Posted on 03/22/2011 4:09:49 AM PDT by bkepley
Looks like everyone's here. Wife, cat, dog, me.
That’s a crackup, I wonder why so few views?
It is a creation of man.
It is in it's latin form in the Latin Vulgate, (Harpazo in the Greek.) The words mean to snatch up violently. Rapture is the tranliterated english form, which does not exist in english translations of the Bible, as it has no real meaning other than in reference to the Latin translation of scripture.
I will never forget the time my boss, female and a Christian had to get somewhere in a hurry in our very small school.
Her shoes were bothering her so she stepped out of her shoes right by her door and left. Someone came by later and asked where she was because she saw her shoes there and inquired if Susie got raptured.
The whole rapture business was a novelty introduced during the 19th century. It is not to be found in the Bible, nor in the writings of the Church fathers during the first 400 years after Christ’s resurrection, nor in the writings of the Protestant reformers, nor in the documents of Trent, etc., etc.
But millenialists are fun to watch...
Well they had trouble trying to understand things that were not in their cultural lexicon. Perhaps instead of “hand mills” God was telling them “handy malls”.
Amen Brother!
“Every knee shall bow”
Rev. 1:6
Reganator, you are correct. The SECRET rapture is not mentioned in the bible. This theory came about somewhere in the 1800’s and was never mentioned before that. Christ’s return is described as the loudest and brightest event in earth’s history. People get confused when they see the text about being caught up into the clouds to meet Jesus and they think this is the secret rapture. (read 1 thess 4:16-18). nothing secret or silent about it “loud command”, “voice of the archangel” “with the trumpet call of God”. Same basic description everywhere in the bible where the second coming is discussed. Matthew 24 does not talk about a secret rapture. Starting with verse 27-31, the language is again the same....loud, bright, violent “THEY WILL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY, WITH GREAT WITH GREAT POWER AND GREAT GLORY”. visible like lightening...”the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn (other texts describe wailing and gnashing of teeth”). When Christ comes for us, that’s it. No second chances. The dead in Christ rise first and then those of us who are alive in Christ. The thief in the night verses describe people who are not prepared for his coming (verse 42-44) and similiar language with the 10 virgins sleeping (or something like that) People have taken the secret rapture theory and run with it......books written, preached about. Nothing secret about the second coming at all (and no 7 year aftermath for second chances...... (no offence to anyone who believes in it). Just giving my opinion.
Rev. 1:7 “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”
Matt.24:31-33 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 yAll the nations will be gathered before Him, and zHe will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the asheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.”
2 Tim. 4:1 “ I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:”
John 5:28-29 “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation “
Me.
John 6:39-40 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will ...”
John 6A:54 “whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
2 Thess. 1:6-10 “since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with 3tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled hrest with us when ithe Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 jThese shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and kfrom the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, lto be mglorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who 4believe, because our testimony among you was believed.”
2 Peter 3:10-14 “ But pthe day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which qthe heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be 4burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be rin holy conduct and godliness, 12 slooking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will tbe dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will umelt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for vnew heavens and a wnew earth in which righteousness dwells.”
The Bible clearly states of the “day” Christ returns to judge, not days or even yrs. Every knee will bow and all will see. ALL.
When I was a teenager, the whole "Left Behind" series was recent and popular. I was likewise interested in the concept of the Rapture and how it would play out. After listening to people argue about it and disparage each other ad nauseum, though, I finally remembered the most important scripture:
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That's it. That's the key concept. Everything else is fluff, and not worth getting into a snit about.
How God chooses to implement that is frankly not my concern. I can't plan for it, I can't affect it, and I can't bargain for the method in which He'll carry it out. If there's a rapture, and it takes the believers, I don't expect to be around afterward. If there's a rapture, and it takes the unbelievers, I guess I'll still be here.
If I die before any rapture takes place, which is equally likely, the personal effect to me is still the same.
In the immortal words of Zap Brannigan: "Never have I been so intrigued by something I care so little about!"
He goes through all sorts of arithmetic contortions to arrive at his predictions, and they are always wrong. Sad. I wonder how many he leads away from Christ through disappointment?
I told you that diet was too extreme...
You are correct. The “Rapture” is an invention of post 1800 man. Christians before that were taught (biblically correct) the Second Coming, which is what I also believe. From what I’ve heard people say, they believe there will be a “Rapture” AND a Second Coming. I do not.
Every year we find more sources prior to Darby that outline a two phased second coming. Your view (that the doctrine of the rapture was invented by Darby) is utterly obsolete.
Nail, meet hammer.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 After 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. ...
I understand that the Futurists claim that this is the infamous Rapture passage. Sorry, it is not. No where in the passage does it talk about retreating from the Earth to some remote garden spot where a seven year wedding feast takes place. There is no U-Turn made by our LORD here nor is it implied. In fact, the Futurists have never given an explanation for why our LORD even has to appear! Can not the LORD, who made all things, simple beckon for the saints to immediately come in His presence? Is this not the pattern of a king to have His subjects come to Him? Do not the millions of Christians who have died go to Heaven in a manner that does not required a secret visit by our LORD? Is there anywhere, in all of Scripture, any example of our LORD appearing for the gathering up of the saints? Did our LORD appear for Enoch or for Elijah? Not only is this claim by the Futurists clearly denied in the parable of the Wheat and the Tares; not only is there a remarkable absence of Virgins as is in the Parable of the Ten Virigins; but the Futurist version completely contradicts, and is the opposite of the foreshadowing of the Parousia seen in all of the Gospels in the event of the Triumphal Entry.
John 12:12-13 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:
"Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' The King of Israel!"
It would probably serve you well to read the parallel passages in the Synoptic Gospels. The people went out of the city, met Him at the Mt of Olives and ushered Him into the city and to the Temple. I sincerely hope that it is not necessary to point out the significant symbolic foreshadowing and types being demonstrated here. The "meet" in 1 Thess 4:17 is the same as Matt 25:6 and Acts 28:15. In the latter, when the people went to meet with Paul, it wasn't to follow him into Rome.
Most of the claims of the Futurist are made up out of thin air and many words and ideas alien to the context need to be shoved into the isolated passages to even approach any sort of support for the Futurist's version of events. When viewed holistically with the Scriptures, the Futurist's claims are found to actually contradict the Bible.
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