[Royce to the Right]

The view of most conservative scholors is that many of those so called "symbolic" passages you refer to are not symbolic at all.

It strains logic to understand how Christ can come; 1. "as a thief in the night" and, 2."with power and great glory and every eye will see Him", at the same time.

More often than not, those who hold to the view that there is one coming of Christ, one judgement, and one resurrection event, are equally wrong on the doctrine of the gospel of the Grace of God that Paul preached.

I do not claim to be authoritative on the subject of escatology. However, to dismiss the pre-trib rapture as scripturally unfounded is a weak arguement to say the least. One can make a very good arguement for either pre, post,or mid tribulation, and pre, post, and amillinial using the word of God.

The truth is only one view can be right. And, what ever your view or mine is, the important thing is this. What have you done about the person and work of Christ? One truth that is not up for discussion is that He is the only way to the Father.

[Jean Chauvin]

"It strains logic to understand how Christ can come; 1. "as a thief in the night" and, 2."with power and great glory and every eye will see Him", at the same time. "

Your problem with the logic is, I think, based on the assumption that a thief must not be seen.

This is a false assumption.

Have you ever heard of a bank robbery in full daylight while there are customers at the bank? Yes, it happens with regularity.

Have you ever heard of a car jacking in full daylight in the middle of the street? Yes, it happens with regularity.

The fact that only ~some~ thieves use the cloak of darkness to carry out their thefts should not lead you to the conclusion that ~all~ thieves must ~necessarily~ be secretive or out of sight. That concept is actually logically invalid.

No, the only requirement for a theif is that he come by ~suprise~ or that he come ~unexpectedly~.

What good is a theif when one knows that he is coming. No, the theivery will only be successful ~if~ it is unexpected.

Therefore, since Christ has told us that the "day of the Lord" will come as a thief in the night", it would be incorrect (faulty logic) to conclude that this ~must~ be a secret coming. Rather, the point of that passage is such that his coming will be unexpected by the world, but we are told in that very same passage to be "ready".

Jean

[CCWoody]

The truth is only one view can be right. And, what ever your view or mine is, the important thing is this. What have you done about the person and work of Christ? One truth that is not up for discussion is that He is the only way to the Father. ~ RTTR

I consider it rather important (I agree that the Lord Jesus is the only way to the Father) that:


1. The pre-Trib dispy crowd seems to suggest that the OT Jews found another way to the Father besides faith in the Lord Jesus.
2. The pre-Trib dispy crowd claims that the Father has a bride in Israel and the Son has a bride in the Church which makes God into a Polygamist.

Therefore, in light of these 2 concerns (they aren't the only ones) I think that the pre-Trib dispy eschatology is a rather dangerous snake to play with.

Woody.