Board index ‹ The End of the World

[Head William]

Do you believe in a rapture and great tribulation, and will the church go through the tribulation? Will all Christians be raptured. or the cold ones left behind? What about the mark of the beast 666?

I know that's a lot but start some where in there . Your choice. thanks

[jimwalton]

I’m not convinced this would be a wise direction for us to pursue. There are many different and worthy positions on these questions, by deeply studied Christians. Each position has its pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, and I’m not sure it will ever be resolved until Jesus returns. We will know far better, obviously, when we look back at the events as history rather than forwards as prophecy. Too often the question makes people argumentative and divided, rather than enlightened in any way.

I also, as you might guess, have taken a position on such things, but it’s just my opinion after studying, and it’s not a perspective to which I hold tightly. In other words, I believe what I believe for a reason, but I’m perfectly willing to change, since I know there are many worthy positions. To me, it’s just not that important.

I think the Bible meant to only give us a small amount of information; God wants us to be alert and to be ready, but he doesn’t want us to be able to figure it out, so we can’t.

So saying, I do believe in a rapture and a great tribulation. I’m pretty sure almost all Christians do. It’s the form and the timing of it that is disagreed upon, and that’s the question that will probably never be agreed upon until it happens.

If we were to talk about it, my answers would most likely be, “Well, here are the six ways we could interpret this. No one knows which one it is,” which would not be helpful.

We can surely talk about individual verses, if you like. I’m not trying to shirk the question, I’m just not convinced it will be at all productive for us.