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No Rapture
Talk about the rapture can become very heated when it involves believers and non-believers. Those who don’t believe in such an event tend to view those who do as at best deluded; those who do believe think those who claim there is no rapture are putting their souls in jeopardy. This is such an emotional issue that it is doubtful that any consensus could ever be reached between the two groups on this topic; there is no real middle ground.
What does rapture belief involve?
Those who believe in the rapture are convinced that there is going to be a period of great tribulation on Earth when humans will suffer greatly. This is going to occur over a seven year period and is sometimes referred to as the end days. The rapture refers to the idea that “saved” Christians will be exempt from all this suffering because they will be “raptured” by Jesus. The word rapture is thought to mean a type of lifting up; evangelical Christians will be lifted up out of the misery. Other evangelical Christian groups claim that the rapture will occur in the middle of the years of tribulation or at the end of them.
Where does the idea of the rapture come from?
The idea of the rapture is most associated with certain evangelical groups in the United States; although these groups have now spread around the world. The first reference to the rapture is believed to have been made John Nelson Darby back in 1878. He was an Anglo-Irish preacher who belonged to the Plymouth Brethren. His ideas won some support among people in the UK for a while, but they later became far less influential. These days most Christians in Europe would be of the opinion that there is no rapture in the future.
Arguments from the no rapture camp
Those who don’t believe in the rapture would first point to the fact that there is no actual reference to it anywhere in the bible. This argument would be countered by believers who claim that the evidence is there once you know how to look for it. The no rapture camp would then respond to this by pointing out that if the evidence was so obvious then why is there so much disagreement even between those who do believe in the rapture. The fact is that there is no direct mentions of the rapture anywhere in the bible and those who believe in it are dependent on the interpretations of other people. The no camp would also point out that the many predictions of a date for the rapture have all been wrong.
Who is right?
These are matters of faith so it is almost impossible to say who is right and who is wrong; anything is possible when it comes to faith. The believers in the rapture have produced plenty of false dates for the event, but they only have to be right once. Those who believe in
no rapture can never really prove it to believers because as long as humans exist it could still happen.
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