Rapture

My Question is: Who are these people who have experienced "Rapture?" If this was a truism wouldn't people be appealing to their Religion for this experience? How could anything so wonderful be kept from the public? Is it possible that the "mark of the beast," and the "anti Christ," are just ideas floated by some religions for the sake of scaring their parishioners into tithing for the church? Rapture, by the same token is like a promise that never comes true. Please base your teaching on facts that can be proven. Most religious belief is assumption. The time has come to introduce proven facts into religious belief!

The word rapture does not appear in the King James bible. I use the King James version because it is the closest and earliest version of the bible in English. According to all that I have learned about the rapture, many people believe that CHRIST will come back first and rapture the good christians away before Satan appears to destroy the rest of us. The only problem with this theory is that it is just that, a theory! It is not biblical! I believe it was the early 1800's but please don't quote me on the year when a very ill woman by the name of Margaret Macdonald revealed the rapture theory to the priests. She even revealed to them the fact that she thought it was very evil. Many christians now believe that 2Thess:4:17 means that CHRIST will rapture some away before Satan shows up. It shall not happen in this manner. Please go back to the Old Testament with me, Ezekiel 13:20. GOD makes it very clear that he is against the fly away doctrine. God does more teaching about the end times from the Old Test. than the New Test. I'm not asking you to believe what I'm saying but when a supernatural being "stands up in Jerusalem claiming to be Jesus" please remember this reply. That being will not be Jesus but the anti-christ, the "instead of" Jesus. Besides, being "caught up in the air" means to be caught up in the spirit. May God bless

I have to agree with sjlukacs on this one. Looking earlier in Mathew 24 you see that Jesus is talking about the day of when Rome turned on Israel and the days of tribulation began. Also notice that if you look at this the word taken isn't a good thing it means the same as the days of Babylon when Israel was taken away as slaves. Again at the end of Mathew it says that when the Lord returns the ones he will remove are the trouble makers.

The "Left Behind" series is so poorly written and with such convoluted theology that it's not even worth putting any stock in it. I don't believe in the Rapture; I believe that whatever tribulations are coming, everyone's going to have to suffer through them. That being said, I do believe that people should always be ready for the Second Coming of Christ...vigilance is key here. In case you were wondering, no, I'm not an evangelical Protestant. I'm one of those dastardly papists that some people fall over their feet trying to "save". ^_^ Bwahaha!

Only God and Christ really know how it will happen but it will happen according to the book of Revolations. If you've read the books 'Left Behind' series and studied the Bible, it is pretty clear what to be looking for and the signs when it begins. Each religion has their own views about it but the Bible speaks very clear to me. Maybe it's best not to be concerned about when but being prepared when it does occur. I'd rather be raptured than left here to deal with the horrible outcome until He returns. For your debate or class, I'd research the subject through the many books written about it and the scriptures as well to get your information for it. Good luck.