How many Christians believe in the rapture? Is it a common belief?

[JohnB445]

I have been studying this doctrine, there is a lot of debate about pre-tribulation rapture.

But do most Christians even believe in a rapture at all? What was the consensus among believers about this.

 

[bèlla]

No, I don't believe in it.

~bella

 

[Guojing]

I have been studying this doctrine, there is a lot of debate about pre-tribulation rapture.

But do most Christians even believe in a rapture at all? What was the consensus among believers about this.

I think most Christians prefer to "prepare for the Tribulation" just in case, but happy if there is pre-trib rapture.

 

[Unqualified]

Yes, I believe in it! I have hope in those words of scripture.

 

[Palmfever]

If you had a choice and knew what day it began would you stay or go knowing the end is near and so many sheep stumbling in the darkness?
This body was born to die.
We can walk home in perfect shape, or slide in used up.

 

[bèlla]

If you had a choice and knew what day it began would you stay or go knowing the end is near and so many sheep stumbling in the darkness?

I believe it's a false teaching and there's evidence that's the case. It has never come up in my quiet time or a subject the Lord broached. He's prepared me for this period but He never said I'd be spirited away.

If some feel otherwise that's their choice. But I hope they don't mimic other groups with similar thoughts and quit their jobs and sell their homes and belongings in anticipation. Only to be disappointed.

~bella

 

[Jeff Carr]

I believe in an pre tribulation rapture.

 

[Unqualified]

There are warnings about quitting your job.

 

[Palmfever]

I believe it's a false teaching and there's evidence that's the case. It has never come up in my quiet time or a subject the Lord broached. He's prepared me for this period but He never said I'd be spirited away.

If some feel otherwise that's their choice. But I hope they don't mimic other groups with similar thoughts and quit their jobs and sell their homes and belongings in anticipation. Only to be disappointed.

~bella

Didn't mean to imply a choice.
I do not believe in "pretrib rapture." I think there may be a major disappointment and perhaps a falling away of those who aren't prepared.

Having said that if I could purchase millions of pairs of Dorothy's shoes, I'd supply the little ones and show them how to click the heals together properly.

God has it in control.
Nothing can separate them/us from His love.
So even so Lord, Come.

 

[Ivan Hlavanda]

I believe in pre-trib rapture.

That being said, I know there are things that I am wrong about, and I wish I knew what they were. We all think we are right, but I am humble enough to admit that I might be the one that who is wrong. Christians disagree almost about everything, but do not let it cause to be a division, unless it's about Gospel or the person of Jesus Christ. In my Church everyone disagrees with me on eschatology, but I am not getting in that in a way of the love and unity the Lord gave to us. And if I am right, it's only because of God's grace.

It's strange Christians disagree about everything but the Gospel, and I wonder why that is. Lord knows, and I'm sure He knows what to do.

 

[Guojing]

I believe it's a false teaching and there's evidence that's the case. It has never come up in my quiet time or a subject the Lord broached. He's prepared me for this period but He never said I'd be spirited away.

If some feel otherwise that's their choice. But I hope they don't mimic other groups with similar thoughts and quit their jobs and sell their homes and belongings in anticipation. Only to be disappointed.

~bella

Usually those who believe salvation cannot be just faith alone, without works, will think the pre-trib rapture is false.

After all, during the tribulation, works become necessary to enter the kingdom (Matthew 25:31-46)

 

[Palmfever]

I believe in pre-trib rapture.

That being said, I know there are things that I am wrong about, and I wish I knew what they were. We all think we are right, but I am humble enough to admit that I might be the one that who is wrong. Christians disagree almost about everything, but do not let it cause to be a division, unless it's about Gospel or the person of Jesus Christ. In my Church everyone disagrees with me on eschatology, but I am not getting in that in a way of the love and unity the Lord gave to us. And if I am right, it's only because of God's grace.

It's strange Christians disagree about everything but the Gospel, and I wonder why that is. Lord knows, and I'm sure He knows what to do.

