I have a question to all supporters of the pretribview: If a doctrine is not found in the early church history, is it likely false?
When it is not accepted in the church before the nineteenth century, then it’s definitely false, right?
The only source from a supposed church father, that is always quoted in support of it, is a quote from a sermon by the so-called Pseudo-Ephraim.
The writing exists in different versions. The syriac version does not even have the „pretrib“-quote in that form, but even if you take the latin version it is not even teaching pretribulational rapture.
See this section:
Whenever therefore the earth is agitated by the nations, people will hide themselves from the wars in the mountains and rocks, by caves and caverns of the earth, by graves and memorials of the dead, and there, as they waste away gradually by fear, they draw breath, because there is not any place at all to flee, but there will be concession and intolerable pressure. And those who are in the east will flee to the west, and moreover, those who are in the west shall flee to the east, and there is not a safer place anywhere, because the world shall be overwhelmed by worthless nations, whose aspect appears to be of wild animals more than that of men. Because those very much horrible nations, most profane and most defiled, who do not spare lives, and shall destroy the living from the dead, shall consume the dead, they eat dead flesh, they drink the blood of beasts, they pollute the world, contaminate all things, and the one who is able to resist them is not there. In those days people shall not be buried, neither Christian, nor heretic, neither Jew, nor pagan, because of fear and dread there is not one who buries them; because all people, while they are fleeing, ignore them.
This passage vividly describes the tribulation. Why are the christians still on earth? Or should I say: Why on earth (are they still on earth)?
And that’s a passage, that comes way below the supposed „pretrib“-quote.
If a teaching is true it should have been part of the teaching of the church since the very first century and not the eighth and not even the source from the eighth century teaches it.
From my understanding it was never widely known or spread before a young woman supposedly had a vision about it and Mr. John Nelson Darby picked it up and made it popular in the nineteenth century.
Now this whole argument is very easy to refute, if the pretrib-rapture is a real thing. Just quote christian authors teaching the pretrib rapture earlier than let’s say 1400 or even 1800, although there can be found two catholics, who taught it in the time of the reformation in defence of the Pope.
