20,21, 1 Thess. 4:16-17, 1 Jn. 3:2 ).
5. That shortly after the rapture, a seven-year period of time will begin variously known as “The Tribulation”, during which time God’s wrath will be poured out in righteous judgment upon the unbelieving world as in no other time in history. No born-again believer will be phased by this period of the great tribulation. (Jer. 30:6-7, Dan. 9:24-27, Matt. 24:21,29 ).
C. That the second part of Christ’s second coming is His revelation and glorious return with His saints at the end of the great tribulation. He will then destroy the armies of the antichrist at the battle of Armageddon (Joel 3:11-14, Titus 2:11-13, Jude 14, Rev. 16:13-16; 19:11-14 ).
1. That the Lord Jesus Christ will descend “in like manner” as the disciples
“beheld Him going into heaven.” (Acts 1:11 ). And “His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives” (Zach. 14:4,5,9, Rev. 1:7 ). At this time, the whole house of Israel will be restored to the land given to Abraham in Gen. 12-15.
2. That at his coming, He will establish His glorious and literal kingdom of heaven on earth and execute the judgment of the nations (Matt. 25:31-46 ). He will rule and reign for a thousand years during which Satan will be bound in the pit. The Lord of Lords in perfect peace. (Isa. 9:7, Hosea 2:18, Micah 4:3, Rev. 20:1-7 ).
3. At the close of His thousand year millennial reign, the Lord Jesus Christ will raise and judge the unsaved dead to the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:5, 11-15 ) and finally as the Son of David deliver up His Messianic Kingdom to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28 ) in order that as the Eternal Son, He may reign with the Father in the New Heaven and the New Earth throughout the dispensation of the fullness of times (Lk. 1:32-33, Eph. 1:10, 2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1; 22:5 ).  

[DeleteThis191919]

I myself take pride in believing in it. There's alot to the rapture, both symbollic and literal. I would not take it too lightly, taking in mind that the whole book of revelations, the last in the bible, is subject to it's message.  

[fagon]

The problem with all of the positions (except the historic, post-tribulational view, which was accepted by all Christians, including non-premillennialists) is that they split the Second Coming into different events. In the case of the pre-trib view, Christ is thought to have three comings—one when he was born in Bethlehem, one when he returns for the rapture at the tribulation’s beginning, and one at tribulation’s end, when he establishes the millennium. This three-comings view is foreign to Scripture.

Problems with the pre-tribulational view are highlighted by Baptist (and premillennial) theologian Dale Moody, who wrote: "Belief in a pre-tribulational rapture . . . contradicts all three chapters in the New Testament that mention the tribulation and the rapture together (Mark 13:24–27; Matt. 24:26–31; 2 Thess. 2:1–12). . . . The usual defense is made using three passages that do not even mention a tribulation (John 14:3; 1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. 15:52). These are important passages, but they have not had one word to say about a pre-tribulational rapture.
As far as the millennium goes, us Catholics tend to agree with St.Augustine and, derivatively, with the amillennialists. The Catholic position has thus historically been "amillennial" (as has been the majority Christian position in general, including that of the Protestant Reformers), though Catholics do not typically use this term. The Church has rejected the premillennial position, sometimes called "millenarianism"

The amillennial view interprets Revelation 20 symbolically and sees the millennium not as an earthly golden age in which the world will be totally Christianized, but as the present period of Christ’s rule in heaven and on the earth through his Church. This was the view of the Protestant Reformers.

Amillennialists also believe in the coexistence of good and evil on earth until the end. The tension that exists on earth between the righteous and the wicked will be resolved only by Christ’s return at the end of time. The golden age of the millennium is instead the heavenly reign of Christ with the saints, in which the Church on earth participates to some degree, though not in the glorious way it will at the Second Coming.

Amillennialists point out that the thrones of the saints who reign with Christ during the millennium appear to be set in heaven (Rev. 20:4; cf. 4:4, 11:16) and that the text nowhere states that Christ is on earth during this reign with the saints.

It's explain that, although the world will never be fully Christianized until the Second Coming, the millennium does have effects on earth in that Satan is bound in such a way that he cannot deceive the nations by hindering the preaching of the gospel (Rev. 20:3). They point out that Jesus spoke of the necessity of "binding the strong man" (Satan) in order to plunder his house by rescuing people from his grip (Matt. 12:29). When the disciples returned from a tour of preaching the gospel, rejoicing at how demons were subject to them, Jesus declared, "I saw Satan fall like lightning" (Luke 10:18 ). Thus for the gospel to move forward at all in the world, it is necessary for Satan to be bound in one sense, even if he may still be active in attacking individuals (1 Pet. 5:8 ).

The millennium is a golden age not when compared to the glories of the age to come, but in comparison to all prior ages of human history, in which the world was swallowed in pagan darkness. Today, a third of the human race is Christian and even more than that have repudiated pagan idols and embraced the worship of the God of Abraham.

In the 1940s the Holy Office judged that premillennialism "cannot safely be taught," though the Church has not dogmatically defined this issue.

With respect to the rapture, Catholics certainly believe that the event of our gathering together to be with Christ will take place, though we do not generally use the word "rapture" to refer to this event.  

[Yagami Light927]

At The Churches End

Thoughts on it?

I personally don't believe in it. Got my reasons, I promise.

I'm just curious about other's opinions of it.

What is Revelations about if theres no rapture? I can't wait for the rapture and I hope it is during my life time.  

[Beth Turner]

Yagami Light927

At The Churches End

Thoughts on it?

I personally don't believe in it. Got my reasons, I promise.

I'm just curious about other's opinions of it.

What is Revelations about if theres no rapture? I can't wait for the rapture and I hope it is during my life time.

Me too, but then I think about my future kids and I can't make up my mind... I want all my children to be saved before the rapture happens... I guess I need a few gap years, ha ha. sweatdrop