Ah humans are tedious.
They can be nit picky, pesky critters.
But as you stated, the simple gospel is the purpose of the gospel.
People want to be heard.
And some just like to hear themselves.
Not everyone takes correction well.
True believers will be fine in spite of our flaws.
So tolorance is good.
Life can be difficult in the minds of some.

You may dismiss any of the above you don't agree with. I'm not very thin skinned.
Christians are just as human as non Christians. So they have similar reactions.
"There is nothing that befalls us but that which is common to man."
If you believe in pre trib rapture. Or if you never heard the term. It matters not.
You are a believer.
Keep the faith friend.

 

[The Liturgist]

I have been studying this doctrine, there is a lot of debate about pre-tribulation rapture.

But do most Christians even believe in a rapture at all? What was the consensus among believers about this.

Most do not, since the majority are not premillenial dispensationalists, however, in the US unfortunately along with the increase in liberal theology in the mainline churches and the replacement of the traditional hymns with praise and worship music in many protestant churches, there has been a rise in the number of premillenial dispensationalist clergy and thus Christians. Consider as an example the King James Study Bible, which leans in a strongly premillenial-dispensationlist direction (I don’t recall if it expresses a specific belief in the rapture), in stark contrast to the beliefs of the Anglicans responsible for its translation as a replacement for the earlier, but very similiar, Bishops’ Bible, and the Geneva Bible (which was a problem for King James in that it contained Calvinist doctrinal commentary, just as the Challoner Douai Rheims contains Roman Catholic commentary, and he desired a single bible for the Church of Scotland, which was Calvinist, although he himself was really closer to Anglicanism, and the church of England, as he had just inherited the crown of England following the repose of Queen Elizabeth I). At any rate, the KJV Study Bible’s editors were predominantly from the more conservative Presbyterian churches (PCA), the Southern Baptist Convention, and one was from the United Methodist Church, which at the time it was edited, 2000 or so, had yet to undergo the changes which recently resulted in the alienation of most of its conservative members in North America.

But the majority of Christians overall still belong to denominations which are amillenial. The four largest groups of Christians are, in order of size, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans and Lutherans, and none of these churches teach premillenial dispensationalism (with the possible exception, but unlikely exception, of perhaps a few very low church evangelical Anglican churches, but usually someone who believes in pre-millenial dispensationalism won’t attend a church as obviously liturgical as the Anglican). These groups number approximately over a billion, aboujt 250 million, around 120 million, and another 90 million or so, respectively, with Reformed (Calvinist, Presbyterian) of all varieties coming in as the next largest group with around 75 million.

The interesting thing about this doctrine is that it largely originated with John Nelson Darby, a prominent member of the Plymouth Brethren, which I would classify as a 19th century Restorationist church with unusual practices, which is known for being particularly closed off from the outside world (unlike the related Open Brethren, who are much more visibly engaged in evangelism). However, Darby was enormously influential among Evangelical and Fundamentalist circles.

Additionally, the idea has been popularized in the media, for example, by the Left Behind books and films, which I myself greatly dislike.

 

[d taylor]

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I do and not only believe in a rapture but believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. Jesus 2nd coming is in two parts

 

[ViaCrucis]

I have been studying this doctrine, there is a lot of debate about pre-tribulation rapture.

But do most Christians even believe in a rapture at all? What was the consensus among believers about this.

It's an uncommon belief only held by a minority of Christians. If you live in the United States, as I do, then it may seem like it is pretty common, because in the US the expressions of Christianity which subscribe to the belief are socially prominent and vocal. This is because in the US, the birth place of Neo-Evangelicalism, is a place where Dispensationalism was adopted and grew steadily in popularity among American Evangelicals, starting in the late 19th century and increasingly made popular in the 20th century, especially the mid-to-late 20th century through popular media.

But even still, it remains a minority position on the whole. The majority of Christians still belong to churches which adhere to more traditional Christian beliefs on eschatological matters, rather than subscribing to more modern theological inventions like the pre-trib rapture.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[PloverWing]

Most do not, since the majority are not premillenial dispensationalists, however, in the US unfortunately along with the increase in liberal theology in the mainline churches and the replacement of the traditional hymns with praise and worship music in many protestant churches, there has been a rise in the number of premillenial dispensationalist clergy and thus Christians.

