Trailblazer
Veteran Member
The Baha'i definition is that there is no such thing as a Rapture.
We think the belief is based upon a misinterpretation of the Bible.
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What is the Rapture?
- Thread starter John D. Brey
- Start date
We think the belief is based upon a misinterpretation of the Bible.
True, but Revelation does not mention the Rapture of disappearing people. Rather Revelation mentions the righteous living under the reign of the Christ for a 1000 years - that is quite scientifically possible and I believe will happen.
exchemist
Veteran Member
This is brilliant! What deranged lunacy!
exchemist
Veteran Member
Yes this is by far the most intelligent interpretation.There are at least four different interpretations of Revelations. You espouse the view called futurism, when believes that everything in Revelation is about the end times. That is popular NOW among evangelicals, but such has not always been the case. For hundreds of years, Protestants preferred the approach known as historicism, in which each of the bowls, trumpets, scrolls, etc are a different period in history. I espouse the view called Preterism. Preterism states that Revelations was about current events during the Jewish-Roman war in the first century. Believers then would have readily known what all the symbolism applied to. For example, Caesar Nero adds to 666, and pagan Rome is the whore of Babylon. You can learn more about Preterism here:
Preterism - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
John D. Brey
Well-Known Member
John D. Brey
Well-Known Member
Context and spirit is the prism through which every interpretation comes. Details are often weighted to justify a given perspective. So it becomes a matter of how serious the exegete is and how deep his contextual understanding of the material is.
The first 3 chapters of Revelation deal with the church; speaking mostly about the church. Then, chapter 4 begins by speaking of a door opening in heaven. After this door opens in heaven the church isn't mentioned a single time in the remainder of the book. In the first 3 chapters of the book, the church is mentioned twenty times. In the remaining 20 chapter (after the door is opened in heaven and a member of the church is take up ---John) the church isn't mentioned again throughout the book. . . In a sense, John represents the church watching the goings on on earth from the Archimedean Perch of heaven. Revelation 4-19 are what the church will see from their high perch in the heavenlies.
Far from believing I will myself go through the Tribulation post Rapture, I've actually stocked up on enough popcorn to last me seven years.
John
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Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I would suggest canned soup instead. Soup never goes bad, it lasts well beyond the expiration date, but popcorn goes bad.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
The "rapture" is a Christian doctrine first theorized in the 1800s. Rather than the traditional Christian belief that Jesus would only come back a second time at the resurrection, it postulates a three time thing, where before the resurrection he comes back and removes all Christian believers from the earth. There is debate among rapture believers whether this will happen before, during, or after the tribulation. And of course it should be mentioned that the only people who believe in the rapture are those who take a Futurist approach to revelation, which is currently very trendy among evangelicals, replacing historicism, which held sway among protestants for hundreds of years. Adherents to rapture theory basically take a shlew of verses that have been traditionally understood to describe the second coming and resurrection, and reinterpret them as an earlier coming.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
You won't regret it. It is one of the most astounding books on Revelation out there, it has no peer IMHO.
Whether you believe anything in the book of Revelation, you do need to realize that a Rapture with a million or more people disappearing in an instance is not mentioned anywhere in it (it may be mentioned in Thessalonians by Paul). So, there is really no need to look for a scientific possibility for it. However, Revelation does mention a 1000 year reign of the Christ for righteous on Earth - that is scientifically possible.
John D. Brey
Well-Known Member
I'm one of those ignorant bible-toters who believe you can't truly understand the Bible and interpret properly unless you believe every book, first testament and second, is part of a whole, such that they all lend themselves to one another without a request for return. If Paul says it in Thessalonians, it overlays Revelation, if and when the two books are speaking of parallel events.
John
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
The Tanakh (OT) stands quite well on its own.
John D. Brey
Well-Known Member
Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose father was Jewish, and who's no slouch when it comes to thinking, said to him it seems like a body without a head.
John
You may be right. In general, I don't take much of what Paul says too seriously - Paul never met Jesus or discussed anything with him at length. So, he mostly made up his own stuff. (We, of course, know Paul's views on women as well as on slavery).
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
In this case, religions capture peoples' minds and people are powerless to think objectively about it.
Rapture = Religious + capture of minds
(The photograph you inserted is illustrative)
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
There are Jews who are nuts, just like in any other group.
The 'rapture' reminds me of a series of books, 'the left behind'.
MYTH 3 — "The Rapture is a biblical and orthodox belief."
www.catholicculture.org
MYTH 3 — "The Rapture is a biblical and orthodox belief."
Library : Five Myths About the Rapture
Five Myths About the Rapture In the course of writing articles, giving talks, and writing his book, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”?, Carl E. Olson encountered a number of questions and comments, mostly from Catholics, indicating the level of confusion which exists about the end times...
John D. Brey
Well-Known Member
But this particular nut (Wittgenstein) is considered by many to be the greatest genius of the last century:
When I think of the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament on its own, I feel like saying: the head is (still) missing from this body. These problems have not been solved. These hopes have not been fulfilled. But I do not necessarily have to think of the head as having a crown.
Wittgenstein, Culture and Value, p. 35.
John
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Yep, that is how I see it.