Comments on: Triflin’ Over The Tribulation http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2005/05/28/triflin-over-the-tribulation/ public domain playground. friendly entities welcome. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:22:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Occult Investigator » Challenge Everything http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2005/05/28/triflin-over-the-tribulation/comment-page-1/#comment-1053 Occult Investigator » Challenge Everything Wed, 01 Jun 2005 02:31:02 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2005/05/28/triflin-over-the-tribulation/#comment-1053 [...] book, 1 Thessalonians, is where people nowadays have derived the “prophecy” of The Rapture from. While Paul admonishes us not to trash prophecies, he [...] [...] book, 1 Thessalonians, is where people nowadays have derived the “prophecy” of The Rapture from. While Paul admonishes us not to trash prophecies, he [...]

]]> By: Andrew Smith http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2005/05/28/triflin-over-the-tribulation/comment-page-1/#comment-1015 Andrew Smith Sat, 28 May 2005 18:05:06 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2005/05/28/triflin-over-the-tribulation/#comment-1015 I'm retired UCC clergy. Here's what I say to rapturists I happen to meet: I have good news! The Rapture is tomorrow! That's right, THE RAPTURE IS TOMORROW! Only thing is, when you wake up in the morning, it's today. When you go to bed at night, it's today. When you wake up in the morning, it's… TODAY. Maybe tomorrow is the day you die -- or the day AFTER you die. In which case, good news! The Rapture is tomorrow! Now for some exegesis on 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Saul of Tarsus, before his conversion and renaming as Paul, was a Pharisee. The Pharisees believed that there would be a physical resurrection of the body. As Martha said to Jesus, "I know that he (her brother Lazarus) will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." (John 11:24, NRSV) Martha was repeating Pharisaical doctrine. Paul was trying very hard to reconcile the Pharisees' belief in "the resurrection on the last day" with Jesus' resurrection "on the third day" following his execution by the Romans. So he came up with the formula you find in his first letter to the Thessalonians -- the oldest letter we have of Paul's, written around 50 CE (AD, if you prefer). But note what Paul was saying in his first letter to the Corinthians: "So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body." (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, NRSV) Paul's first Corinthian letter was written around 54 CE. During that four-year period, Paul completely revised his thinking on resurrection. First it was being "caught up" bodily into the air. Four years later it was a "spiritual body" that would be raised. For some reason, the rapturists totally ignore the physical body/spiritual body answer, probably because it doesn't match their fantasy. And that's what the Rapture is. I’m retired UCC clergy.

Here’s what I say to rapturists I happen to meet:

I have good news!

The Rapture is tomorrow!

That’s right, THE RAPTURE IS TOMORROW!

Only thing is, when you wake up in the morning, it’s today.

When you go to bed at night, it’s today.

When you wake up in the morning, it’s… TODAY.

Maybe tomorrow is the day you die — or the day AFTER you die.

In which case, good news! The Rapture is tomorrow!

Now for some exegesis on 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17,

Saul of Tarsus, before his conversion and renaming as Paul, was a Pharisee. The Pharisees believed that there would be a physical resurrection of the body. As Martha said to Jesus, “I know that he (her brother Lazarus) will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:24, NRSV) Martha was repeating Pharisaical doctrine.

Paul was trying very hard to reconcile the Pharisees’ belief in “the resurrection on the last day” with Jesus’ resurrection “on the third day” following his execution by the Romans. So he came up with the formula you find in his first letter to the Thessalonians — the oldest letter we have of Paul’s, written around 50 CE (AD, if you prefer).

But note what Paul was saying in his first letter to the Corinthians: “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, NRSV) Paul’s first Corinthian letter was written around 54 CE.

During that four-year period, Paul completely revised his thinking on resurrection. First it was being “caught up” bodily into the air. Four years later it was a “spiritual body” that would be raised.

For some reason, the rapturists totally ignore the physical body/spiritual body answer, probably because it doesn’t match their fantasy. And that’s what the Rapture is.

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