I mostly agree with this post. The idea of the rapture (as an event separate from the Second Coming) comes out of Dispensationalism, which is a minority view among Christians worldwide.

I do want to clarify one point: The Dispensational view (rapture, etc.) is not commonly held by liberal Christians in mainline churches. Offhand, I don't think I know of any liberal Christians who are Dispensationalists.

 

[The Liturgist]

I do want to clarify one point: The Dispensational view (rapture, etc.) is not commonly held by liberal Christians in mainline churches. Offhand, I don't think I know of any liberal Christians who are Dispensationalists.

Indeed, I don’t know of any.

Thus, in my experience, there was often a choice between a liberal church that had traditional worship, but where the pastor would deliver a liberal homily which could in some cases even be deeply offensive, or alternately, attend a conservative church, sometimes in the same denomination (for example, in the UMC before the recent change in the doctrine on human sexuality contra the ruling of the 2018 General Council), where the sermon would be premillenial dispensationalist and the music would be of the intolerable praise and worship variety.

Now this is one area where I will give the Episcopal Church some credit - despite being largely a liberal denomination, there are a great many Episcopal churches where I could attend comfortably, even though some of their clergy are quite liberal, for example, St. Thomas Fifth Ave. In New York.

Unfortunately in other denominations, such as the ELCA, this was very much not the case. And as a Protestant, I was unable to deal with the situation in my community wherein the conservative churches had become premillenial dispensationalist and the liberal churches had become very stridently so, with clergy making political remarks in homilies or, well, I recall an ELCA pastor on Easter Sunday preaching about the possibility that our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ was married, which was needlessly provocative, and offfensive, and also they did not even serve the Eucharist, despite it being Easter Sunday. And unfortunately there was no LCMS or other confessional Lutheran parish such as that attended by my friend @MarkRohfrietsch to which one could escape.

Thus, what I did, as you may know, having resigned from the UCC and being totally estranged from the UMC, was to attend an Episcopal church while my friend, who was a conservative Episcopal pastor, one of the last in the diocese of Los Angleles, served his final year, and then when he retired, due to the controversy of Pope Francis, the plan A, which was to attend a traditional Latin mass parish in my area, became untenable (this was in 2014) and so I joined the Orthodox church because I was upset about the persecution of Christians in Syria and I also really liked the liturgy.

However I felt the choice was forced on me by doctrinal and liturgical changes in the Protestant churches in my community. Now, I am glad I made it, and now, given the choice, I would make it and not feel forced, but at the time, it was a situation of actually not having an alternative that I could reconcile with my conscience.

 

[bèlla]

Didn't mean to imply a choice.
I do not believe in "pretrib rapture." I think there may be a major disappointment and perhaps a falling away of those who aren't prepared.

I think several things will contribute to that outcome beyond this subject.

~bella

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

Yes, I believe in it! I have hope in those words of scripture.

It is only an inference made by some. The idea of a rapture as it is currently defined is not found in historic Christianity, and is a relatively recent doctrine originating from the 1830s. Most Christian denominations do not subscribe to rapture theology.

I don't believe it.

 

[The Liturgist]

It is only an inference made by some. The idea of a rapture as it is currently defined is not found in historic Christianity, and is a relatively recent doctrine originating from the 1830s. Most Christian denominations do not subscribe to rapture theology.

I don't believe it.

Additionally, as I have expressed on some occasions, there are aspects to the Left Behind series that I regard as offensive to Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians. Specifically, the anti-Christ being a Romanian named “Nicolae Carpathia”, with Carpathia not actually being a Romanian last name, but rather being an ethnonym for the people also known as Ruthenians or Carpatho-Rusyns who constitute the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, and much of the Orthodox Church in America and a separate jurisdiction, the American Carpatho Rusyn Orthodox Diocese, which has a Greek bishop, being under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.