What is the rapture in Catholicism

[famdigy]

What is the rapture and how is the catholic belief different from the evangelical belief.

 

[choy]

simple

there is none

Catholics don’t believe in the Rapture. there is no dogma, doctrine or even theological opinions about the Rapture in the Church. its a purely Evangelical creation

 

[GEddie]

What is the rapture and how is the catholic belief different from the evangelical belief.

“The Rapture” as a religious teaching did not exist prior to the early 1800s, and emerged in an Evangelical context. As such, the Catholic Church has nothing to do with it.

The Catholic Church does hold that Christ will return physically, and institute the Life Everlasting for human beings. It does not hold, however, that anybody will be snatched physically out of the world in advance of His return, or to spare them from “tribulations.”

ICXC NIKA.

 

[Jehoshua]

The rapture is a man-made incorrect belief originating from the evangelical sphere of protestantism via the inherent flaws in sola-scriptura. As previously said its a modern invention.

Thus as also previously mentioned the Catholic Church and all of the other ancient non-protestant groups in christianity think of it as absolute nonsense.

 

[yellowbird]

My good friends all speak of the rapture. Their churches teach that is is all tied to Isreal and every sign the Bible mentions in Revelation is being fufilled today. They are so certain it is true, and is about to happen very soon… I get freaked out when they go on about it…

 

[ryanoneil]

Catholics believe that when Christ returns the very last generation of people in history will be given an immortal body, immediately after the dead are raised with their immortal bodies.

Evangelicals believe many different things between their different groups.

 

[KathleenGee]

Yes, Ryanneil is correct.

Rapture comes at the final days on earth…

We will be given a new heaven and new earth, the blessed reunited with their bodies, our resurrection, not as one, but as a body of believers.

No new hell.

Knowing the Christian hell and the Muslim hell, they are both pretty bad, can’t get much worse.

 

[KathleenGee]

The British evangelist who conceived the idea of this rapture later realized he was wrong, but people still believe in it.

 

[yellowbird]

The British evangelist who conceived the idea of this rapture later realized he was wrong, but people still believe in it.

I think people WANT to believe that we will soon be caught up in the air and whisked away to Heaven. Oil spill in the Gulf? No worries… we’re about to raptured. Horrible economy? Can hardly afford your mortgage? High blood pressure? Marital troubles? No need to concern yourself with any of that… any day now we are out of here.

I think it’s a way for people to avoid having to find solutions to problems.

I’ve also heard it used as a reason for birth control. There is a verse in the Bible that talks about "woe to the woman nursing a baby… " for some reason she’s up on the rooftop? Anyhow, I have friends who cite that as a reason they’d be foolish to bring a baby into this world. Apparently all signs point to it being SO. VERY. CLOSE.

And when I say I hope they are wrong because I’d actually like to see my children grow up they look at me like I have horns.

 

[KathleenGee]

Ours is the God of life. Man is the one who brings on his self destruction and the force of evil, personified in the devil, misleads man to such a destruction.

I cannot envision a Christian flying an airplane of non-Christians, he is raptured and they crash and die.

As I understand things, there is also the fact that the good die with the bad. Like you can have all your mortgage paid off, and you still lose your house to militant thugs.

 

[Metamorphoo]

I think people WANT to believe that we will soon be caught up in the air and whisked away to Heaven. Oil spill in the Gulf? No worries… we’re about to raptured. Horrible economy? Can hardly afford your mortgage? High blood pressure? Marital troubles? No need to concern yourself with any of that… any day now we are out of here.

I think it’s a way for people to avoid having to find solutions to problems.

I’ve also heard it used as a reason for birth control. There is a verse in the Bible that talks about "woe to the woman nursing a baby… " for some reason she’s up on the rooftop? Anyhow, I have friends who cite that as a reason they’d be foolish to bring a baby into this world. Apparently all signs point to it being SO. VERY. CLOSE.

And when I say I hope they are wrong because I’d actually like to see my children grow up they look at me like I have horns.

I am an evangelical, yet I am very skeptical about the rapture idea as well. But your mockery about the “escape” idea doesn’t reflect the way most evangelicals live their lives. The ones I know are not out to escape the economy, high mortgage, etc.

Yet I do hope that Jesus returns soon. I love my children, but if they don’t grow up before His return, neither they nor I will have lost anything. Everything in this life will become insignificant in comparison to what life will be when He returns.

 

[yellowbird]

I am an evangelical, yet I am very skeptical about the rapture idea as well. But your mockery about the “escape” idea doesn’t reflect the way most evangelicals live their lives. The ones I know are not out to escape the economy, high mortgage, etc.

.

