12 Then they returned to Jerusalem
from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city." (Acts 1:11) to mean Christ will not come back the way He left?
But this is what the Full Preterist does.
If the Full Preterist is willing to admit that 'the same Jesus' was to return rather
than Sun Myung Moon, then why can't he admit that Christ will come back to the same place, in the same way he left?
How do you choose a method of interpretation that makes nonsense of the plain sense
of this scripture?
How could one even read a newspaper with this logic?
Or what about this one:
"7 Look,
he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth
will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. 8 "I am the
Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1)
Most Preterists are willing to believe the plain sense of this scripture that declares
that Christ is the Almighty in verse eight, but not that 'every eye will see him', 'even those that pierced him', in verse
seven.
How do you take the deity of Christ literally but the manner and the place of his coming
figuratively?
This is not primarily bad hermeneutics this is trying to make God's words fit their
preconceived notions.
This is making God in their image rather than the other way around and no manner of
schooling is going to educate one that refuses to believe.
"You can go to your college, you can go to your school, but without Jesus your an educated
fool and that's all." (Second Chapter of Acts-Music Group)
"13 When
they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could
see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say." (Acts 4)
Here, the schooled religious ones knew these men to be unschooled formally, but also
took note that 'these men had been with Jesus.'
These apostles had no formal training in the religious schools but yet because they
had been with Jesus and no one can argue with results, this testimony stands for all of us to benefit from.
They didn't need to know the rules of interpretation, all they needed was the Holy
Spirit and faith.
The rest followed.
Certainly, this doesn't mean that one cannot benefit from studying proper interpretation
techniques, but we must not get the cart before the horse or mistake bad hermeneutics for unbelief.
God just loves to get people out of their comfort zones.
The Jews who took pride in their OT standing with God and even thought they had a special
understanding of God (John 8), were made jealous when God, through the apostle Paul 'turned to the Gentiles'.
It went from Group Think to whosoever will. (Acts 13:46ff; Romans 3:23)
And all he wants is our trust.
So the primary reason for people not understanding scripture is lack of faith not improper
methods of interpretation, though we can all learn the basics.
This is why those that choose the allegorical method for plain sense scriptures that
make sense are really declaring their unbelief.
This is also why 'You Know You're a Preterist,
9) If you agree with, If the plain sense makes sense, seek some other sense, lest
you rightly dispense. (2 Timothy 2:15)
This is unbelief to seek some other sense because it doesn't fit what you already believe.
Of course the next point was made mainly to get a laugh but is the degree many have
taken it.
17) You think that the only time we should take Christ seriously is when He says, 'Verily'.
The Scholars of the so called 'Jesus Seminar' actually vote on what scriptures in the
bible they are going to believe.
Well guess what, they are employing some of the same techniques that the Full Preterist
takes.
This is why Mal Couch said:
"While many Preterists are not liberal in their overall theology, this movement leads
to liberalism. If all the language of Scripture pertaining to the Second Coming of Christ is not to be taken historically
and in a normal sense, then why not take the virgin birth of Christ, for example, or other miracles in a "spiritualized" way,
as the Preterists do in reference to prophecy? Preterism opens the door for similar liberal departure."
James Sire speaks of those that take scripture that should be taken literally in a
figurative manner and vice versa.
Scripture Twisting James Sire:
8. THE FIGURATIVE FALLACY: Either (1)
mistaking literal language for figurative language or (2)mistaking figurative language for literal language. Example of (1):
Mary Baker Eddy interprets EVENING as "mistiness of mortal thought; weariness of mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest."
Example of (2): The Mormon theologian james Talmage interprets the prophesy that "thou shalt be brought down and speak out
of the ground" to mean that God's Word would come to people from the Book of Mormon which was taken out of the ground at the
hill of Cumorah.
But the limitations of this is that this is relative to the individual willingness
to believe, when it should be relative to saving faith.
If the plain sense, makes sense, seek no other sense, to replace it' means that if
it makes sense, not if you can or want to believe it or if it conflicts with your preconceived notions.
Essentially this is faith.
The Bible isn't hard to understand, it is hard for some to believe.
Does it make sense that God can move or split a literal mountain? (Zechariah 14)
Sure it does.
If it doesn't then the problem is not Hermans Tunic but ones faith and one can exegete
all over the place.
I will give them a kleenex, but it wont make up for their unbelief.
17. ESOTERIC INTERPRETATION: Under the
assumption that the Bible contains hidden, esoteric, meaning which is open only to those who are initiated into its secrets,
the interpreter declares the significance of biblical passages without giving much, if any, explanation for his or her interpretation.
Example: Mary Baker Eddy gives the meaning of the first phrase in the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven," as
"Our Father-Mother God, all harmonious."
This is not just true of the gnostics and the Duh Vinci Code but of the partial Gnostics
which are the Full Preterists.
It is fallen human nature for groups and individuals to promote a superiority of their
group over others.
I have heard over and over from the Preterist that they had to unlearn many of the
orthodox ways of looking at things in order to understand where they are coming from.
They wear this as a badge of honor.
Others do this as well, assuming that their mode of learning is superior, when it is
just one way of learning and understanding scripture.
Faith is more important than ones hermeneutics.
"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom
as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration
of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not
rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom
of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom
that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen,
no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the
deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the
thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit
of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the
world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by
the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments
about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" 16 But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2)
BJ Maxwell
11/14/2006
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