Yes
Everytime I go to church, I am bombarded by the escapist ideal that is the pre-tribulation rapture. Where is the proof? I see none. The word "rapture" never appears in the bible. Secondly, neither does the concept. People have told me "Skylar...look...here is the proof." Then they'll show me some scripture. Every single verse I've been shown is taken completely out of context. I'm sure, that if I tried hard enough, I could convince a small faction of people that the apostle Paul was gay, or the Jesus actually sinned...if only once. That's how easy it is, folks. Things can be taken out of context in such a way that you can pretty much make anything say what you want it to say.
Did you know the the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture wasn't taught until the 18th century? That's right, the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture did not even exist until the 1700's, nor was it taught as doctrine. That means that all of the apostles never taught anything similar to what the Church now considers "the hope of the saints." A 15 year old Scottish girl claimed she had a dream in which God called his saints into heaven before the Tribulation. That's where it comes from. Want proof? Go look it up. This is not something that's been around for a long time. And while there may be a substantial number of you reading this thinking that this girl may have had an actual vision, you won't get an argument from me. She might be right. Who the hell knows? But I will say that if modern Christianity took everything someone had to say about God or The Bible as truth, whether it be a crazy man claiming he saw God's face in a tortilla or a college proffessor believing that John was a child molester, we would all be in even worse shape than we are right now. There are tons of people who have claimed these kinds of things. It doesn't mean they're wrong, but it certainly shouldn't be regarded as the truth without further investigation.
You can say I'm crazy. You can say that I only believe in half of the bible. That's great. But before you accept something as doctrine, you might want to research these things. The answer that I'm getting from most people when I ask them for the reason they believe in this idea is a simple "Jesus said it." But where? Where did he say it? Is this idea something that has come to fruition only because your pastor or parents have drilled it into your head since birth? And what if the rapture doesn't come before the tribulation? There are going to be a lot of dissappointed people out there, people wondering why their Church leaders were so concerned with escapist ideals rather then concrete evidence.
Comment.
Did you know the the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture wasn't taught until the 18th century? That's right, the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture did not even exist until the 1700's, nor was it taught as doctrine. That means that all of the apostles never taught anything similar to what the Church now considers "the hope of the saints." A 15 year old Scottish girl claimed she had a dream in which God called his saints into heaven before the Tribulation. That's where it comes from. Want proof? Go look it up. This is not something that's been around for a long time. And while there may be a substantial number of you reading this thinking that this girl may have had an actual vision, you won't get an argument from me. She might be right. Who the hell knows? But I will say that if modern Christianity took everything someone had to say about God or The Bible as truth, whether it be a crazy man claiming he saw God's face in a tortilla or a college proffessor believing that John was a child molester, we would all be in even worse shape than we are right now. There are tons of people who have claimed these kinds of things. It doesn't mean they're wrong, but it certainly shouldn't be regarded as the truth without further investigation.
You can say I'm crazy. You can say that I only believe in half of the bible. That's great. But before you accept something as doctrine, you might want to research these things. The answer that I'm getting from most people when I ask them for the reason they believe in this idea is a simple "Jesus said it." But where? Where did he say it? Is this idea something that has come to fruition only because your pastor or parents have drilled it into your head since birth? And what if the rapture doesn't come before the tribulation? There are going to be a lot of dissappointed people out there, people wondering why their Church leaders were so concerned with escapist ideals rather then concrete evidence.
Comment.