Matthew 24:36″No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Matthew 24 at this point is the chapter in Matthew which I probably struggle the most to wrap my mind around and to unlearn some very naive aspects of Evangelical Christianity. The Rapture being one of them. Not to be confused with the second coming of Jesus which I think is a biblical doctrine of orthodox Christianity. The “rapture” however has been anything but part of orthodox Chrstianity. Yet, when I became a follower of Jesus at age 18 it seemed like that was the only point of view that I heard when I walked into the Christian bookstore and was what Evangelical Christianity agreed with. It took me about 4 years to realize that the “rapture” as described by Jerry Jenkins and Tim Lahaye in their Left Behind series was actually created in the 1800’s and there isn’t a whiff of anything or anyone supporting it in the previous 1800 years of church history.
I’m not really going to try to pick this apart in a blog post but I figure I’d let my three favorite authors have some opening words (their books go into greater detail) and then in the next several months I’ll add my thoughts as I read through Matthew once a month.
Scot McKnight has an article where he dismantles the “rapture”
N.T. Wright says “Farewell to the Rapture”
Ben Witherington suggest that we leave it behind for Lent along with a few other theologically bizarre things.
But in case Ben Witherington/Scot McKnight/N.T. Wright are wrong and Tim Lahaye and Jerry b. Jenkins are right about some visions a girl had that John Darby created in the 1800’s…
Here is a pet watching service.
Here is a website that will clear up to your relatives why they can only find your shirt, pants, shoes and undies and not you.
Sorry, this post probably has a bit more sarcasm than it should but I think this is something that evangelicals need to have a longer theological memory and see where they are just being fed a crazy story and move on.
The Rapture…really?
Do I believe in the “rapture”? As described by the Left Behind Series…absolutely not.
Do I believe that Jesus is coming back. Absolutely
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