Originally posted by Snsoc
The word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible. The concept comes from 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 4, verse 17:

“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

The Greek word for “caught up” is harpazo, and it literally means “snatch.” (I can see why Christians invented the word “rapture.” If we went around saying we were “waiting for the Snatch,” we would be mocked endlessly.)

Another important word in that passage is “meet.” The Greek word is “apantesis.” It means to go out and meet and come back with.

Every time this is used in the Bible, it talks about a group of people who travel out a short distance to greet someone and then all of them immediately go back to the place where the group came from.

Here’s another important passage:

1 Corinthians 15: 50-52:

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

The Greek word for “last” is eschatos. Last in time sequence, and last in a series.

Those who claim that the Church will be raptured before the Tribulation say it will occur at the last trumpet, which they say is before the Anti-Christ’s 7-year reign, but then, they go on to say that there will be seven more trumpets after that. (Seven of the 21 judgments in Revelations are accompanied by the angelic blowing of a trumpet.) Those seven trumpets are in a series. So the last one is when the Snatch happens. Problem is, the seven trumpet judgments happen in the middle of the Book of Revelation. Revelation is always treated as a completely sequential series of events, and here is the Rapture happening in the middle or perhaps the end of the Tribulation.

Another important word in that last passage is “mystery.” The Greek word is “mysterion,” meaning hidden or secret thing. Guess where else it is used? In Revelations 10:7, when the 7th trumpet is blown. The last trumpet.

“But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets”.

The mystery of God is finished. And the rapture is called a mystery. So the rapture finishes at the time of the 7th trumpet. Not years before.

edit on 16-2-2013 by Snsoc because: (no reason given)

ok refering to this quote the 7th trumpet and the 7th seal you should refer to the mythology of 7 chakras in the body or scientificly 7 electrical receivers throughout the spine uh oh big eye opener here study it now as for the rapture and the becoming caught up into the air with him study the mythology of baptism and i dont mean the BS of putting your head in water.... the term water is a analogy for truth and air is a higher conciouness again dont let my spelling discourage you on what i say because this is a self truth to me more powerful than any nation or book besides the one that strengthens it the bible.... this person may or may not have more then his is divulging in his post baptism starts with water then air and end in fire the cleanse john said i baptise you in water but a greater one whom i diserve not to wear his shoes will come and baptise you with fire. the bible isnt meant too be taken literally im sorry but your spiritual acension is TOTALLY based upon you its part of the free will deal brother

lol ps your sitting here bashin ppl for being non believer when you cant see the forest for the trees im out of here before i get in trouble

i see your being hypothetical well im not your portraying a literal view which i do not like because it is a control tool by the fake church and simply how can you even answer your question when you got lies from the church and mass media so simply put no you wouldnt know and if you did you will be called a lunatic just like every other end time crier out there "hypothetically speaking", im sorry for not being much use. but i did not hijack your thread simply stated my opinion on the matter and the person i quoted simply put out facts idk what your agenda is but i got a bad vibe from the get go im sorry if its me again here is my two cents on the matter and futhermore you shouldnt become defensive because some one is wary of the subject as was i and this is textbook reason for me being wary also i was wrong on my entry so i guess it all worked out

An interesting question. My response is from a Christian perspective and I'll just be addressing the original post. I do however agree with the subsequent poster who places the rapture event at the time of the seventh trumpet, specifically at Revelation 14:14. At that point in the sequence many things will have occurred that could be verified as being accurate. The situation in the world would be much different than today, with the price for professing a belief in Christianity much higher. I imagine most of the fair weather Christians will have fallen to the wayside by this point but there will be some left that are in it for the control etc. Still, the vanishing of .even a few thousand people into thin air is something that would definitely be noticed...we can be captivated on a worldwide basis today with the disappearance of a single girl from a resort. Thousands? Oh yes. And the common thread will be that they are the most loving and kind of us all. And probably some people included that will surprise everyone

Originally posted by GRS1234
i see your being hypothetical well im not your portraying a literal view which i do not like because it is a control tool by the fake church and simply how can you even answer your question when you got lies from the church and mass media so simply put no you wouldnt know and if you did you will be called a lunatic just like every other end time crier out there "hypothetically speaking", im sorry for not being much use. but i did not hijack your thread simply stated my opinion on the matter and the person i quoted simply put out facts idk what your agenda is but i got a bad vibe from the get go im sorry if its me again here is my two cents on the matter and futhermore you shouldnt become defensive because some one is wary of the subject as was i and this is textbook reason for me being wary also i was wrong on my entry so i guess it all worked out

edit on 16-2-2013 by GRS1234 because: (no reason given)

Dear GRS1234,

Rather than responding to me so that I will know you were, you respond to another poster while talking to me. LOL. People on this site know how to check what games you are playing and if I am telling the truth about how you are approaching my thread. Deceitful you are and do not assume we are all stupid.

Now, lets talk about what you just posted. Hi. I am AQuestion and you are you. I present no control tools over others, only questions, Atheists ask me question and people that Atheists that are sincere ask me question, I doubt your sincerity. If you say I accept lies from the "church", you prove yourself a liar, read my past threads and try again. It is so simple, I asked a hypothetical, to believers and non-believers, answer it from your perspective rather than talk around it. It is really simple and both sides seem to have a problem with it because liars and self-centered people exist in both groups and neither wants to deal with the truth or the Jesus of the bible. Have a great weekend.

Sorry got the rapture and the apocalypse mixed up, too busy thinking about doors

The rapture would be kind of like what the Andromeda council say, an elevation to a fourth dimension, so in short, no those left behind would not notice it but the mass death involved in order to harvest the souls would certainly make ATS headlines.

However as the rapture is not mentioned in the bible, but is the invention of the Plymouth Brethren I won't be holding my breath waiting for it.

The 'rapture cult' was invented by failed Anglican priest, Nelson Darby, in the 1800s. It is nothing more than soul-candy .. a get-out-of-tribulation-free card which is very appealing to those who buy into it.

The rapture of believers before a tribulation is NOT in the bible.

There are tons of threads here at ATS debunking the 'rapture'.

It could be argued that there is a 'taking out' of the non-believers and a leaving of believers behind. There is plenty of scripture to support that. But there is no easy-way-out for believers. None. It hasn't happened through the thousands of years .. and it isn't happening in the future. Being a believer means suffering. There is no getting out of it.

Kinda sucky.

For Non-Christians, how would you know if the Rapture happened? Can you tell who is a Christian and who calls themselves christians and are not, do you lump us all together? Do you care who really is a follower of Jesus's principles and who is not, can you separate the hypocrites from the spiritual vermin? If you cannot then you would miss it too.

I would walk up to them and politely request food and a cup of water. If they refuse me, they are not true Christians.

"For truly I say, what you do for the least of your brothers, you do for me." Jesus of Nazareth

Just because I am not Christian, doesn't mean I don't respect the wisdom of Jesus as a fictional or historical figure.

If the pope is still here than obviously the rapture hasn`t happened, right?

surely the pope, who is gods right hand man on earth, will be raptured,right?

if the pope isn`t raptured than none of his followers has any hope of being raptured either because they follow the pope`s doctrine.

seriously though, I don`t know much about the rapture thing but it seems to me that if millions of people just up and disappeared in the blink of an eye there would be millions of missing persons reports being made.surely the MSM would be reporting a massive increase in missing persons reports overnight..
at the very least social media sites would be full of reports from people who had someone close to them disappear.

It would have to be a really small number of people worldwide disappearing for people not to notice.
so, yeah the rapture could happen and nobody would even notice, if only a few thousand people worldwide disappeared simultaneously.