On a Christian online forum, a poster admitted that she was terrified of the so-called rapture, the bizarre notion that the end of time will be preceded by Jesus’ true believers being somehow snatched up into the heavens to avoid the calamity on earth. The fear is that one might not be a true believer and would be left behind to face all manner of horrors. It sounds like a low-budget fright flick, but it is vigorously promoted as doctrine among fundamentalists.
This is what I told the poster with the hope of calming her fears: The rapture is neither biblical nor a teaching of the early church. Try to dismiss it as you would monsters under the bed or superstitions about Friday the 13th. As far as the Parousia (the return of Christ), that hope was fulfilled at Pentecost. The church is the return of Christ (when we live out the golden rule, love our neighbors & remember that everyone is our neighbor, & see God’s light in every soul). The rapture is bad theology from the 19th century. Ignore it & live your life. Love casts out fear, & god is love. Live free in the power of love.
