# What % of people actually believe the rapture is about to happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-people-actually-believe-the-rapture-is-about-to-happen/582727 "2011-05-21T23:09:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-people-actually-believe-the-rapture-is-about-to-happen/582727/61 "2011-05-25T02:54:44Z")
"In [Christian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity) [eschatology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology), the **Rapture** is a reference to the _being caught up_ referred to in the Biblical passage [1 Thess 4:17](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Epistle_to_the_Thessalonians), when in the [End Times](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_Times) the [Christians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian) of the world will be gathered together in the air to meet [Jesus Christ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ).["](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture#cite_note-0) That’s the first paragraph in the Wiki article on the Rapture. Now, will all of you guys who so positively state that there is no Biblical reference to the rapture please explain why that is wrong? If the TERM was first used in the 18th century or whatever, fine, but SAY that clearly. Don’t imply that because something translated from Greek doesn’t contain a particular English word, then the whole concept doesn’t exist. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-people-actually-believe-the-rapture-is-about-to-happen/582727/62 "2011-05-25T03:52:52Z")
No worries **JRDelirious** : I’m glad we could drill a little further down. My knowledge of this topic is actually pretty sketchy and your elaboration was helpful. **brocks**. The question at hand is Biblical interpretation. Or actually it’s not (such discussions belong in GD). The question is what percentage of people believe the rapture is about to happen. Well, lots of fundamentalists believe this. But most mainline Protestants and Catholics do not: it is not part of their faith/interpretation of the Bible. This apparently comes as a surprise to some members of the board. My personal reading is that Thessalonians was a nice letter written by Paul intended to cheer up a congregation that he established and had fond memories of. He alluded to their past and present troubles and held out hope of a bountiful afterlife. But the Kingdom of God won’t be built without sacrifice and hard work. More snarkly, the chapter is entitled _Letter to the Thessalonians_, not _Letter to Harold Camping_. Incidentally, not all Fundamentalists believe in the Rapture. Some believe that the prophesies of the Bible are 100% true and that they took place in the past. They call themselves [Preterists](http://www.preterist.org/whoarewe.asp). ---
**Author:** ![samjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@samjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samjones)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-people-actually-believe-the-rapture-is-about-to-happen/582727/63 "2011-05-25T12:08:12Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > The question is what percentage of people believe the rapture is about to happen. Read in context, OP’s question was about whether the media were overreporting Camping’s end-times prediction. In America I would say “no” - Camping made a big fuss about the prediction - billboards around the country, bus ads everywhere, people in Times Square - so I would say that the media was only reporting on a story with legitimate public interest. Exactly what Camping was hoping for. But there’s an old American saying that I just made up that goes “If it happened in Park Slope it’s international news” and by that I mean that the global newsreporting organizations in New York City may have been overcovering a story that really only had domestic interest. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-people-actually-believe-the-rapture-is-about-to-happen/582727/64 "2011-05-26T05:30:14Z")
> [@samjones](#): > > But there’s an old American saying that I just made up that goes “If it happened in Park Slope it’s international news” and by that I mean that the global newsreporting organizations in New York City may have been overcovering a story that really only had domestic interest. 😃 To be fair though, Camping apparently had billboards worldwide: an article I linked to on the previous page mentioned Vietnam and Philippines. More generally though, Europeans are way more interested in the US than we are about them. When I lived in London some years back, I would read and hear the news stories about America and think “_Why do you care?_” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-people-actually-believe-the-rapture-is-about-to-happen/582727.md?page=3)