As I continued to research further into this method of interpretation that was new to me the more I realized that this was nothing new at all. The more time I spent researching the fulfilled view of eschatology, the more I realized that I had quite simply missed the boat regarding this view as I had been studying the end times over the last couple of years. I had heard the term preterism before and simply laughed it off as absurd but now, somehow, something had changed. Why was it that this understanding that was new to me was now ringing through my head as true? Maybe it was because of many many hours of study that left me frustrated. Maybe it was because of someone like Hank Hanegraaff, whom I respected highly for his work on the radio, that had accepted some form of preterism that helped me see past my own desires of upholding the futurist view that I had been holding to so tightly. Then again, maybe it was something as simple as God's will and His timing. Either way a new season in my life had begun and my life would never be the same.
And so with each and every passing morning that I was working at the radio station I began to look deeper and further into the preterist view of eschatology. Although I must say...I almost felt kind of funny doing this research while working at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The reason why is because of some recent changes that they had made to their network at the church. You see...CCCM is a huge church. And when you add up all of the hundreds of different people that work there in all of the different ministries that have access to their computer network and the internet it was pretty clear why they had just recently added Websense to the network. Websense is a security and monitoring software that tracks where everyone that has permission to be on the network has been. That and block certain things that most churches don't want their staff looking at.
And so here I was full of excitement for this new path that I was traveling down and wanting to search every corner of the world wide web, scooping up every morsel of knowledge on the subject that I could find...And now they would be keeping track of every step I took. Doh!!! 8)
At first I was a little apprehensive. I didn't want them to see that I was spending so much time looking at websites about something that was so fundamentally different from what Calvary Chapel taught. Now mind you...I wasn't by any means letting this research keep me from doing my job. If you remember being on-air leaves you with a lot of spare time. Although I must say...my studies for the school of ministry did take a slight turn for the worse. Not to much though. I had already gotten so far ahead on so much of my work that I was able to coast for a while.
And so after a few days I got over my Websense related apprehension. And I was off doing tons of research on the topic of preterism and of course like most people I've spoken to, that had come to a preterist view of the end-times, I was pretty excited and wanted to tell everyone. And so I did. Kind of quietly at first. I started printing out pages here and there. Asking pointed questions related to the time statements found in the opening and closing chapters of Revelation. But most of the people I was talking to...Other School of Ministry students, had a lot on their plates and didn't really have the time to dedicate to this kind of thing or they really just didn't care. Eschatology was not their gig...They'd say things like, "I'm not worried about it too much...It's all gonna pan out in the end."
Needless to say I was really kind of surprised how little interest most people had. And those that would listen to me almost always had a question that I wasn't ready for at this point in my journey. And that's about the time when I came across an article online by a guy named David A. Green. It was called "101 Preterist Time-Indicators for the Second Coming of Christ - From Preterism: 101."
When I finished reading this article I had to pick my jaw up off of the cold, laminated counter top in the studio and wipe up copious amounts of drool. <---A little too descriptive...Maybe??? Anyhow...I was absolutely shocked to see just how many time statements there were indicating that the last days events found in the New Testament were nothing other than soon, near and at hand. I had thought that surely with all of this fine evidence printed out and in hand that someone would see what I was seeing. And so what was the first response I got from one of my School of Ministry brothers. "Well of course the end was near...And it still is. 2 Peter 3:8 'But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.' It's only been a couple of days to God."
Clearly at this point my zeal was much stronger than my understanding of a fulfilled view of prophecy. And so I decided that I just needed to keep my mouth shut and study more.
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ReplyDeleteALL TIMES
praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:34-36)
Another one of those pesky time statements...8)
ReplyDeleteBrother Loomis,
ReplyDeleteI you believe that the prophesy of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection was fulfilled,
by definition you are a prederist.
If, in a camp contrary to "futurists" you insist that:
There is no future 2nd advent of Christ;
That ther Great Judgement occured in the year 70
That there is no physical resurrection of the body;
That history has no end.
That Satan has been destroyed,
then it's more likely that the view you hold is one of a "hyperprederist."
Your system is probably built on this verse.
Luke 21:22
"These are the days of vengeance in order that all things which are written are fulfilled."
When did Christ say this? (aprox 30AD?)
When was the new testament written? (Around 45-70 / 95?)
Jesus says the things that HAD been written are fulfilled in the year 70.
He's not talking about things that WILL BE written, and so that verse doesn't talk about new testament prophecies that are to be written later. He's only talking about prophecies relative to the destruction of Jerusalem.
When Jesus spoke, not all things were written.
Further, does "all" necessarily mean each and every? When "all of Judea went to hear John the baptist..." that did not mean each and every citizen. "all" is not necessatrily a universalistic term.
It's the dispensational and 'speculatotological' mindset that keeps embarassing the church that leads to a reactionary swing of the pendulum towards hyperpreterism.
Hyperpreterists, however, (with some exegetical warrant), see that some texts in scripture speak of the nearness of some eschatological events and make the mistake of hasty generalization; they commit an informal logical fallacy when they say that since some prophecy applies to near-term events, therefore let's universalize some local prophecies.
Some passages do teach that Christ comes in the year 70. But this is a metaphorical event rather than a literal bodily one. Judgement on the temple in 70 is a picture of the final event at the end of history.
Jesus' was a physical tangible resurrection. What is our resurrection going to be like?
1st Corinthians 15:20. "The first fruit is Jesus..." is an indication of a comming full fruit, so our physical resurrection is tied into the center of redemption where Christ died for our sins in the body, and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins in the body.
The doctrine of the resurrection is the cornerstone on which to base whether your stance can be considered evangelical at all.
In 1st Corinthians 15:44, regarding the resurrected body as a spiritual body, Paul was dealing with a gnostic problem in the church in Corinth, and said this in an attempt to address and bring the members back to a fundamental understanding from which they had strayed.
If you are troubled by preterism,
your theological conviction is likely
to be also at stake, which may explain your 'reticence.'
If the above is true, please read sound
literature by the orthodox creedly constrained prederism. I can suggest some books and authors if you wish. Compared with unorthodox anticreedal representative literature, you'll notice distinct differences of each camp. One has the flavor of evangelicalism and the joy of the spirit in it, and the other is more cantancerous, narrow, hard-driving, combatative argumentative literature.
regards,
M
maruta_ananda@yahoo.com
mstavrinides@yahoo.com
Hi Maruta, I'd like to discuss this with you further. I've started a post over at my forum. You asked a lot of questions above. I'd be honored if you would register and start with just one question at a time.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to further discussion. 8) Mike
http://70ad.net/forum/index.php?topic=6.msg6#msg6
Brother Loomis,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the offer
of participating in your forum.
Perhaps at a later time.