Posted on 07/14/2021 5:25:10 AM PDT by Cronos
Does the Eastern Orthodox Church believe in the Rapture?
Eastern Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics and some mainline Protestants view the Rapture as heretical teaching of the Christian faith. It was not preached or believed prior to 1830 A.D. when John Nelson Darby individually proclaimed that his teaching is what the Bible says Christ will do when he comes again. Jesus, Paul, Peter, John or any of the writers of the Bible or Christian church fathers did not preach about the Rapture.
The Rapture teaches the four comings of Jesus — first, his birth in Bethlehem; second, his secret coming to snatch away (Rapture) the select few; third, his thousand-year reign; and fourth, the final judgment at the end of time. In the Bible, there are only two, not four, comings of Christ.
Passages of Scripture that allude to the event of the Rapture are in actuality referring to the second coming or final judgment of Christ. He will return a second time to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
The Rapture teaches that select born-again Christians will float into the clouds — no matter where they are or what they are doing — to meet the Lord in the clouds.
If they are driving, their passengers may die. If they are a pilot flying a plane, their passengers may most likely die in a plane crash. If they are a surgeon in the middle of surgery, the patient probably might die. If they are parents with young children and babies, who will take care of the abandoned children?
A better explanation of this heretical teaching can be viewed below
The last person to ask is an Orthodox or Catholic about things that require study of Scripture and not repetition of dogma.
That’s a rather broad brush youre painting with. It also smacks of a certain disdain andvelement of superiority over other denominations.
CC
Oh, wait ...
/s
I know plenty about the Bible. I also know a little about argumentation. Anytime you guys get pushed, you retreat into ad hominem arguments, your post above being a sterling example.
It's all you have. You have to attack your opponents because you can't actually respond with logic and evidence.
A Catholic or Orthodox would say the same thing about someone who buys themselves a Bible, appoints themselves Pope, and ascribes to an unbiblical theology that no Christian ever believed until less than 200 years ago.
Reading Greek is a great starting point for the NT. It can tell you what the legitimate possibilities of a passage are based on grammar. It is a start. It is just a beginning.
If you know something about the Bible, great.
PS - your post was an ad hominem :-)
It is the nature of dogmatic religion to engage in repetition. The thinking is done. If you disagree, you better keep it to yourself.
It also smacks of a certain disdain andvelement of superiority over other denominations.
There is no superior denomination. There is Christ and Scripture. The rest is less. It is about Him.
This is the majority of Catholics who favor a smorgasbord approach, picking and choosing what they will accept. Though Bible is not necessary. Pope isn't necessary either, based on the threads on FR.
Did that have anything to do with the range of horrific death sentences ordered by corrupt mainline European churches to anyone disagreeing with them?
To say there is no rapture means interpretation of Revelation has to be done in such a way as to not contradict doctrine... meaning symbolically... which is convenient since symbolism can be invented by clergy to support whichever doctrine one wants.
A more literal reading of Revelation raises the question why between Rev 4 and Christ's return in Rev 19 which is the seven year period of the tribulation does the church/believers only appear in heaven?
Illiteracy reigned more than 200 years ago and illiterate Christians had to believe whatever their corrupt churches told them was in scripture.
I believe every word of scripture, please tell me where in scripture the word “rapture” appears.
Rapture does not appear in the Bible. But 1 Thess. 4:15,16,17 describes an event that sounds wonderful. It would give me rapture.
/ˈrapCHər/
Learn to pronounce
noun
1.
a feeling of intense pleasure or joy.
Just as I expected but not as I hoped, the comments here imediately devolved into useless judgmentalism. We all serve Christ first and foremost, so we do not need the approval of others, but of Christ.
So let’s look at this issue as logically as possible. There are two possibililties: Jesus will take up the church right before the Tribulation begins, or He will return with those who have died in Him, to retrieve those who are in Him but not dead, and establish His Kingdom.
We cannot speak with 100% certainty that either one has to be right and the other wrong, so instead, let’s ask the question: if I have to prepare for one, which preparation is more likely to strengthen my faith and make me useful to Christ for his work both at the End Times and in general?
The answer is clear. If I prepare for a pre-Trib Rapture and discover myself in Day Two of the Tribulation, I am unprepared for the suffering I will need to ensure for His sake, and much more likely to fail Him. If, howevr, I prepare for a post-Trib Rapture and discover myself with Christ in Day Zero of the Tribulation, I have lost nothing, since the preparation for the suffering of the Tribulation has also strengthened me to ensure whatever pre-Trib suffering I must ensure for Him.
So I am better off assuming there is not a pre-Trib Rapture and preparing myself in Him accordingly, expecting and considering it all joy when I am called to ensure suffering for His sake. To put it another way, the warrior prepares for the battle and is happy when the battles does not occur, rather than not preparing for the battle and then being at a loss when it does occur.
A well documented letter from Paul to the church at Thessalonica written in about 51 AD prior to the Revelation.
When does this happen?
In I Thess 5:9, Paul tells us that "God hath not appointed us to wrath . . . . " And in a second letter, written shortly after the first, he tells us in II Thess 2:3: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except . . . that man of sin be revealed . . . . "
Revelation Chapter Six concludes with 6:17: "For the great day of his wrath has come . . . . "
And thus next in Revelation Seven, at 7:9-17, we see the saved Christians in heaven before the throne of God.
Recognize that Revelation Six describes six events and conditions that occur in order at the breaking of six seals on a scroll; the first five of those seals have been broken and the events and conditions have been seen exactly as described; event six--Revelation 6:12, is a Great Earthquake in which "all of the mountains and islands are moved out of their places". That does not appear to have happened yet.
Jesus says he stands at the door and knocks that whoever will admit him, he will enter. Point of the foregoing is the implicit suggestion that door may, at some point, close--so each of us should examine our own hearts and consider our condition carefully.
Well, to be fair, the word “trinity” is not in the Bible either.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, call upon His name for salvation. Turn in faith to life in Christ.
Hosea 6:3 “ Oh, that we might know the LORD!
Let us press on to know him.”
Study to know the Lord to worship Him in truth.
You do not help your argument by getting something wrong in how you present the competing view.
I have never encountered folks that, believing in the Millennial Kingdom, also believe that Christ isn’t there during it. Which means He, being already here, cannot return a 4th time.
This point I just made is entirely separate from the idea of a rapture, btw. It neither supports nor denies the idea.
Show me in a credible translation where the word "Trinity" appears in scripture and I'll show you "rapture".
Neither of us can. The Trinity is revealed by studying scripture and recognizing the relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Similarly, studying scripture will also reveal the rapture. However, this study will be more difficult for those whose doctrine does not allow for a rapture such as replacement theology, amillennialism, AD70 fullfilment, etc,.
Do you accept the Book of Revelation as scripture?
Having grown up in the Greek faith, I used to ask my Mother about the rapture since it was never talked about in church.
Her answer was we don’t concern ourselves with this and instead focus on the teachings of Christ.
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