The rapture happens at the same time Christ returns. No one is going to escape the tribulation where we’re faced with agreeing with or denying the beast.
Sorry, pre-trib here!
That may be, it may also be (I certainly hope that pre-trib is true, so I won't have to go through it) — but, at the end of the day, the real question is this:
Jesus has the power to save, and has said he will save those who believe on him, so do you believe that he can and will do what he says?
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.This doesn't mean that you need blind [irrational] faith, believing-as-an-act-of-will; because God is rational, and he is reasonable too, he's not going to cast someone away just because they sometimes doubt; look at Thomas:
-- John 3:17-18
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”Indeed, even Paul gave a reply that deals with the idea of
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
-- John 20:24-29
if the resurrection were a lie:
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.and Jesus did not send away the man who expressed doubt:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.[b] 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being;
-- 1 Cor. 15:17-20
And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.Heck, even denying Jesus isn't unforgivable, look at Peter.
Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him, “If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”
After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.”
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand.
-- Mark 9:20-27