Does the catholic church believe in the rapture?

[TheGrowingGrape]

2 peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”

Matthew 24:40-42 "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

I believe this is referring to the Day of Judgement, or the “Day of the Lord.”

We recieve 2 Judgements: our Particular Judgement, when we die, and our General or Last Judgement, at the end of time.

At the Particular Judgement we have a “life review,” where we see our own sins. At that time our physical bodies die and turn to dust, but our soul goes to one of three places: Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory.

In order to get into Heaven, “every last penny must be paid.” This means that all temporal debt due to sin must be paid. If you goto Purgatory you become a member of the Church Suffering, one day destined to become part of the Church Triumphant, in Heaven, where only 100% pure souls, spotless souls go. Purgatory is a place of purification to take place within the light of God.

Because of the penances and prayers offered by the Church Militant during the upcoming Reign of Peace, where no sin will exist on Earth, no souls will be left in Purgatory on the Day of Judgement. On this day all the sins of and the hidden good works of all are presented to all, the truth revealed to all. This is analagous to the White Throne Judgement.

At that time, most people will be physically dead, existing only as a soul. All people, good and bad, will be resurrected on the Day of the Lord, and their souls will be rejoined with their bodies in glorified form, or in cursed form.

NOW … Some people will still be physically alive. It is those people will be “raptured,” so to speak. This is possible because sin will have been purged from the world during the Reign of Peace. The living people will be 100% pure, so they are instantly “raptured” body and soul into their Eternal, glorified forms. Think of it this way … inorder to be Raptured, you must be SINLESS, like Enoch, I believe. And I think Elijah may have been raptured, too, taken to heaven on a chariot?

Jesus and Mary weren’t raptured per se. They died, and then were resurrected, souls rejoined to body in glory, then ascended into heaven at the Ascension and the Assumption.

This Rapture thing is, indeed, a rare thing.

The body shares in the reward or punishment of the soul after the Day of Judgement. The good shall gather on the right in glorified form. The wicked shall gather on the left in cursed form. And I’m sure you know the rest.

Hope that helps.

If you believe in “once saved always saved,” I could see how one could buy into the “rapture” story. Catholics don’t believe in “once saved, always saved.” We believe what the bible says, “that each man must work out his salvation.” This is done through confession, penance, prayer, and a great desire to see Heaven one day. There are some people, who have done a VALID Plenary Indulgence, who are pure. Venial sin may stain their soul a bit, but Daily Mass makes it pure again. We believe in being saved by Grace, which means partaking in the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion.

Rapture is a fairy tale. It is a lie. I used to believe it, but my cradle Catholic heart told me otherwise. We will ALL have to endure the Reign of the Antichrist. The “just” may be spared God’s wrath via an Earthly sanctuary, but we will still be here when the dung hits the fan. Sorry!!!

 

[cteslak]

1 Thess 4:17 uses the word rapture, but not in the context of the movie, or the off the wall teachings of these wacko fundamentalists, The rapture in St Jerome’s Vulgate is the End of the World, the 2nd coming of Jesus. Not a low level hoover vacuum suck up the people and run fly by, and then later (about 7 years) Jesus comes back for His 2nd coming, but He decides to hang around for 1,000 years etc. etc.

As serious students of Catholicism, and there are alot who visit this website, we should Not allow the Beautiful Word of God to be horribly mutilated by ignorant non Catholics.

Agreed?

NO. The way I see it, we have a guy who simply asked an innocent yes or no question as to what the Church teaches and then after many disertations on history and theory we have people like you making fun of the poor guy, protestant or not. We Catholics should set a good example. Questions should be answered in an honest, truthful, and loving way. Use Karl Keating as an example. He never makes fun of people who are honestly searching or the truth. Bashing people (especially fallen-away Catholics) repels them more. Rather than telling them that their belief is stupid, we should give logical evidence of why our belief is true and leave the Holy Spirit to guide them home.

 

[Joanna]

JesustheSavior:

Right there in verse 17 is talking to you about the rapture itself.
Those last days that those other verses are talking about, are the ones after Jesus comes for the second time on earth,the ones that will survive the great tribulation will be judge.

