[fish hawk]

You are in error my friend. The scriptures you quote are not the rapture but he second coming. I will show you: you have to back up to verse 37. But as in the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38: For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39: And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also be the coming of the Son of man be. Then verse 40 as you mentioned.

Look closely, the bad people were taken away not the good. In the rapture the good are to be snatched up. So many people get these verses wrong including many pastors. There are other scripture, however, that does speak of the rapture.

[do the dhue]

Look closely, the bad people were taken away not the good. In the rapture the good are to be snatched up. So many people get these verses wrong including many pastors

I respect your opinion but in my belief, your thought process hear is not fitting into the rest of the prophecy and scripture, because you have the tribulation that occurs next. Why would God remove all the bad people and leave the good behind to suffer the tribulation?

[do the dhue]

And I will not concede an argument, unless you can wrap your argument into a quote from the movie, “Outlaw Josey Wales” :-)

It is good that warriors like us meet on the road of life. I choose life. A quickened life:

1 Thessalonians 4:16 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain

16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17After 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. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

[Nuc1]

Who would have thought that Free Republic would spark a Biblical research project on Saturday but it seems to have. As I read Matthew 24 it seems to me that verses 24:27 et al deal with the return of Jesus Christ and that that return will be obvious to all, unlike the false prophets. And the verses you cite seem to me to say that the world will be oblivious to God up until the Second Coming in the same manner that he people of Noah’s time were oblivious to the hand of God until the flood started. It seems to me that verses 24:40, and 24:41 continue describing the gathering of the elect that was under way in verse 24:31. Anyway, FWIW that is how I understand the passages. A VERY interesting afternoon.