posted on Sep, 6 2010 @ 05:43 PM
reply to post by jazz10
People say the word 'Rapture' doesn't occur in the bible. Arguably, in the Vulgate translation, the word is found under the latin 'Rapier', hence
the variation and translation 'rapture'.
The concept of this 'rapture' is bound up in a particular word 'Harpadzo' which is found in several portions of the Christians scriptures, such as
1 Thessalonians 4 (I think,) the book of Acts, Revelation, and Paul describing his vision of the 3rd heaven. It is sometimes dfined as 'caught up',
but can equally be defined as 'snatched up/snatched away', it has connotations of a swift and sudden removal from a /the scene.
Based on the epistles and interpretations of the words of Jesus, believers (many/most/not all?) believe that Christ is returning for His bride, the
Church, and that He will come and snatch them away from the earth. Huge debate has risen in the various denominations of the church about where/when
this will happen in the grand scheme of things. GOD has a timeline and chronolgy for all these events to happen. The truth is, no-one is really sure
when it will happen. If I can be blunt and simplistic, all the varying strands of theology on this matter believe that Christ will come to 'rapture'
His bride/the church either:
1: Before the arrival of the Antichrist
2: During the reign of the Antichrist
3: At the end of the Antichrists' reign and immediate return of Christ to the earth.
4: It is all pictorial, there is no antichrist, no second coming.
Hope this helps to some degree. Feel free to U2U me if you want to go into this at any depth. As far as I'm concerned, there is compelling reasons to
believe all of the above apart from number 4.
I guess my argument would be, regardless of the answer, BE READY.