Why would people vanish if only souls go to heaven?

Question

The Left Behind books say that people will vanish into thin hair instantly when the rapture happens. Then, they say the earthly bodies are not important because you get new bodies in heaven for your souls. Why would bodies disappear then?

Answer 1

the bodies turn into dust!

Answer 2

The secret rapture belief if not Biblical. It is based on like half a verse.

The Bible clearly states when Jesus returns "EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM"

And the term "soul" as it is thought of today. is not Biblical either. When we die, the Bible says we are as though we are asleep. We get our Eternal Reward when Jesus returns!

"and the dead in Christ shall rise..." if those that die before were alread in Heaven, there would be no need for their bodies to be raised from the grave.

A lot of people use the story of the thief that hung on the cross next to Jesus as an example for the dead going to Heaven or Hell insantly. "I say unto you, Today you will be with me in Paradise." But the common (which was placed during translation) is in the wrong place. He is saying, Today I am telling you, you will be with me in Heaven.

We know this 1) Jesus was the only one that dies that day. They had to take the other two down for the Sabbath and break their legs to keep them from running off. So if Jesus said he would be in Heaven that day, that would make Him a liar.
2) After Jesus rose from the dead, when He met Mary, He told he not to touch Him since He had not ascended to His father yet.

Our God is a loving a merciful God, a God of many second chances. But they are given to us here on earth..now....while there is stil time (though not much more is left)

Answer 3

Easy, it will be a "Wake-up Call" for those "Left Behind" who were nodding off in church when this was taught, (as they weren't believers) but now may make the "Decision" as the Scripture has now been Fulfilled!!! Seems that a lot of people here think U will turn back into "Dust" which is wrong as Scripture also says that the "Dead in Christ shall rise first and then we who are alive will be caught up with Him". This is to show that the Dead & Living Christians have Totally Identified with Christs' own "Death Burial & Resurrection" leaving no "Dust" behind!!! I think that this alone will be quite shocking. Imagine being engaged with Ur believing spouse in making "Love" & they covered U with their "Dust" as they were taken up!!! God is not crude!!! John

Answer 4

The major Christian creeds state, "I believe in the resurrection of the body." But I have found in many conversations that Christians tend to spiritualize the resurrection of the dead, effectively denying it. They don't reject it as a doctrine, but they deny its essential meaning: a permanent return to a physical existence in a physical universe.

Of Americans who believe in a resurrection of the dead, two-thirds believe they will not have bodies after the resurrection. But this is self-contradictory. A non-physical resurrection is like a sunless sunrise. There's no such thing. Resurrection means that we will have bodies. If we didn't have bodies, we wouldn't be resurrected!

The biblical doctrine of the resurrection of the dead begins with the human body but extends far beyond it. R. A. Torrey writes, "We will not be disembodied spirits in the world to come, but redeemed spirits, in redeemed bodies, in a redeemed universe." If we don't get it right on the resurrection of the body, we'll get nothing else right. It's therefore critical that we not merely affirm the resurrection of the dead as a point of doctrine but that we understand the meaning of the resurrection we affirm.

Genesis 2:7 says, "The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." The Hebrew word for "living being" is nephesh, often translated "soul." The point at which Adam became nephesh is when God joined his body (dust) and spirit (breath) together. Adam was not a living human being until he had both material (physical) and immaterial (spiritual) components. Thus, the essence of humanity is not just spirit, but spirit joined with body. Your body does not merely house the real you—it is as much a part of who you are as your spirit is.

If this idea seems wrong to us, it's because we have been deeply influenced by Christoplatonism. From a christoplatonic perspective, our souls merely occupy our bodies, like a hermit crab inhabits a seashell, and our souls could naturally—or even ideally—live in a disembodied state.

It's no coincidence that the apostle Paul's detailed defense of the physical resurrection of the dead was written to the church at Corinth. More than any other New Testament Christians, the Corinthian believers were immersed in the Greek philosophies of Platonism and dualism, which perceived a dichotomy between the spiritual and the physical. The biblical view of human nature, however, is radically different. Scripture indicates that God designed our bodies to be an integral part of our total being. Our physical bodies are an essential aspect of who we are, not just shells for our spirits to inhabit.

Death is an abnormal condition because it tears apart what God created and joined together. God intended for our bodies to last as long as our souls. Those who believe in Platonism or in preexistent spirits see a disembodied soul as natural and even desirable. The Bible sees it as unnatural and undesirable. We are unified beings. That's why the bodily resurrection of the dead is so vital. And that's why Job rejoiced that in his flesh he would see God (Job 19:26).

When God sent Jesus to die, it was for our bodies as well as our spirits. He came to redeem not just "the breath of life" (spirit) but also "the dust of the ground" (body). When we die, it isn't that our real self goes to the intermediate Heaven and our fake self goes to the grave; it's that part of us goes to the intermediate Heaven and part goes to the grave to await our bodily resurrection. We will never be all that God intended for us to be until body and spirit are again joined in resurrection.

Answer 5

People are going to vanish into thin hair? Wow, I better open up a wig shop post-rapture, then!

LOL. No, it would make sense that the bodies would simply drop to the ground as if they died suddenly.

But I dont' believe in the rapture anyway so they can spontaneously combust or whatever they'd like to do, that's fine with me if that's what they believe.

