I’ve been thinking about your reply and I don’t it’s rooted the right premise. Christians who are watching and waiting on the Lord’s appearance shouldn’t be thought of as sitting on their hands unprepared for what might come. I feel it’s the opposite. If your focus is on Jesus and his teachings then you should be wise as a viper. Always hoping for the best but maintaining your armor of God to be prepared for the worst.
It would go against Jesus’ teachings to not be prepared for tribulation, even Jacob’s trouble, the great tribulation. A Christian’s core goal is to endure and occupy with love until His arrival. It’s hard for me to fathom a true believer being caught off guard. For if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived.
I don’t think your argument stands. There is no harm whatsoever believing in pre-trib for the faithful. On the contrary it is hope and anticipation that heals and sustains us.
I agree with all the things you have pointed out that we should do.
If those things are held, and fastly, then there is no benefit to believing in any of the three (pre/mid/post), and any such efforts would be best suited as exploring hypotheticals, while attending more focus on those things you have pointed out:
Hope for the best
Prepare for the worst, both physically and spiritually
Be prepared for tribulation
Have practiced endurance
Always be on guard
Do not sit on your hands unprepared
If those things are kept, then any firm position on rapture becomes irrelevant. If we are caught up, we are caught up, and if not, we are prepared as best as we can be.
Where my concern comes in is with those who are weaker in faith, for whom, really either position as dogma could become a stumbling block. The weak in faith may put his hopes into being caught up to avoid tribulation, though the servant is not greater than the master, but also the weak in faith may become discouraged by being aggressively initiated through offering of tribulation as reward for faithfulness.
It seems to me that the best course is to teach the truth, which is that we don’t know precisely how it will play out, then focus on being ready for all situations, and through which actions such should be done, of which I believe your list is a good one.
I may be wrong, but this is effectively a tactical discussion toward what actions might promote the best outcome, and not so much one of being right or wrong on dogma. My dogmatic stance is “I dunno! One of them, surely.”
I would like to add that the timeline on which these things would likely happen is not around Christmas, Easter, or some random time where “season” is meant in a generic “chaos/uncertainty abounds” sense, but likely would be a season of one of the biblical feasts (of Exodus/Deut - “for all your generations”), which do have a history of being tied to prophetic events unfolding.
I’ve been thinking about your reply and I don’t it’s rooted the right premise. Christians who are watching and waiting on the Lord’s appearance shouldn’t be thought of as sitting on their hands unprepared for what might come. I feel it’s the opposite. If your focus is on Jesus and his teachings then you should be wise as a viper. Always hoping for the best but maintaining your armor of God to be prepared for the worst.
It would go against Jesus’ teachings to not be prepared for tribulation, even Jacob’s trouble, the great tribulation. A Christian’s core goal is to endure and occupy with love until His arrival. It’s hard for me to fathom a true believer being caught off guard. For if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived.
I don’t think your argument stands. There is no harm whatsoever believing in pre-trib for the faithful. On the contrary it is hope and anticipation that heals and sustains us.
Edit: spelling.
I agree with all the things you have pointed out that we should do.
If those things are held, and fastly, then there is no benefit to believing in any of the three (pre/mid/post), and any such efforts would be best suited as exploring hypotheticals, while attending more focus on those things you have pointed out:
If those things are kept, then any firm position on rapture becomes irrelevant. If we are caught up, we are caught up, and if not, we are prepared as best as we can be.
Where my concern comes in is with those who are weaker in faith, for whom, really either position as dogma could become a stumbling block. The weak in faith may put his hopes into being caught up to avoid tribulation, though the servant is not greater than the master, but also the weak in faith may become discouraged by being aggressively initiated through offering of tribulation as reward for faithfulness.
It seems to me that the best course is to teach the truth, which is that we don’t know precisely how it will play out, then focus on being ready for all situations, and through which actions such should be done, of which I believe your list is a good one.
I may be wrong, but this is effectively a tactical discussion toward what actions might promote the best outcome, and not so much one of being right or wrong on dogma. My dogmatic stance is “I dunno! One of them, surely.”
I would like to add that the timeline on which these things would likely happen is not around Christmas, Easter, or some random time where “season” is meant in a generic “chaos/uncertainty abounds” sense, but likely would be a season of one of the biblical feasts (of Exodus/Deut - “for all your generations”), which do have a history of being tied to prophetic events unfolding.
Excellent Comment Fren!