40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
This scripture is commonly used to say that the righteous will be taken up into heaven while the wicked will stay on earth during the "tribulation" (another non-Biblical term). This is even seen on some bumper stickers.
But what does the context of the verse say? Thanks to my dad for pointing this out:
Who is to be taken? The context makes that clear.
37But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39And knew not until the flood came, and took them [the wicked] all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
It is the wicked who will be "taken" away in death, just as in the days of Noah.
6 comments:
Oh, so the meaning is reversed now? I see a bright future for that bumper sticker company in the secular humanist market! ;-)
Well, the meaning has never been reversed. Christ meant that the wicked would be "taken" in death, not that the righteous would be "taken" up to heaven before Jesus came back. So, the only reversing that has been done is by those groups of evangelicals who espouse the rapture concept.
To say the car will be unmanned in the "rapture" is basically the equivalent, biblically speaking, of saying that the driver of the car will be destroyed by God at Jesus' second coming. Kind of ironic, now that I think about it.
I think this "rapture" doctrine all stems from the idea that the tribulation is the sort of thing that God will want His Saints off the earth for.
Judgement begins in the Household of God.
We were sent here to endure hardships [Something only the LDS Plan of Salvation can help someone understand].
Through faithfulness, we be safeguarded during the time of Divine Judgements, but no such luck in being removed from the Planet all together.
jayflow22,
Great points. Joseph Smith also indicated that some righteous will be overtaken during the trials that lay ahead and that we shouldn't judge anyone as being evil if they die in such a manner (I can provided reference if desired).
Nice job; I always wondered about those verses. Thanks!
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