It seem like this thread "When does the rapture occur", has come down to Post-Tribulation verses Pre-Tribulation. Many verses in the word can be read both ways if you presume the meaning is what you have already decided.
Stop presuming and take the verses that are certain as guide posts to keep you on the right track.
Like fense posts in a straight line the bible dosent controdict itself.
Explain these verses
2Ti 4:6 For I am now ready to be offered, …(Die)
2Ti 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep (dead).
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
It said that the living and the dead get their crowns on the same day and that day is when Jesus comes.
Is that post or pre trib?
The Son of Man appears outside of the Earth (the old dwelling place of the Bride) as a flash across the sky like lightning. He sends the Archangel ahead to blow the Shofar of GOD and calls out the Bride with a SHOUT, just like every Traditional Jewish Wedding in history. The Bridegroom is NOT ALLOWED TO SET FOOT in the old dwelling place of the bride when she is Called Out to go to His Father's House. That is where a Traditional Jewish Wedding is always held and it is where the Wedding Chamber has been Built by the Bridegroom. The Wedding is a week long Ceremony, and I believe the 70th Week of Daniel (a Week of YEARS), is also the Wedding of the Lamb, and also the Reign of the Antichrist that includes the Great Tribulation. At the END of that Week of YEARS, Christ comes back as KING of Kings to reclaim the Earth and set up His Earthly Kingdom reigning for 1000 Years from the Throne of David. Then comes the Judgement Day, followed by the Eternal State, in which we live on a NEW EARTH with a NEW ATMOSPHERE.
In a traditional Jewish Wedding, NOT EVERYONE was invited to the Wedding Ceremony.
Matthew 22:14 (NKJV)
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14 [/SUP]
For many are called, but few are chosen."
However, everyone was invited to the Wedding Supper (or Suppers) at the end of the Ceremony. Frequently there would more than one Wedding Supper, because back then it was very difficult for people to travel great distances for a WEDDING. So if there were three or four Communities with Relatives in them, and none were close to the others, the Bride and Groom would do the travelling after the Wedding Ceremony to Celebrate a Wedding Supper with each group of relatives.
If you want more details, you are welcome to wade through all 148 pages.
Why the 180 degree differences on this subject?
I suspect one of the primary reasons could be the difference between Born Again and Not Yet Born Again.
Why do I say that?
Because it is the born again experience that brings our Human Spirit to eternal life via the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, establishing a genuine inner personal LOVE relationship with HIM as our LORD and our BRIDEGROOM. Prior to that we can know a great deal about HIM and the Bible, but it is all head knowledge, and not Heart Knowledge of genuinely KNOWING HIM.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
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14 [/SUP] The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.