Guinastasia - John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life".
There are other scriptures that I can find but this one seems enough for me.
dreamer-the Bible still says, only God himself knows this. (I don’t remember the EXACT passage).
This is standard Catholic doctrine. To believe one is “assured” salvation is a sin.
FWIW, “Rapture” is not mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Well, He is the Holy Ghost , you know. 
I would like to see what scripture you are referring too, but in the meantime there are these that assure me of my salvation.
John 6:47
“He who believes in Me has everlasting life.”
John 11:25-27
Jesus said to her [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
John 5:24
*“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
*
The only thing I can find (right now) is in 1 Corinthians 10:11 it says "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall "
That may be close to what your saying but I’ve never heard that being sure of your salvation is a sin.
Atomic Dog, you will spend an eternity being forced to watch Scooby-Doo cartoons for that!
I have quite a lot to say on this general subject, and I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to post it all today. But let me start by saying that I was wondering exactly what I ought to say in response to the implicit challenge of defining what a Christian ought to be doing with regard to this questionable doctrine – and found I didn’t have to say anything, because cjhoworth had said it with more eloquence than I could muster. Thank you, dear! 
I personally do not have a clue what God has in mind for the future – merely the knowledge that I can put my trust in Him. Doctrines such as the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, the Parousia, the Last Judgment, etc., are human interpretations of the most probable readings of some passages in a couple of the Gospels, some of Paul’s letters, II Peter, and Revelation. There’s a rather heated debate among conservative Christians that has been occurring on the question of whether the Rapture will precede or follow the Great Tribulation (pre-trib and post-trib) or whether the material usually taken as referring to the End Times actually means the persecutions under Nero, etc. (the preterist theory).
To answer the OP, I personally would not be concerned – as noted, nobody, not even Jesus, “knows the day or the hour” – and my instructions on what to do are clear, and do not involve any special preparations for it – but rather to proclaim the Gospel, do good unto my fellow man, etc.
Perhaps most pertinent to the discussion, however, is the application of a little logic to the material that Zev presented above on the Jewish view of what constitutes the Messiah. While Moses Maimonides wrote in the 1200s CE (I trust nobody will object to my not using AD with reference to a Jewish writer!:)), the conceptualization of what would constitute a Messiah far predates his clarifications of Jewish teaching for the perplexed. In short, the expectation among the traditionalist Jews in the first century BC was almost exactly what he quotes Maimonides as describing. Alongside this view, of course, was a group that took a non-literal view of what the Messiah ought to be, and saw the fulfillment of the prophecies in the ongoing life of the Jewish people as a whole. (It’s my impression that this remains a significant element of Reform Judaism today.)
Nobody expected a carpenter’s son from Nazareth to show up, teach that the core elements of the Law were love for God and fellow man, treating others as one would be treated, selfless and self-sacrificial ministry to others, and so on – and then to allow himself to be killed to prove his point. (I will not bring up the Resurrection and following events here; suffice it to say, in response to Gobear’s post earlier about a hypothetical discovery of Jesus’s non-empty tomb, that it would not affect my faith in Him one bit, and I’d be happy to discuss that in a separate thread if anyone wants to.)
Now, given that what Christianity regards as the First Coming of Christ was not what anybody reading the Scriptures with a view to establishing eschatological events would have thought…
What warrants us in thinking that the Second Coming is going to be CNN-worthy in a way that the First Coming apparently was not?
Like dreamer and vanilla, I expect Him to make a reappearance soon. Unlike them, I think that the majority of people who claim the title of Christian will not recognize Him, because He is not showing up according to their preconceived idea of what He ought to be doing. But to the people who truly believe in the way of life He taught, His identity will be obvious.
My only other comment is that anyone who posts a “In case of Rapture this car will be unoccupied” bumper sticker is figuratively thumbing their nose at non-believers, and has a bunch of arrogance to repent of – hopefully in time.
Doesn’t it say, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brother, that you do unto me?”
Therefore, Christ is already among us.
Also, could we not say that even if Christ did not rise from the dead literally, he did so figuratively? Did he not rise again in his people, in his followers, in his words and people who practice what he preached? Isn’t that more important?
