Friday, April 27, 2007

A guide to comparing Hymenaeanism w/ orthodox Christianity

Adam wants to compare our viewpoints. Let's see how they match up.

Dada: All are loved by God, approved to do tasks they were designed to do.

Alan: All are loved, but only some are accepted to be saved from judgment and "hell" (which doesn't exist in the Bible at all). God is quiet sometimes, so people "wait" to "hear" God's "call" to "plant" something, somewhere, which often fails, because people don't listen or God has different plans.
1) Obviously Hell is clearly described in the Bible, so that's one thing.
2) God is often quiet, but not always.
3) Though many people do so, it's probably not best to "wait for God's call". A better biblical paradigm is to weigh a course of action 1st biblically, 2nd morally, 3rd w/ wisdom, and then decide.
4) Things fail b/c of sin or b/c God is teaching us. So why should it be some big deal if a human enterprise fails? Especially if God's glory is displayed through it?
5) Nobody who is unredeemed is "approved" by God to do anything except repent.
Dada: The Body is all of humanity, each individual born with certain talents. Each can do good for others, if they so choose.

Alan: The Body is only those believers who hold to a strict series of viewpoints that are not proven in the Bible, or are counter to other parts of the Bible. No one really knows what they're supposed to do.
1) Romans 3 says that nobody seeks to do good. Heb 11:6 and Romans 8 tell us that no one can please God w/o faith. Adam is way off a biblical paradigm.
2) Adam has far to go to prove that parts of the Bible are "counter to other parts" of it.
3) It's quite easy to know what to do. You can start by reading the Bible and following it.

Dada: God's Relevation was about Israel (the Whore of Babylon), the 7 heads of the Beast were 7 real kings of Rome, the churches were real churches of the 1st century.

Tim LaHaye: In the future, God will really send some scary 7-headed monster that a real woman will ride and Jesus will come riding in on a horse to vanquish this beast, all the while billions of Christians will flee to the mountains of Judah. God will then pull bodies out of the ground and everyone all over the world will see this happen in Jerusalem. A new Temple will be built, only to be destroyed again and it will be replaced by a huge chunk of gold miles in width and height and depth.
1) As I said before, I don't have an established eschatological opinion at this time, though orthodox Preterism has its advantages.
2) Adam apparently has a problem seeing how God could possibly "pull bodies out of the ground". But a lover of God's Word doesn't.
3) Adam apparently has a problem understanding imagery in literature, specifically related to the "chunk of gold".
4) For what you said here, it would be better to ask Tim LaHaye.
5) You forgot to add the following for your own position:

Me helping Dada define his own position: Since all that stuff already happened, there is no hope for a Resurrection, there is no way to know what is morally right or wrong to do, evildoers will never be punished, the Bible is worthless anymore, and all we have is "the Spirit" (ie, our own subjective preference of ways of living) to guide us.

Dada: The reason God is silent is because He is done and reigning, leaving the Spirit to guide us.

Alan: God isn't silent, He only talks to a few, so He must not like the rest of the world since they are unworthy.
1) God calls to all, and all know He exists. But very few listen.
2) In one sense He loves the unredeemed, and in one sense He hates them.

A good comparison can be really helpful. May our minds be conformed to God's, not to the flesh. {brief edit here}

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is not a debate with a Preterist, can you please direct me to your debate with a full Preterist.

Msamu

Rhology said...

You've jumped right into the middle of the debate with said HyperPreterist.

See the beginning here.