Some thoughts on the end of the world and rapture.

One of the top stories, if not the top story of this week has been the prediction of the rapture that was supposed to happen today.  The thing that has amazed me most about this story is that I do not know of anyone asking "what is the rapture".  I also have taken notice the answers that people have given refuting this man's claim and have been very impressed.

If you do not know, the word rapture comes from the Latin Vulgate translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:17.  The Latin word "rapiemur" is translated into the English word rapture.  Most English translations translate from the Greek ἁρπάζω into the English phrase, "snatched up or gather up".  There are different ways of interpreting  this into an end time belief system and I will not get into that here.

One thing that concerns me about these types of statements is that people tend to submerge themselves into this line of theological philosophies in place of loving others.  These arguments are used to try to manipulate and scare people into Heaven.  Not only does the Bible say that the main thing is to love others, common sense also teaches us that same thing.  

Suppose you are single and that I know the perfect match for you.  Should I try to manipulate and scare you into meeting the other person; or should I approach you out of love, telling you how the other person is the perfect match for you.  You see there is a difference between forming a relationship and manipulating someone into saying an incantation that we call the "sinner's prayer".  People who promote events like the one that was supposed to happen today are caught up in manipulation and there is not any love coming through.

I remember a Bible verse saying that "these three remain, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love".