I've been re-reading a very interesting book by Carl E. Olson, Will Catholics be "Left Behind"?: A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers and am finding a lot of it to be quite intriguing. So here are a few questions here for people:
1. Do you believe in the Rapture?
Yes.
2. Why or why not?
Because Jesus taught on the "Rapture." "Rapture" is taken used because of the Latin word to be "caught up". It's not in the Bible. I prefer to call it the "Gathering." Matthew 24.31, "And he (Christ) will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Paul also taught on the "Gathering", "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4.16,17).
3. If you answered yes to #1, are you a Pre-Tribulation(it'll happen before seven years of horrible stuff) or Mid-Tribulation (3.5 years in)?
I'm a Post-Trib guy.
4. Do you know who is credited with starting the modern Rapture movement?
Don't know what the "modern" Rapture movement is.
5. If you answered no to #1, do you believe in the Parousia of Christ (Second Coming)?
Yes.
6. The Left Behind series: a lot of truth mixed in with the fictional account or a lot of dangerous bunk that undermines Christianity?
LB series is a fictional account of Dispensational theology. It's not an authority.
7. (Because I know some will want to say it anyways ): Is all of the above a bunch of hooey and not worth believing, whether it's Rapture stuff or Christianity in general?
Yes, because everyone's going to want to have known this stuff the second Christ returns or they die.
8. Those Rapture bumper stickers:
a) I laugh when I read them, then shake my head in disbelief
b) I smile and agree with the sentiment
c) I proudly display one on my car
d) What the hell is a Rapture?
9. Should the Apocalypse of John/Revelations be viewed literally or metaphorically?
Both.
Bah, I'll just stop at 9 and see what answers are given. I just hope that people can agree or disagree civilly, but is that asking for too much here?