Quote:
Originally Posted by Nell
Question of the day: If the believers will be taken away before the tribulation begins, why are we still here?
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We'd have to define "tribulation" first. Has that been done/attempted on this thread? There's tribulation, and then there's "The Tribulation." Is there tribulation? Of course. Is there gonna be a "The Tribulation"? A tribulation to end all tribulations? I believe so, which is really scary considering everything that has happened so far. If I believe there is a "The Tribulation," do I believe it has happened yet? No. Do I believe the believers in Christ will be "taken away" before a "The Tribulation" happens? For the most part, at the very least, yes. But the scriptures also speak of the Antichrist "overcoming the saints." If there is a pre-tribulation rapture, are these saints Christians who were left behind for some reason? Are they people who came to the faith after the rapture (if we are building on the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture). Are they "the remnant" of Israel that come to believe in Christ after the rapture? So many questions.
I guess if I wanted to make this a bit simpler, I'd say... "I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. No scriptures or scriptural arguments that I have heard or read lead me to believe that anyone will get 'left behind,' though I am not rabidly opposed to the notion. Either way, God's people are called to live by faith, and that doesn't change regardless of when the rapture occurs. However, since my understanding favors a pre-tribulation rapture, I have come to believe that the rapture has not yet happened because we have not yet come close enough to a 'The Tribulation' despite having many tribulations."
That's my $2, anyhow.