Belief in the Rapture is a subset of a subset of a subset of Christians
Excellent – if not obvious – comment made over on Creative Minority Report pointing out that despite the odd media interest in the idea of the Rapture (think Harold Camping) it is only believed by an infinitesimal percentage of Christians.
In case you don’t know what the Rapture is; it’s the day when lucky winners will be swept up into the clouds in the nude, whilst losers will be tormented here on earth by an angry god.
The official academic term for the study of Rapture science is “Rapture Theology” or more commonly “Raptureology”.
I made up those terms by the way.
In my opinion Rapture theory will never get off the ground……
May 29th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
As far as I can tell it stems from a literal reading of 1 Thess 4:17, stripped of all its cultural context.
When a king or ruler was returning it was customary for the city population to meet him outside the city and to escort him in. C.f. Palm Sunday.
The whole point is that we would be welcoming Jesus as king. Not so that we would live on the clouds, but so that he would rule on earth.
May 29th, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Totally agree.
May 29th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Although living in the clouds abnd playing aharp does seem like quite a nice idea.
May 29th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
I also base it on my reading of Christ’s words in Luke, excerpted below. I think that any eschatology can be taken to an extreme, especially when taken out of the context of the rest of the bible’s teachings, but I think belief in the rapture can help maintain a sense of urgency for the work of Christ, and reinforce the idea that nothing we do here on earth is permanent.
Luk 17:24 NIV – For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.
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Luk 17:34 NIV – I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.
Luk 17:35 NIV – Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”