Many Christians who do not agree that there will be a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church point out that it is a relatively new doctrine, first popularized in the 1800s and elaborated on subsequently. There are whole denominations holding this view. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox do not accept it either, as such a thing as "rapture" was never taught by any of their bishops, from the beginning. Instead of "being taken up into Heaven", these churches follow the scriptures (such as Isaiah) clearly describing a physical Kingdom of Heaven that will be on a renewed Earth, following the Great Tribulation, the Resurrection of the Dead, and Judgment Day. For all practical purposes no Christians held to this theory before Darby in the 1840’s. For example, none of the great reformers, Luther (Martin Luther, Preface to the Revelation of St. John, II; quoted in Thigpen, Paul, The Rapture Trap, p. 142.)or Calvin, (Commentary on First Corinthians, 52; quoted in Thigpen, Paul, The Rapture Trap, p. 142) believed in a “Secret Rapture to Heaven” theory. Nor did the ancient church fathers such as St. Chrysostom, St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus, St. Hippolytus hold to the theory of the pre-tribulation rapture. (Paul Thigpen, The Rapture Trap, p. 131 et seq, quoting the church fathers.)
Many do not accept the pre-Tribulation rapture interpretation because they believe that it is not clearly expressed in the Bible, but instead relies on extrapolations and inferences made from unconnected verses. Many further believe that if anything this significant were intended to be a major part of Christian teaching, then surely Christ would have made a plain reference to it in his own sermons as recorded in the Gospel, and not buried such a major prophecy in a few verses of the Apostle Paul. Many times the New Testament describes when something will happen “before” another event. Indeed, three times the idea of “before an event” is used with reference to the coming of Christ. The first of these is Acts 2:20 where it refers to events that will happen “before” the coming of Christ – in this case his first coming. In the second, I Cor 4:5, Paul warns his readers against pronouncing judgments “before” the Lord returns. The third is in the heart of the primary passage that is used to support the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture. At I Thess. 4:15 it says that those who are living will not precede or go “before” those who have died at the coming of the Lord. And as noted in II Thess. 2:3 it says that the anti-Christ will occur before the coming of Christ.