Eternity began, an eternity ago. Time never started, and will never stop. God always was, and always will be. We're no closer to eternity today than we were 13 billion years ago.
And... the rapture, isn't biblical. Its a very new concept in its current form. Maybe 150-200 years old. For the first 1500 years of christianity, nearly ALL christians and scholars were Amillenialist. Premillenialism and Postmillenialism are considered heresy in most forms of Christianity. The kingdom that Christ came to set up (that those who look for a rapture believe that he failed at), was the church. Not a physical kingdom. The word of the lord is clear. "The kingdom is at hand." (literally -- The kingdom is here!) "It can not be seen... it is within you." (Literally -- Its a spiritual kingdom)
Since the dawn of christianity, every single generation has pointed to current events as a sign that the prophecies are coming true, and the judgement is approaching. Ok, so what if it is? I don't understand why its being shoved down my throat that the end of time is near. Who cares? Are you excited, or are you threatening me? Thats what I don't get. And if its a way to get people to convert and change their ways... its a poor one. Because we should be saved by God's grace, through our love and belief in the lord. If it takes an approaching 'deadline' to cause that to happen, I would doubt the sincerity. Take this example for instance:
A man is about to be sentenced to death for murdering someone. He is told for 6 months straight, each day, "If you ask the judge for fogiveness, you will recieve it, and be spared the penalty." But each day, he refuses. He continues to lead a life of sin and excesses, changing nothing about himself. He hopes that the judge will have a change of heart, or extend his time limit indefinetly. Then the day approaches. At 2 seconds til midnight, he begs the judge for forgiveness....
How sincere is that likely to be?
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Yes, the end of time on earth is nearer now than ever. But its not the bible that tells me that. Its the clock on the wall.
And yet we Christians are promised this;
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (KJV)
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
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.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
After this, we are to be judged at the "Marriage Supper of The Lamb", where we will be rewarded;
Revelation 19:8-9 (KJV)
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Then following chronologically, (I agree that time is merely a commodity that God has created or conceived for man to use up and as such has no bearing on God), Christ and His Bride come back to earth to defeat Satan and his forces at the "Battle of Armageddon";
Revelation 16:16 (KJV)
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. [SIZE="2"]
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The account of the battle;
Revelation 19:11-21 (KJV)
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
The Church as of this point had been off planet for some reason, right? The figures depicted above are characters of the "Great Tribulation," are they not?
The Revelation is the only book of the Bible which promises a "blessing" for all those who read it. I find the prospect of the prophetic discourses of this book to be thrilling, and after all, if time were not of the essence would our Lord have given this warning?
Matthew 24:34-44 (KJV)
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
In light of the above, I would think urgency would be of the utmost.
I can only assume your passages are in support of this mythical rapture that people talk about. But, its quite a stretch to say that the idea of the resurrection (which all christians generally support), is the same as the rapture.
What most people miss about Matthew 24, is that the two people in the field, "one shall be taken... and one shall be left.." Guess which one isn't heavenward bound? The rapture typically teaches that the one taken has been raptured. "Snatched up by the Lord." But the answer lies in just a few verses before that. "As in the days of Noah. So too shall be the coming of the Lord.... the flood came... and took them all away.." Those taken, will be swept away like the flood. The evil one is the one who is going to be 'taken'. This alone should call the entire idea of the rapture into question, as the rapture theology teaches that the good guy is the one 'taken'. Impossible, in the context of the entire quote you posted. Re-read it, and think about it.
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
The context clearly shows that the one taken, is equal to the one swept away by the flood.
Now, the general view for the past 2 millennium is that Revelation's is about the spiritual battle between Good and Evil. Christ and Satan. Does anyone really believe that the man who preached 'turn the other cheek', 'he without sin, cast the first stone', 'golden rule', 'blessed are the peacemakers'.... and generally an ancient time version of Bernie Sanders... is going to ride back to earth and murder all the evil people? Come on. hahahha
http://threeminuteapologetics.blogspot.c...pture.html
http://www.sandersongs.com/apologetics/rapture.php
http://www.catholicbible101.com/therapture.htm
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/...ecnum=5788
I urge you to read the information on these links. It'll take no more than 30 minutes to do so.
ronald reagan Wrote:I can only assume your passages are in support of this mythical rapture that people talk about. But, its quite a stretch to say that the idea of the resurrection (which all christians generally support), is the same as the rapture.
What most people miss about Matthew 24, is that the two people in the field, "one shall be taken... and one shall be left.." Guess which one isn't heavenward bound? The rapture typically teaches that the one taken has been raptured. "Snatched up by the Lord." But the answer lies in just a few verses before that. "As in the days of Noah. So too shall be the coming of the Lord.... the flood came... and took them all away.." Those taken, will be swept away like the flood. The evil one is the one who is going to be 'taken'. This alone should call the entire idea of the rapture into question, as the rapture theology teaches that the good guy is the one 'taken'. Impossible, in the context of the entire quote you posted. Re-read it, and think about it.
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
The context clearly shows that the one taken, is equal to the one swept away by the flood.
Now, the general view for the past 2 millennium is that Revelation's is about the spiritual battle between Good and Evil. Christ and Satan. Does anyone really believe that the man who preached 'turn the other cheek', 'he without sin, cast the first stone', 'golden rule', 'blessed are the peacemakers'.... and generally an ancient time version of Bernie Sanders... is going to ride back to earth and murder all the evil people? Come on. hahahha
http://threeminuteapologetics.blogspot.c...pture.html
http://www.sandersongs.com/apologetics/rapture.php
http://www.catholicbible101.com/therapture.htm
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/...ecnum=5788
I urge you to read the information on these links. It'll take no more than 30 minutes to do so.
We Christians will
meet the Lord in the air as indicated in 1 Thess 4:17.
Revelation 20:6 (KJV)
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
We all (the saved) go somewhere else with Christ to take our part of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then we come back to earth to rule with Him during the millennium. I believe the Scripture teaches us this somewhere else is to be Heaven. At any rate, the Rapture is intended for all the saved in Christ, and is referred to as the first resurrection for the dead in Christ who will rise at this time. Those who are alive and remain will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and "taken up" subsequently. So, if you don't want to call that being raptured maybe you have the Biblical verbiage others may have missed?
My point in quoting Matt 24 was not to lend support to the idea of being raptured even though I believe it will happen. My point was given to rebuff your notion that a man who makes a decision, whether in all or in part and by which takes into account the horror of Hell and his desire to shun that horror in taking the Gospel to heart, is somehow to be rejected by God or not valid.
That is the reason I highlighted verse 44 and stated "in light of the above, I would think urgency would be of the utmost." Did not God say the following;
Ezekiel 33:6-8 (KJV)
6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
When the Lord said "warn them from me" He was speaking of the horror of the Judgment. When I asked my Lord for forgiveness I was terrified and under a load of sin. I knew He loved me and mostly understood that He gave His Son for me but, it was shame, fear and Judgment that made me jump into His arms to have expunged. His advice is
"therefore be ye also ready."
Respectfully, if you do not believe the Lord will come back to earth to defeat the enemies of God (murder them as you say) let me ask this question of you. At what point will He have the wherewithal or the authority to Judge the vast majority of men who will have rejected Christ's unspeakable sacrifice upon the cross, in damning them to an eternity of death in that they die forever without the fulfillment of death? I mean, there was an awfully good reason for His having given Himself in death on the cross, right?