Oscar Romero said, (paraphrased) “If I am killed, I will rise again in my people. Let my blood be a seed of liberty for the people of El Salvador.” Was this not the case with Christ himself?
He rises whenever we do what he told us to do.
I believe this way too Polycarp. Many people call themselves Christians yet do not live the life. It wouldn’t be easy to recognize anyone (especially having not ever seen them) unless you know them personally and can recognize their characteristics.
I did for along time have a Christian fish symbol on the back of my car but about a year ago I took it off. I felt that I was sort of saying “Look at me, the good Christian girl”. Was it that I wanted everyone to know I was a Christian? I don’t know but it just started not to feel right anymore. I know I love God in my heart so it doesn’t prove anything to anyone just because I put that symbol on my car. It actually didn’t prove anything considering there were times when I had my road rage moments :). I guess I felt that sometimes people expect more from someone that claims to be a Christian, maybe they hold us up to a higher standard since we claim to follow Jesus and his teachings. I know that I can’t live up to those standards. Anyway I’m rambling on now so I’ll stop. Thanks for responding to my question.
I feel like a big idiot. I can’t find my stupid Greek NT. I know I brought it back from New Orleans in March, but it’s not here. Damn, damn, damn.
If I have to go to the library, you’ll get your answer, dreamer.
OK gobear It’s really okay if you can’t find your book, you don’t have to make a special trip to the library for me. There must be someone here who has something or maybe there’s something online? I’ll look around.
Nah. As far as I’m concerned, you get the same standard as everyone else.
So, I have alot of faith. What can I say? I just hope someone gets all this stuff on video because it would make quite the Blockbuster Hit!!
Make sure to point the camera at Ted Turner, because he’s gonna plotz.*
I agree, dreamer. This is nutty. I can’t hold it against someone for thinking it is.
er …
plotz
I guess that millions of people suddenly vanishing would do it. I’d have to recant my evil ways and plead for a seat on the bus. LOL
As an aside, the demons posing as “Kick-Ass-Aliens” [sup]TM[/sup] distraction would not make it. If they were at all able to get here, aliens would be able to do some amazing things but there would be no magic involved, just advanced physics.
PLEASE don’t bring up the “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indestinguishable from magic.” quote. This is not only wrong, but incredibly insulting as well unless I’m assumed to have the background of a New Guinea head-hunter.
Testy
Testy- I don’t think that’s entirely true. There are millions, if not billions of people on the planet that would believe, seriously believe, that if a person showed up who could fly with no mechanical means, and create beams of light from the palms of their hands with no mechanical means, that the person in question is doing magic.
There’s nothing wrong with this belief. Just because you feel that you are above that, don’t subscribe that thought to everyone else.
Why “soon”, as opposed to 5000 years down from now, if I may ask?
Thanks for the reply but I think you’re missing my point. I agree that if a person were seen flying around and emitting light from any part of their body, many people would consider it magic. That doesn’t make it magic though. It is more a comment on the gullibility of the observer and their lack of education.
There IS something wrong with the automatic assumption that anything not readily explicable is magic or “divine will.” That sort of belief makes a mockery of the education that most of us have and really shoots down the stated mission of this board.
Regards.
Testy.
Polycarp, What on earth do you mean most christians won’t recognize Him?
He will appear in the air with a great shout and we will be lifted up to meet Him IF we are ready.
He is not going to walk around anonymously!
Then, around 7 years later He will appear and again there will be no mistaking Him.
Polycarp, What on earth do you mean most christians won’t recognize Him?
He will appear in the air with a great shout and we will be lifted up to meet Him IF we are ready.
He is not going to walk around anonymously!
Then, around 7 years later He will appear and again there will be no mistaking Him.
vanilla I won’t speak for Polycarp but I thought he was saying that just like when Jesus was here on earth people did not recognize him as the Messiah, yet some people did and knew it was him and followed him accordingly. IMO I don’t think anyone will see him at the time of the rapture, but at his second coming the bible says -
Matthew 24:27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.