“1 Thessalonians 4
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

But verse 16 says, “and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

The other verses say the day they do this rising is “the last day.” It’s also clear that “last” day means last day, times out, gone, over, done, the end! Or has the meaning of last become somewhere in the middle.

 

[Authorkat]

I can’t recall if I read it in The Rapture Trap or if a priest said it, but whoever it was pointed out that at the rapture (which Catholics believe in as described in 1st Thessalonians 4) the people who make it through the tribulation will be caught up in the air to greet Jesus and then come back to earth with him.

Back in Bible times it was the custom to go out to greet newcomers/guests, then they would walk back with their guests. That’s what those people “left behind” will do. They’ll go out to greet Jesus and then come back with him. As everyone has already mentioned, that’s when the Judgement will be.

Can anyone remind me as to whether I found this in The Rapture Trap ? An excellent book, by the way.

 

[Socrates]

Salmon:

Another ironic aspect is that in the OT, God frequently intervened and “took out” some of the players. All of Noah’s neighbors got taken out, as the planet got a thorough housecleaning and evil was eliminated.

The “bad guys” were eliminated and the good guys got left here.

Excellent point. Being “left” is not explicitly a bad thing. As you’ve shown, reading the New Testament in light of the Old Testament actually shows being “left” to be the more desirable fate.

Also, since the Rapture “dogma” has absolutely NOTHING to do with salvation (whether one believes or not, as we are saved by God’s grace through our faith), one wonders why faith in this silliness is harped upon so incessantly.

If one is adept at selling the rapture idea to those being evangelized, it’s a great motivation to get somebody to say the “Jesus prayer” and thus get their salvation ticket punched. I think the rapture dogma (and it is a dogma for those who believe in it) is virtually non-existent outside of the “once saved always saved” community.

I don’t believe that it is an intentional or conscious fear tactic on the part of those who espouse it, but the results are the same. The fear of being left behind to face the tribulation is likely why the idea continues to be promulgated. It’s a scary idea. If one doesn’t know better it’s understandable that they don’t want to take any chances and that they don’t want anyone else to face that danger either. The intentions are good on the part of those who preach it.

It does however have the negative effect of promoting the idea of “check box” salvation where the primary goal can often be just getting more people “raptured.” Striving for holiness gets neglected or it is just assumed that those who are now “saved” will now live holy lives by definition. IOW as long as one accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, God then takes over and one no longer bears any burden of responsibility for their actions. (Then when someone stumbles and sins badly, people are forced to say that they were probably never really saved in the first place.)

The rapture dogma and the motivating fear it produces fits like a glove for those who see salvation as a single momentary event rather than a lifelong journey.

 

[TheGrowingGrape]

I also believe that the Rapture idea is extracted out of fear.

If one believes in the Rapture then:

1. You will not suffer God’s wrath during the Reign of the Antichrist.
2. You will not suffer persecution, possible severe torture, and possible martyrdon at the wrath of the Antichrist; therefore:
3. You will not have to choose between being severely tortured to death versus denouncing your faith.
4. You will never have to choose between starving to death and taking the Mark of the Beast.
5. You will never have to worry about avoiding sin of all kinds, even the occasion of sin. After all, you said the Sinners Prayer, and got your card punched!
6. By believing in The Rapture, you can avoid all the hard stuff, like suffering, courage, fortitude, and the execution of righteousness. You can simply go on watching reality-TV, playing violent video games, cussing, having sex before marriage, worshipping your SUV and football, etc… because Jesus doesn’t require hard work. Is this what your Pastor told you?

I used to be a non-denominational Christian. Our Pastor told us that Jesus automatically forgives your past, present, and future sins, so that you could have the luxury of living your life IN sin and not worrying about sin. I heard that and walked out. That is NOT in the Bible!!!

I say unto you, if you believe the only requirement for salvation is reciting the Sinners Prayer, then you are worshipping a False Christ. You are worshipping a Jesus who never existed. It takes more than just faith to be saved. It takes faith, hope, and charity (love). And to do all three takes a LOT of hard work to avoid sin and avoid the occasions of sin.

There is no Rapture. If we are, indeed, nearing the 3.5 year Reign of the Antichrist, then you WILL have to make some very hard decisions in the near future. Sorry to burst your bubble/safety net.

The only safety net is the Grace of Jesus Christ, which you can get in one place: The Holy Catholic Church.