Pre-Trib vs. Post-Trib Revisited

https://www.quora.com/Do-we-die-and-then-wake-up-immediately-to-the-rapture

A couple of years ago I posted on this topic. I will put links to previous posts at the bottom of this one.

Before delving into this again, let me state right off the bat that I am in the category #3 group in the diagram given above.

Another point I wish to clarify which  many pretribbers erroneously claim is that posttribbers don't believe the rapture will occur. I have heard it often said that posttribbers do not believe in a rapture. In one sense it is true because we do not base our faith on a rapture as I see many pretribbers do. My faith is solidly based on Jesus Christ alone. But I do agree that there will be a "rapture" aka "meeting the Lord in the air", we just disagree on when that event will occur.

When I posted about it a couple of years ago, a dear blogger who is very passionate about her pretrib position and her faith in it, commented and provided links (which I also will provide at the bottom of this post. Her name is Elizabeth Prata. In our exchanges I noticed a couple of things: 1. she made several accusations, she implied that I didn't do my homework, that I have a responsibility to my readers to put up only factual (and I think she meant pre-trib by this) information, and that the source that I used for a link had made erroneous statements in the past (which is of course entirely possible, I didn't know that blogger, but I used his thoughts on the topic of post tribulation because it was easy to follow and explained the post tribulation position quite adequately). 2. She really wasn't up for a discussion, and when she saw that I didn't agree with her statements, she let me know that she no longer wished to converse with me and removed me from her blogger friends list. That is of course her prerogative. There are people that I prefer not to have conversations with and topics I prefer not to argue (or discuss, lol) about. At first I thought she was quite arrogant, no humility, she knows it all and you better acknowledge that fact...and maybe I was not being very generous in judging her that way. She does seem to be very knowledgeable, she obviously reads voraciously, and has little patience for those she deems "lazy"...

....but here's the real problem I have with the pre-trib theory...

If I'm wrong, let's say that I am, and the rapture happens before the awful final antichrist shows up to chip everyone with the mark of the beast. I join everyone that the Lord brings up to be with Him, no problem, I was wrong, it wouldn't have been the first time....but...

If I'm right and the Lord comes to rapture His saints at the end of the great tribulation, many people that were duped to believe the pre-trib rapture theory  will think the antichrist is not the antichrist and the mark of the beast could not possibly be the mark of the beast "because I haven't been raptured, therefore it cannot possibly be that".  And THAT is my main concern. Many are being deceived. In every sermon where I have heard mention of the proper way to study the Bible, the simple meaning of the text is always the main way to interpret the text properly. That proper way of reading needs to get thrown out the window when it comes to the pre-trib rapture theory. I will go into that in more detail in my next blog post, if the Lord is willing.

Links to previous posts (conversations with Elizabeth Prata in comments sections)

 http://susanflutterbys.blogspot.com/2012/01/signs-and-wonders-of-1800s.html

http://susanflutterbys.blogspot.com/2012/01/pretrib-assumptions-vs-what-does-bible.html

pre-trib links

http://jesusplusnothing.com/questions/PreTribRapture.htm

http://christinprophecy.org/articles/why-i-believe-in-a-pre-tribulation-rapture/

I shall post some post-tribulation links on the next blog post where I will go into specific verses and how they are represented by the pre-trib theorists compared with the plain reading of the text, Lord willing...