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to mock. I have alot of friends who believe in the rapture, and I love them dearly. And maybe they are kidding when they speak of it as an escape… but honestly, that’s the way it comes across. It’s as if knowing the rapture is coming soon frees them from the concerns of the world. I was just commenting about the long term effects of the Gulf oil spill and my friend assured me we wouldn’t have to deal with the long term effects of anything. There is something about the length of a “generation” in the Bible and Israel l being established in 1948…and that generation still being alive to witness the rapture. It sounds sort of Jehovah’s Witness to me, but of course she is NOT a JW, but rather an Evangelical.

I have another friend who grew up believing the rapture would take place very soon. Whenever she came home from school to an empty house, she always worried that she had been left behind. Not kidding. I think that is very sad.

These same friends speak of refusing to get the mark of the beast and not being able to buy food for their children - or watching their children being tortured unless the receive the mark of the beast. I find it all so hard to believe…

 

[Metamorphoo]

These same friends speak of refusing to get the mark of the beast and not being able to buy food for their children - or watching their children being tortured unless the receive the mark of the beast. I find it all so hard to believe…

This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this thread (or even your post), but when I read your “mark of the beast” statement, it reminded me of a funny, but true, story that I think Catholics would get a kick out of.

My husband used to work second shift for a Christian organization that hired employees from many different Christian backgrounds, including Catholics. He had been reading the “Left Behind” series over the course of several months; and one evening in February, he went to work as usual. But things were different than normal. There weren’t very many people at work that day … and he noticed that some had a mark on their forehead. Of course, the first thing that popped into his brain was the “Left Behind” stuff he had been reading: Could these people have the mark of the Beast? Could the rapture have taken place–and left my husband behind?

When he came home and started telling me this story, I was ROTFL. You see, it was Ash Wednesday–and people were coming to work after going to Ash Wednesday services!

We have told this story to my Catholic relatives and friends, and all of them thought it was such a hoot. They all razz him about his ignorance of Catholic customs.

 

[Mike2010]

This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this thread (or even your post), but when I read your “mark of the beast” statement, it reminded me of a funny, but true, story that I think Catholics would get a kick out of.

My husband used to work second shift for a Christian organization that hired employees from many different Christian backgrounds, including Catholics. He had been reading the “Left Behind” series over the course of several months; and one evening in February, he went to work as usual. But things were different than normal. There weren’t very many people at work that day … and he noticed that some had a mark on their forehead. Of course, the first thing that popped into his brain was the “Left Behind” stuff he had been reading: Could these people have the mark of the Beast? Could the rapture have taken place–and left my husband behind?

When he came home and started telling me this story, I was ROTFL. You see, it was Ash Wednesday–and people were coming to work after going to Ash Wednesday services!

We have told this story to my Catholic relatives and friends, and all of them thought it was such a hoot. They all razz him about his ignorance of Catholic customs.

Ha! That is kinda funny

 

[Richard_Kastner]

simple

there is none

Catholics don’t believe in the Rapture. there is no dogma, doctrine or even theological opinions about the Rapture in the Church. its a purely Evangelical creation

Catholics may not hold to the idea of a rapture, but the bible does.

1Thess.4
13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16For 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:

17Then 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.

18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The word used for “caught up” is harpazo and it means 1) to seize, carry off by force and is the word from which we get rapture. So, while Catholics may not subscribe to the idea of a rapture. It certainly is found in the bible and is not merely an evangelical invention. Jesus Himself discribes this very event in Jn. 14

1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; (raptured) that where I am, there ye may be also.

And also in 1Cor.15
51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead** shall be raised ** (raptured) incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

 

[KathleenGee]

Richard, you just misrepresented Catholic Teaching. We do believe in the final rapture…but it is at the end of this world.

You come across to me as being at war with the Catholicism.

 

[KathleenGee]

(Metamorphoo,

Our pastor was ample in crossing us with the ashes. I stayed after, and then went to the store. Walked in and wondered why people were staring at me with faint smiles…they see me all the time there…only later in the day I looked in mirror…)

 

[piejesu]

Catholics may not hold to the idea of a rapture, but the bible does.

Perhaps you have forgotten, before there was a canon of scripture, there was a Church. We wrote the book. There are sound theological exegeses from the Early Church Fathers on explaining the meaning of the scriptures you cite. All of Christendom embraced Amillennialism for the first 1800 years. John Henry Newman said it best: “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant”.

 

[KathleenGee]

Piejesu…Amen to that! I always ask the fundamentalists if they have ever studied any history of Christianity, and I was told they can’t deal with it…

 

[Church_Militant]

**The Rapture? **

That is an article that I wrote for my Catholic blog.