Which Protestant denominations believe in the Rapture?

[bluestateguy]

I'm narrowing down my choices as to a church to join, and I want to avoid one that believes in all that Rapture/Tim LaHaye stuff.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Well, you will need to nuance the question a bit

if you want to avoid rapture stuff entirely - the TIm LeHaye version is just one of many forms of rapture belief; so even if you avoided a LaHaye-style church, you could still be chin-deep in some other form of rapture bullshit.


But, anyway - the better question might be to ask which denominations DO NOT believe as LaHaye, or believe in any kind of rapture/tribulation bullshit: any of the mainstream ones will be safe for you: Unitarian, UCC, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Quaker, Lutheran (ELCA, anyway; I'm not sure about WI or MO Synods, though I doubt they are rapturists, but you wouldn't like them anyway), Unity Christ Centers, Northern Baptist, American Baptist, Congregational, and I am sure I've missed a number of them.

Stay away from any that have "Independant Free" or "Bible Church" or "non-denominational" or "Pentecostal" or "Evangelical" (unless it's Evangelical and Reformed) as well as Assembly of God and Southern Baptist.

[tanyev]

3. You are correct that LCMS Lutherans do not believe in the rapture.

And yes, we are very conservative. *sigh* Neither does the Wisconsin Synod, but they are even more conservative.

[Warpy]

2. Well, you can't go wrong with the Unitarians

and most Episcopalian congregations are quite liberal. The United Church of Christ isn't bad, either.

Rapture nuts tend to belong to rural churches and big city megachurches. Many demoninations seem to have been infected by the Rapture blasphemy and if you reject the above choices, you will just have to visit the places and find out for yourself. Some congregations are reasonable. Some are not.

[Ravenseye]

14. Yeah

If you pick a church that allows gay AND lesbian ministers/priests/deacons/reverends/etc you're probably in pretty good shape.

The problem then becomes finding one that doesn't annoy you. I can't stand our local Unitarian church. Too much tamborene singing and rules of order, not enough thought provoking talks and discussion.

[patcox2]

4. Its called "pre-millenial dispensationism" and none of the mainstream

none of the mainstream denominations believe in it. It was made up by wacky american fundamentalists around a hundred years ago.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Actually, rapture beliefs come under a great many categories

Tim LaHaye's version is premillenial dispensationalist pretribulation futurism.

But there's post-millennial and amillennial; plus the pretrib, post-trib, and mid-trib; and then beyond those, a shitload more.

[patcox2]

6. Thanks, obviously I have not mastered all the varieties of looney.

Its like birdwatching.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. Yes - that's exactly it!

Just like birdwatching.

I find it utterly fascinating, and have been studying it for a couple years. For 1800 years, all expressions of the church had a basic eschatology of "Hey - it's all gonna work out." And then some dipshit in the 1800s, in America of course, invents all this rapture bullshit and then, being American religion, there were disputes and schisms and arguments and now there's a few hundred different versions of the "rapture", and it's taking hold around the world: Australia, Africa, Central America being the places of big movements.

And of course, what makes it all so very fascinating is that it's these rapture fucks - especially from LaHaye (close friend and advisor to Reagan; and the one who got Falwell started) - who are in charge of the country, and this is why we see so much automatic support of Israel: because we can't make Jesus come again and have ourselves a rapture and a tribulation and the battle of Armageddon without Israel existing as a nation.

So it's not just a theoretically fun bit of birdwatching - it's birdwatching, but the kind in which one is watching while the birds destroy the watcher's world.

[LostinVA]

7. Basically, Fundamentalists do and many Evangelicals

So.. stay away from them.

However, any church that believes in the Rapture is also not one you will feel at home in per beliefs. So, you're pretty safe.

[Bridget Burke]

8. Some Fundamentalists do NOT believe in the Rapture....

Because it ain't in the Bible. The word may be mentioned, but the whole story was invented much later.

No "denomination" accepts the whole story. But some specific congregations might.

[shadowknows69]

9. Methodist, Baptist and Assemblies of God all do

Actually I might be wrong about Methodist.

[Critters2]

10. You're wrong about Baptists, too

The majority of members of the American Baptist Churches don't believe in it.

[shadowknows69]

12. The church I went to did

Showed us the "A Distant Thunder" movies. The 70's version of the "Left Behind" stories.

[Critters2]

17. I went to an ABC seminary

and the profs went out of their way to show why the rapture is NOT a biblical concept.

[Pathwalker]

13. Many Southern Baptists churches do. It was

taught when I was a child, and that was more than fifty years ago.

[Skidmore]

20. There are Baptists and there are Baptists. Isn't Falwell and

his insanity Baptist?

[Critters2]

11. United Church of Christ

Most of us don't even believe in the Virgin Birth, many don't believe in the resurrection, and I don't know a living soul in the UCC that believes in the rapture....okay, one woman, but we can't figure why she's UCC.

Look us up at stillspeaking.com

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. How about the BWF? I've read the insane ramblings of their newspapers

and some other stuff, and had some encounters with the hateful assholes - but I don't think I've ever come across anything about their eschatology. Do you have any idea? I wouldn't put it past them to be LaHaye-ians, but on the other hand, even though their bullshit is bullshit, they don't seem to hit the heights of science-fiction-like bullshit that the LaHaye/Falwell/other assholes crowds do.

[Critters2]

24. Yeah, probably some of 'em buy that crap

But if we just keep pissing 'em off, they'll all join the Evangelical Association and leave us alone.
That's my new strategy with them--piss 'em off so they'll go away. Seems to be working, slowly but surely.

[demosincebirth]

15. United Church of Christ...very liberal

as opposed to the Church of Christ.

[Critters2]

16. That's us

ucc.org or stillspeaking.com

Especially friendly if you're glbt. I've been UCC my whole life, and am proud of my church!

[demosincebirth]

19. Good for you.

I'm Catholic myself and I have couple of friends that go to your church.


on edit: I was taught years ago that the "rapture" was invented by protestant fundamentalist.

[Critters2]

23. It was

but not all Protestants believe in it. Not all Protestants are fundamentalists. Some of us are progressive.

[prairie populist]

18. I don't think the United Methodists go along with the rapture

thing, not sure about the Southern Methodists.

I was confirmed Missouri Synod Lutheran, but am now a United Methodist. Not a lot of study requirements to join UMC, just bring a potluck dish for Sunday dinner.

It's my understanding that the UMC does not believe in a literal hell, hence they drop the words "and he descended into hell" when reciting the Nicene Creed.