Posted on 01/14/2011 5:57:52 PM PST by topcat54
Evangelical book catalogs promote books such as Planet Earth: The Final Chapter, The Great Escape, and the Left Behind series. Bumper stickers warn us that the vehicle’s occupants may disappear at any moment. It is clear that there is a preoccupation with the idea of a secret rapture. Perhaps this has become more pronounced recently due to the expectation of a new millennium and the fears regarding potential Y2K problems. Perhaps psychologically people are especially receptive to the idea of an imminent, secret rapture at the present time. Additionally, many Christians are not aware that any other position relative to the second coming of Jesus Christ exists. Even in Reformed circles there are numerous people reading these books. Many of these people are unaware that this viewpoint conflicts with Scripture and Reformed Theology.
(Excerpt) Read more at reformed.org ...
And not a peep of it in the scriptures...Jesus was taken to heaven and a bible was written about it...Jesus' mother was taken to heaven and not a peep...UNTIL 400 YEARS LATER...
You still interested in that tropical island for sale in New Mexico???
How is that not exactly the same as calling 'one Lord one faith one baptism' a liar?
I am not responsible for your hatred of Catholicism clouding your ability for cognitive reasoning. I do find it ironic that those of you who accept the assumption of Elijah and plan for your own rapture find it implausible that Mary, who was already judged by God and held sinless, was given "cuts in line". You guys really are pathetic and inconsequential to Catholicism.
Was it possible for anyone in the book of Matthew to get saved without the Holy Spirit???
I disagree....there's another element you are not considering and that is I have often noted the RM allows exchanges to continue as they are quite aware that these often work themselves out between posters...and or fade out on their own. They know the tempo of these threads and probably know the posters better than they do themselves as well as what to expect as things heat up. Has nothing to do with their own prejudices.... rather they know their job well and the terraine in which they are doing it..IMO.
So? Legend has it that Arthur pulled Excalibur from a stone. Why would an anti-Catholic drag up a legend about Mary to prove a theological point?
I find your opinion to be obsequious and sycophantish.
Testy today are we?
No. In fact it is not possible for anyone, OT or NT, to be saved apart from the operation of the Holy Spirit.
As which thread/post was (s)he been called a liar?
The Church comes from the entire Bible, not just snippets of Paul mixed with the OT. We primarily focus on Jesus Christ with the faith handed down to us from the Apostles who got it from Jesus Himself.
Here is where we seriously part ways in terms of our beliefs. We believe in Christ as written in the Gospels. We believe that Paul was a bishop of the Church and responsible for evangelizing and instructing his flock, not creating new theologies from the OT. We believe that Christ is the main, the focus and the whole point of Christianity.
You also can't help but notice that Stephen's sermon was drawn entirely from the OT.
Correct. He was arguing for his life with the Jewish high court. There were no NT Scriptures at all at this point and the Jews would not have listened anyway.
Even the Bereans were praised because they confirmed what they were to know of Jesus Christ from the testimony of the OT.
Context, context. The Bereans were practicing Jews who read the OT. They were searching to see how this new preaching fit the Tanakh's writings. They did not learn Christianity from the Tanakh - they had to learn it from the Christian evangelizers such as Paul. You cannot arrive at Christian beliefs with the Creeds and the Trinity strictly from the OT alone. You need the Gospels, the rest of the NT, and the interpretation of the Church.
I view the NT to be a Holy Spirit inspired commentary on the OT Scriptures. When we read Romans, we are reading the OT, but we now see that the mystery revealed is that the Gospel was given to men of all nations and that the Gentiles are granted in to the promises made to Abraham. When Paul expresses his joy, he articulates the doctrines in light of the mystery revealed.
That is not Christianity; that is a version of Paulianity.
The key to understanding the Scriptures is by the Revelation of the Paraclete (1 Cor 2:14). The Jews had the OT and didn't see the Messiah. Up until Pentecost, the eleven remaining disciples of Christ who were personally taught by our LORD for three years still didn't understand and even at the Day of His Ascension to His throne in Heaven, they were still looking for an OT styled physical earthly reign. It wasn't until the Gift of the Spirit in the upper room at Pentecost did they then understand and from there were they able to preach the Gospel boldly.
I'm a bit puzzled here as to the extent of Christ in your theology. Is He a name or concept only?
The Gentiles heard the OT made alive by the Paraclete as appointed by God, and they believed. So based on the 1 Corinthians 2:14 Principle, it is not the Sola Scriptura in our salvation, it is the Scriptures + the Holy Spirit. Same story, now served with a dash of the Spirit.
Interesting concept - if I understand you correctly, your beliefs run to the man Paul, buoyed by the Holy Spirit. Where is Jesus in all this?
Thank you for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!
Which people? TT makes an excellent point in that even the Apostles didn't fully understand the divinity of Jesus until Pentecost. The Jews and those most expert in the OT rejected Jesus entirely. It took a blinding flash on the road to Damascus and curing of his blindness to convert Paul. Jesus taught from the OT numerous times and gave them a novel interpretation that almost all Jews rejected and still do to this day.
So true...One has to Allegorize the book of Revelation or claim the events already took place in order to miss the Rapture in the book of Revelation...
OK, I'll bite. Where is it? "Come up here and I will show you the things that will take place after this" ain't it.
That reminds me, I haven't seen Robert Tilton's latest used hanky offer. I wonder if he, like Peter Popoff, thinks that the US issues 25 dollar bills.
400 feet change in what? tides or since the last glaciation? There was a tidal wave that hit Cornwall that raised the sea level about 40 feet a few hundred years ago.
And somehow they think a difference of opinion in non-salvation issues equals the tyranny of an "infallible" priestcraft; the idolatry of a "co-mediator;" the alchemy of an endless "re-sacrifice" during the mass; and the blasphemy of following "another Christ."
Post #702.
"You now have stooped to fabricating a story about God's Holy Scripture...You have no credibility..."
That is simply a garrulous surrogate for saying "you lied".
Is the rapture in the Bible?
The catching up of the Church to meet the returning Jesus in the clouds, to the accompanying sound of the trumpet of God and voice of the archangel, is.
The magical secret invisible transporter-beam out in the nick of tribulation Rapture is not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.