Wow! Finally I see a glimmer of hope here!
Hope for what exactly?
Yes, of course it is the Holy Spirit that restrains wickedness. But how do you understand the Holy Spirit being "taken out of the way?" Will this just be a sovereign work of God? And how can He since the Holy Spirit has promised to stay inside every believer?
It can't have anything to do with the removal of the church because it says the man of sin is revealed and the falling away occurs BEFORE the coming of Christ and our being gathered to Him.
It's simply a case of God no longer contending with wicked people by calling them to repentance through the Holy Spirit and instead giving people over to their wicked desires as Paul explains later in the chapter.
2 Thess 2:9
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and
all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.
They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
This passage clearly shows that an increase in wickedness is part of the theme of what Paul was talking about in 2 Thess 2. And I showed in verse 7 how it is lawlessness or wickedness that is being held back along with the revealing of the man of sin. Wickedness was already occurring, but it was held back by God's restraining influence from being completely out of control so that the gospel could be preached into the whole world.
Next, you are all over the place instead of sticking with the text. What is this passage about? It is the REVEALING of the man of sin. That is what is being restrained. It has nothing to do with abortions or anything else except the revealing. That is what the text tells us: "And then that wicked man shall be revealed..."
I'm not all over the place at all. You are very selective in which parts of scripture you pay attention to and which parts you don't take into account (for some reason). Did you somehow miss this:
7 For
the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
This verse indicates that lawlessness is also being held back (how did you miss that?) and not just the revealing of the man of sin. This is why seeing verse 3 as saying the man of sin being revealed and a falling away from the faith must occur first before the coming of the Lord and our being gathered to Him.
The idea that the overall level of wickedness in the world would increase in the days before Christ came is something Jesus taught as well.
Matthew 24:12
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
So the Holy Spirit is restraining him, holding him back, preventing him from being revealed until the proper time. HOW does the Holy Spirit accomplish this? We are God's hands on earth. We are His voice on earth. We have the authority on earth. Remember, it is still the devil's planet: he is the god of this world. So in truth, the only authority the Holy Spirit has in worldly affairs is to use members of the body of Christ that DOES have authority. It is when the church us removed, suddenly the Holy Spirit will have no believers in whom he can work through.
I completely disagree with your way of looking at this. You should consider an alternative view which is that there will be a mass falling away from the church and that it would become weak and ineffective and THAT would contribute to the increase in wickedness. In that view there is no need to take the church off the earth in order for the Holy Spirit's restraining influence to be taken away.
Of course, the Holy Spirit can influence people directly without having to do it through people if He wants, too. That is how I became saved. The church I attended growing up had little affect on me. It was weak. Very little passion was shown for reaching the lost there. But, it appears that God will stop contending with people's wickedness during that time just like in Noah's day because He will have had enough at that point and will give people over to their wickedness (again, this type of thing can be seen in Romans 1:24-32 as well).
Just thinking out loud here: it seems the Jewish temple will have to be build very shortly after the rapture or just before, since the man of sin will be revealed soon after the church is taken out of the way. I think Paul's meaning is that he will be revealed when He enters the Jewish temple and declares he is God. (Just a side thought.)
Can you explain to me how a future Jewish, non-Christian temple would be something that Paul would call "the temple of God"? I don't believe he would do that.
It looks like Paul understood "the temple of God" differently than you do.
1 Cor 3:16 Don’t you know that
you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for
God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto
an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are
builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
The "man of sin" is not a future "Antichrist" individual as some believe. Instead, it is a general term used to refer to wicked people. It's basically the opposite to "the man of God" mentioned here:
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Obviously, this passage is not speaking of an individual Man of God, but is rather speaking of men (and women) of God in general because it's speaking of something that applies to all people of God. I understand the reference to "the man of sin" in a similar way.
I believe the reference to the man of sin sitting in the temple of God is a figurative reference to people pretending to be part of the church (sitting in the temple of God) but instead they are hypocrites and think they have no need for God, thereby making themselves God.
In case you have trouble understanding how someone sitting in the temple of God can be taken figuratively, look at this passage:
Rev 2:13
I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you,
where Satan dwelleth.
Obviously, Satan doesn't have a literal seat that wicked people sit on. This is just referring to people doing evil deeds based on Satan's influence. Note that I'm not directly equating figuratively sitting in Satan's seat with sitting in the temple of God here. I'm only giving an example of figuratively sitting in a spiritual place.
The "man of sin" sitting in the temple of God should be understood similarly in that the man of sin (sinful man in general) doesn't literally sit in a physical temple of God but rather dwells where God's people dwell pretending to represent God but they are wolves in sheep's clothing instead.
