Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site unmvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!petrus!bellcore!decvax!ucbvax!ucdavis!lll-crg!seismo!cmcl2!lanl!unm-la!unmvax!iuzzolin From: iuzzolin@unmvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion.christian Subject: Assumption Message-ID: <926@unmvax.UUCP> Date: Sat, 14-Sep-85 01:32:33 EDT Article-I.D.: unmvax.926 Posted: Sat Sep 14 01:32:33 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 18-Sep-85 02:36:39 EDT Distribution: net Organization: Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque Lines: 45 I think I can shed some light on the doctrine of Mary's assumption that might make more sense to Protestants. As I understand it, saying Mary was assumed into heaven is basically saying that she was raptured. The following is the scriptural reference to rapture. "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord." 1 Thess 5:16 For those not familiar with the rapture, Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth is a good book to read. Mary was not the first person to be taken into heaven bodily. "When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah three hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not for God took him." Genesis 5:21 ( for all the other people in this list it says "... and he died." ) "And as they (Elijah and Elisha) still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 2 Kings 1:11 "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many." Matt 27:51 I have heard that in Israel grain is planted in the spring. Later in the spring you will see, among the short wheat that will ripen in the fall, some stalks that are already full grown. These are the first fruits, wheat that ripens before the normal time. Those who belong to Christ will be raised when Christ comes again, but Christ, those mentioned in Matt 27, and Mary are God's first fruits. -- Carlyn Iuzzolino