First of all, I want to commend you for the great web-site. It really helps me put things into perspective. My question has to do with the reason for the rapture. Is the rapture of the church for protecting the church believers or is it God’s willingness to take His children out of this world to appease the unbeliever’s desire to rid the world of any godly influence?
1 Thes. 1:10 says Jesus will rescue us from the coming wrath. Rev. 3:10 says He will keep us from the world’s hour of trial. In the original language both these verses are promises to remove us from both the time and place of the end times judgments as a reward for our faithfulness to Him. Therefore the purpose of our removal is to protect us and not to accommodate the unbelievers.