The Catholic
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The Rapture
According to the doctrine of the rapture, all believers, alive and dead, will be glorified and raised: "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Depending on the person's beliefs, the Rapture will take place before, during, of after the "tribulation", a period of great tumult and Christian persecution (2 Thess. 2:1-4).
The problem with the pre-tribulation and mid-tribulation theories (in which all believers will be taken from the Earth, while the unbelievers remain to be destroyed) is that they are contradicted by the Scriptures: "But in those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather (his) elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky" (Mark 13:24-27; 2 Thess. 2:1-12). The passages used in defense of these positions (John 14:3; 1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. 15:52) say nothing about the tribulation.
The correct interpretation of 1 Thessalonians is that, after the reign of Antichrist, all people will be taken, but Paul's intention was to stress that the living would have no advantage in the resurrection over the dead–they would all go to live with the Lord forever (Rev 20:17-21:27).
Fundmentalists also cite Matthew: "Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming" (Matt. 24:40-42). This does not imply a rapture, but rather, states the fact that between any two people, one may be saved (taken) while the other may be unsaved (left). The fact is, this is apocalyptic language, and should not be taken literally.
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