Setting a theological 'urban legend' to rest
Snopes.com is well known to users of the Web as the place to check out urban legends, computer virus hoaxes, and other such rumors. But sometimes its utility goes even further.
Here, in the midst of debunking the odd rumor that the airlines will not allow flight crews to consist entirely of Christians for fear that they will be "raptured," is an account of the history of the popular- though fanciful- misinterpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 which gives rise to the story.
The passage actually predicts, not the removal of believers from the earth prior to a "Great Tribulation," but simply Christ's return to judge the world on the Last Day.
Here, in the midst of debunking the odd rumor that the airlines will not allow flight crews to consist entirely of Christians for fear that they will be "raptured," is an account of the history of the popular- though fanciful- misinterpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 which gives rise to the story.
The passage actually predicts, not the removal of believers from the earth prior to a "Great Tribulation," but simply Christ's return to judge the world on the Last Day.
Comments