Great post!
I don’t think the idea of the rapture has been around that long and I’ve always found the proof texts as proof that we will all eventually die and face judgement but nothing more.
I live pretty close to the New Life Center (Haggard’s former church). The number of people that believe this garbage around here is staggering.
I don’t think the idea of the rapture has been around that long
Depends how you understand the concept of rapture. If you mean the dispensational secret rapture, we know precicely when and where that appeared, and it's not very old at all.
>>I don’t think the idea of the rapture has been around that long...<<
It depends on who you talk to and what that person means by “rapture”. The word itself may be new, but the concept is quite literally as old as the Bible, depending on what the person using the word actually means.
It is not uncommon for threads on the subject to get bogged down by nuances in the definition of the word “rapture” rather than what it is talking about.
If I start calling it the “great taking away at around the time of the return of Christ”, then people start asking what I mean by that. I can then quote various scriptures in an attempt to prove my position. But when I call it the “rapture” people say, “I don’t see that word in the bible”. And everyone starts arguing about a word.
My response to that is pffffth.