Post by disciple4life on Apr 11, 2020 20:18:20 GMT -6
Hello my brother,
Happy Resurrection !! Andrew, I'm about 65% Otter/ expressive and 35% Lion/Driver, and primarily a verbal processor, so I don't always articulate what I want to say on the first try. LOL. 
I'm sorry if I ever implied in any way that discussion needs to end in agreement with the majority.
I'm one of the most outspoken proponents of going against 'Mainstream' opinion of the vast majority, on issues where the majority has blindly accepted Catholic tradition over the clear teaching of scripture - namely the Catholic myths of Good Friday crucifixion and Palm Sunday.
Another issue that I have posted on multiple threads is the false view held by the vast majority of "Surprise/ any minute rapture - concept of iminency -"rapture could happen tomorrow or 4th of July, or 3rd Wednesday of June".
Most everyone on this forum who have read more than three of my posts, would tell you that I'm not "that guy" - the one who thinks we should go with the majority opinion.
Sometime, try standing firmly on a position that is opposite of what, oh, say, 5 million pastors and 90,000,000 million or so Christians believe. 
Heheheh.
*** But I've also given multiple clear passages from scripture and also presented problems that are not solvable with the Mainstream position, and have cited multiple Jewish scholars and Bible teachers as well as citing Historical documents more than 2000 years old, such as things recorded in the Talmud.
I agree with you, my friend, that Paul is explaining the mystery of the rapture and resurrection of the dead in Christ, and he makes clear that the dead in Christ rise first, and "after that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together." He's simply showing sequence.
The grammatical context is clear when we look at the word. Harpazo means "to be snatched up, caught up quickly as by force" - The "after that" is showing this happens first and then this happens, but it's not a slow process like a plant growing, or a 40 week gestation cycle, or a process of making bread. Paul himself said that this event is instant- in the blink of an eye.
Secondly, we have the phrase "we who are alive and remain will be caught up together." If it were 2 days later, or 5 or 20, then we could not be "Caught up quickly together." we would be caught up separately. Two different events.
It's like saying, "It was night, and in a split second, a deer jumped into the road, and after that, before I could even swerve, I hit it - [True story - it totaled our car.]
Is there a gap in this sequence of events - Yes. .5, or 1.5 seconds. Any reader understands that the deer jumping in the road was so sudden, that it was joined with the event of me hitting the deer.
How odd would it be, if in the same story, the deer jumped into the road at night, and the reader is expected to understand that 2 days later, I hit the deer.?
Lastly, Andrew, I'm sharing my thoughts - I am not at all offended by you or others disagreeing, or having a different perspective. 
You suggested that there might be a 40 day gap, where we testify.
Could there be a gap of a few minutes or hours?? It's possible.
But nothing in the text suggests a gap, and that is why I mentioned that while there are lots of discussion about timing of the rapture, and what the Last Trumpet is, and will it be a surprise, or appointed time, etc. that there is virtual consensus regarding the notion that the resurrection of the dead and rapture of the living are one event, and so fast, that it happens in the blink of an eye - because the text is so clear on these points.
40 day gap is huge, and for perspective, there are 4 separate Feasts in the Spring. One is the very next day, but it's a separate feast. The next one has a gap of a few days, and it's a totally separate feast - and the fourth one is a 50 day gap, from First Fruits to Feast of Weeks/Pentecost.
There is no hint anywhere in scripture, that there is a 40 day gap between the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the subsequent rapture of the living Christians.
This is Eisegesis, reading into the text something that is not there.
Blessings, my friend, and again, Happy Resurrection
Disciple4life