The rapture

Christos_NIKA said:
The term "rapture" only came about in the last 150 years or so, far beyond the time when Orthodox theology was codified in the Ecumenical Councils, the last of which was in the 8th century. The Orthodox Church doesn't make up it up as it goes along, and does not have "progressive theology", as you might find in Roman Catholicism. It holds fast to the faith imparted to it by the Apostles and the Saints once, for all time. What you call "post trib amillennial rapture" is a concept no Orthodox would ever have heard of, because it's not in our history, period. Also, at the end of the age, when all are gathered together for the final judgement and sent by Christ to their eternal reward or damnation...is for us NOT a "rapture". It is simply the final judgement. Whether Christ physically gathers us together on Earth or in the sky or in some other dimension...that is not clear...and we don't worry about it or think about it. If you're more interested in what the Orthodox Church teaches in this vein, perhaps this book might interest you:

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I guess to me rapture = caught up to meet Christ in the air at the second coming. When you say you don't believe in the rapture, but you believe we will be caught up to meet Christ in the air at the second coming, it seems confusing.

To me, you believe in the rapture, but you dislike using the word so much you claim you don't believe in it. You just believe in the thing that the word represents.
 
Thomas More said:
I guess to me rapture = caught up to meet Christ in the air at the second coming. When you say you don't believe in the rapture, but you believe we will be caught up to meet Christ in the air at the second coming, it seems confusing.

To me, you believe in the rapture, but you dislike using the word so much you claim you don't believe in it. You just believe in the thing that the word represents.
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It's actually very simple, and it makes historical and anthropological sense to view it as the Orthodox do, like most things. Not many talk about this, but cosmos has gone through ages, with the age before Noah's Ark (Enoch seeing this) with the flood instituting a new age, then the age of preparation of the nations for the Messiah, then the Age of Christ and the church (same thing as the Church is his body), which are the "last days". The world has seen the reign of the Church and the Saints have proclaimed Christ for what He is, and they are a reflection of Him, light and salt. Now, it seems chaos is starting back up again, so we may (or may not be, I do not know but it doesn't look good) be approaching what most refer to as the endtimes in a chronological way, but this would just be the "end of the last days" in any case. This is related to the theology that history is OVER once Christ comes, because he defeats death and has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. In other words, no matter what happens right now or to us, Good has won. The pathetic evil beings and rebels know they are losers, and know their time is limited, which makes them all the more pathetic. So, apparently it has been ordained for chaos to happen at the very chronological end, and at that time some person called AC will come about, and in the end of course he loses and is thrown into the Lake of Fire with the devil and rebellious demons. The breath of our Lord will instantly defeat him and put them there, and that is the day of the Lord, at which "time" there will be the judgment. Then the new age of the renewed heaven and earth begins, where those in the Book of Life are finally with the Lord, sharing in his love and immortality.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
It sounds to me like you're saying that you believe in a post-tribulation Rapture, but I already know that if you ask your priest if he believes in a post-tribulation Rapture, he will say that there is no Rapture at all. This is what causes the lack of clarity and confusion in the other side.
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Its just the 2nd coming of Christ and yes its at the end of the tribulation, at the end of everything
 
Thomas More said:
This makes sense. If I am understanding correctly, the Orthodox believe in the tribulation including a brief reign by the antiChrist, which is brought to an end by the return of Christ, including a post trib rapture.

I guess the next question is whether Orthodox believe in a 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth, followed by Satan being released for a little season, followed by the Great White Throne judgment, and finally the eternal Kingdom of God.

Or, do the White Throne judgment and the Eternal Kingdom immediately follow the second coming?
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Father Seraphim Rose says the 1000 year rule of Christ is now we are living in it
 
All of this rapture talk is a departure from the historical Church repeating the teachings and moralities of the Apostles, even with the Roman papacy and its issues, it never spread this doctrine which effectively caused the greatest schisms in all of Christendom from the last 140+ years that continue to this day, where someone doesn't feel comfortable in one church so they go to another because they like the "message" better, when the message should be the same worldwide. The splitting of the Church from 1 to 2 empires was bad enough, but the nearly-thousand "branches" of Christianity in existence today, fractured masses at odds with one another, only serves to benefits people like the Rothschilds (Loebs) clan and the rest of their kabballah ilk.

If there is a tribulation in the earthly future, no one will be evaporated into a heavenly safety net and miss out on it. The wisdom and discernment of the people of that time will cause them to make decisions that will spare them from harm's way under divine protection while they are still here on the physical earth. How could their souls be judged properly if they were spared the harshest times? None of us here can foresee the divine workings of God to say that this will happen, but it most definitely will not happen according to a corruption in the Scripture from crypto-jews. So much of the evangelical movement is built on a jewification of Christianity in the new-world, it's also this spiritually-dumbed-down doctrine that has turned more people's souls away from Christianity than the historical Churches who spread the Gospel to receptive multitudes, even if by necessary conquest. Some souls require conquest to see the truth, others consent willingly. We are still debating the differences in these types of people today across many lines.

There is a bit of shirking responsibility with the rapture, it leads to the anti-natalism just like other doomsday cult spinoffs like the JW's. We are commanded to be fruitful and multiply, as long as it follows God's natural laws.
 
I'm sorry, but the idea that the Rapture is behind all of these different issues is laughable. Whether Christians are here till the end of the world, or they get Raptured out 7 years before the end of the world doesn't make as big of a difference as these sensationalists would have anyone believe.

Does it cause some of the denominations who believe in it to adopt a more anti-natalist mindset? Maybe in comparison to a covenant family mindset, sure. But it certainly isn't any more anti-natalist than denominations that practice monkery.

What is worthy of criticism is Dispensationalism. Which is the idea that God has two separate people who are saved according to two plans, Jews and Christians. It necessarily denies that the Church is the true Israel. It basically puts Christians as a 2nd tier behind Jews. This is what the Scofield Bible is all about and it laid a lot of the groundwork for why Evangelicals get roped into supporting Israel today. If you want to look at a perfect example of this, look at Jenna Ellis.
 
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