The rapture in our Church teaching

[Wryetui]

Hey guys, God bless you all. I have a question about the famous doctrine of the Rapture so popular mong protestants and neo-protestants. Do we believe it? or, do we believe it the way they do? What is the doctrine that we have on this subject?

 

[GregConstantine]

Simple answer-No

 

[ArmyMatt]

do we believe in a change during the Second Coming, and that our bodies will be transfigured into a glorified state and those of the righteous will be caught up? yes.

do we believe in the idea that this means that we can escape the tribulation or part of the tribulation? no. do we believe in some sorta weird 3rd coming of Christ? no. do we believe this is tied into a literal earthly millennial reign of Christ? no.

 

[gzt]

The doctrine of the rapture is not actually popular and was invented in the early 19th century. It is only believed by a handful of weird evangelical Protestants and crummy novelists.

 

[All4Christ]

The doctrine of the rapture is not actually popular and was invented in the early 19th century. It is only believed by a handful of weird evangelical Protestants and crummy novelists.

The novelist interpretation of it has skewed even the original evangelical view of the rapture...we don't believe in any version of that - but it's interesting to see how far the novelists have pushed the beliefs of the rapture - to make it more interesting I'd presume.

 

[~Anastasia~]

The doctrine of the rapture is not actually popular and was invented in the early 19th century. It is only believed by a handful of weird evangelical Protestants and crummy novelists.

Not to be disagreeable, but I'm pretty sure "handful" is not accurate. It is a very popular teaching and has been for decades (before the novels) among millions of Baptists, Pentecostals, and no doubt some others as well.

Not ALL Baptists and Pentecostals. But I suspect the majority of them. It does get fuzzy though if you discount end-tribulation believers as not specifically embracing "rapture" per se. But many of those still believe in the literal millennial reign.

 

[gzt]

Okay, sure: Baptists and Pentecostals, which have decent numbers, particularly in some parts of the world, but are, generally, a radical fringe movement.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Okay, sure: Baptists and Pentecostals, which have decent numbers, particularly in some parts of the world, but are, generally, a radical fringe movement.

Checking several sources, it seems their combined numbers are somewhere between 350-500 million (depending on how you count them), while Orthodox estimates are showing up at 225-300 million?

I'm really not trying to be argumentative, and I've been part of both of those groups in the past and have completely renounced belonging to them, but as far as I can see, and what a number of statistics seem to bear out, is that they can't be dismissed as a "small handful" like a small cult following a single leader.

I don't have a stake in saying so, but I believe that does represent the state of Christendom today. Forgive me if I'm wrong. I'm only offering for the sake of accuracy.

Believe me, I'm quite the "odd duck" and outcast for not believing in some kind of pre-tribulation rapture. Other than my parish, I am at odds with seemingly everyone else I know and have known in person through my life (at least those who are Christian). I actually abandoned the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture some years ago from reading Scripture, and it caused me a lot of trouble.

 

[All4Christ]

Checking several sources, it seems their combined numbers are somewhere between 350-500 million (depending on how you count them), while Orthodox estimates are showing up at 225-300 million? I'm really not trying to be argumentative, and I've been part of both of those groups in the past and have completely renounced belonging to them, but as far as I can see, and what a number of statistics seem to bear out, is that they can't be dismissed as a "small handful" like a small cult following a single leader. I don't have a stake in saying so, but I believe that does represent the state of Christendom today. Forgive me if I'm wrong. I'm only offering for the sake of accuracy. Believe me, I'm quite the "odd duck" and outcast for not believing in some kind of pre-tribulation rapture. Other than my parish, I am at odds with seemingly everyone else I know and have known in person through my life (at least those who are Christian). I actually abandoned the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture some years ago from reading Scripture, and it caused me a lot of trouble.

Same experience here

 

[Antony in Tx]

Best Orthodox bumper sticker ever...

"IN CASE OF THE RAPTURE
CAN I HAVE YOUR CAR?"