Answer 6

The event that you are refering to is the rapture or to some the second comming of Jesus Christ for saints both deceased and alive on planet earth....Our bodies will be changed in the twinkling of an eye,to those of a glorifed and incorruptable nature.

Answer 7

I teach from the manuscripts, and your question is not only a good one, but a valid
one. The manuscripts all but cement the fact that NOBODY IS GETTING RAPTURED OUT TO ANYWHERE. Christ is coming HERE. Those books called "Left Behind" are written by the most Biblically illiterate people I have ever heard of.
In Scripture, where you read of the two grinding at the mill, and the two working in the field, one is taken, and the other left?
If you back up to capture the subject and the object of what is being discussed, you will find that the subject is that the Antichrist comes FIRST before the gathering back to us by the true Christ. WE WANT TO BE THE ONE LEFT BEHIND. The ones that are taken, are taken BY ANTICHRIST.
The rapture doctrine is not only false doctrine, but also very, very dangerous.
All those who believe we will be raptured out before all the "horrors" happen, will believe that the first "jesus" who comes on the scene must be here to rapture them to safety. The problem is, that the first "jesus" who comes, is the Antichrist who will be disguised and pretending to be Jesus. He will be fake. The word "Anti" does not mean "against" - it means "instead of". Antichrist is coming "instead of Christ"; he will come in prosperously and peacefully; he will look just like that picture of Jesus that granny has hanging on her wall. He will come in as preacher/teacher/savior. He will act like Jesus - full of love, tolerance; he will end war, end homelessness, a chicken in every pot. This is the great deceit of the end times. And interestingly, the only ones who can be hurt or deceived by him are those who do not care enough to pick up Gods Word and read it for themselves, rather than to listen to some tv preacher, or read some goofy books. Antichrist will perform supernatural miracles and the mass majority of even Church-going Christians will be deceived and think it is really Jesus. They will fall all over each other to serve and worship him. It will be the biggest religious tent revival man will ever see. This may be an oversimplification, but still true:
IF YOU ARE STILL IN THE FLESH WHEN THIS SUPERNATURAL PERSON COMES DOING MIRACLES AND CONVINCING THE WORLD THAT HE IS JESUS - Its the fake. Its Antichrist.
Why? Two reasons: first, Scripture is clear that the Antichrist comes BEFORE the true Christ (Antichrist comes on the 6th trump, and the true Christ comes on the 7th - can people count anymore?)
And Second, when the true Christ returns, we are all (good or bad, doesn't matter) I repeat: WE ALL will be instantly changed into our spiritual bodies. So if you are still in your flesh body, its not the true Jesus.
Its just that simple. Those who believe it is the real Jesus, will be those who are harvested out of season. They will bear the "mark" of the beast IN THEIR FOREHEADS - whats in your forehead?
Your brain - if you are deceived and believe its the true Christ, you bear the mark. It doesn't matter if they tattoo "666" all over you and implant five thousand chips into your skin - it won't change what you believe.
If you believe he is the true christ, you bear the mark of the beast. Where scripture says "in the forehead or right hand" - "right hand" is an idiom meaning "doing the work of". Where scripture states "woe to them who give suck in those days" - it means those who nurse along the work of this Antichrist believing he is Jesus Christ.
We are the spiritual bride of Christ. When the true Christ does return, he will find his bride has bedded down with a different husband. Think of the tv preachers who will lead hundreds of thousands of people to be devil worshippers? The writers of those Left Behind Books are equally as guilty. God does not look favorably on those who deceive his people. Christ will return to an adulterous wife, and its not gonna be a pretty sight, either. This is why it is written that many will wish for death rather than to face the true Christ: I certainly would if I realized I had led entire congregations of people to worship the devil, but thats exactly what is gonna happen.
Some say that the Church is not mentioned in Revelation after Chapter 3, because they are raptured: not true. The Church is not mentioned because they are deceived, and not worthy to be called a "church of God".
Some say that 1thessalonians is proof of the rapture, but again, they do not understand what they are reading. Back up to capture the subject, and they would find it is "where are the dead?" The Massorah (the footnotes of the New Testament writings) states that Paul quickly and anxiously sat down and wrote SECOND Thessalonians because he had already sent the first letter, and he was afraid he might have confused people. His Second letter states that you should not be deceived even by a letter from him, but that the true Christ WOULD NOT GATHER BACK TO US UNTIL AFTER ANTICHRIST SITS IN JERUSALEM CLAIMING TO BE GOD.
Isn't that clear? When Paul states we will
gather in the clouds - thats an idiom that only means a gathering of a large group of people - like a "cloud" of locusts, for example. And where they think they read
"in the air", its ruach, it means to meet in that large crowd IN OUR SPIRITUAL BODIES. The rapture is nothing more than another way of Satan to deceive those people who choose to be unlearned and ignorant, and they deserve exactly what they are gonna get. There is no reason for it, except that they would rather listen to some man than to listen to the simplicity of the teachings of Christ, period.

Answer 8

There you go interjecting logic into an argument that you're going to lose anyway. Get ready for lots of interesting answers, I'll be checking too as I want to know!

Answer 9

Bodoies were made of dust and retur back to dust. What matters to God is our soul.

Answer 10

because it's a crock