Theology Club: Dispensational Consistency

Danoh

New member
As in all other schools of thought, it is also the case among those who hold to Dispensationalism as a key study principle to studying and sorting out the various issues; there is disagreement.

And there is disagreement about the significance of one issue on another.

Even within books about the Dispensational Hermeneutic, some are well known for holding to a conclusion about a thing as to some passages, only to turn around and contradict that elsewhere.

Though far from alone in this, one of the greatest Bible students history has ever recorded, E. W. Bullinger, is nevertheless, an example of this in his own writings.

Thus; its no surprise that he ended up moving from his earlier position: Mid Acts, to Acts 28.

This recurrent pattern is obvious in that great book of his "How to Enjoy and Study the Bible."

In page after page, he relates some very profound, yet very simple principles of Bible study.

But as you read some of his many examples, you cannot help - if you look at things through their recurrent patterns (as he himself had, ironically) - you cannot help seeing his own violating of his great book's study principles.

Left unchecked, that kind of thing can only begin to "eat" away more and more, at the very basis of that which is sound; at the Hermeneutic itself.

"As doth a canker."

The result is now history. Assert a thing is so, accommodate your study principles to its assertion, in contrast to "now run the math backwards, first" - violate that, and next thing you know, there is not much hope of turning back for you, you are perhaps too far gone.

This often happens within great men, but also, within those equally great movements they end up having been an important catalyst of.

For this also happens, and is in fact much more often the case; where the everyday "Bible" student gets his or her hermeneutic.

Not from Scripture, as they assert, rather; from those results that writers of books write about.

When such a books based "student" goes long in the reading "about" it, in "books," the tendency is to conclude from their reading "about" it, that they know the hermeneutic itself.

Soon thereafter, they begin to produce conclusions absent of the hermeneutic's built in checks and balances.

As a result, they end up unable to even see that they are asserting conclusions that actually violate the hermeneutic.

Conclusions that, absent of those checks and balances they never properly learned to begin with, do not allow them to see their error.

This together with the fleshly mind often involved not only in asserting a thing, but in needing to hold to it once the fleshly mind has been allowed out of its cursed box, does not allow them to even contemplate correction.

What's worse is when they then turn around and assert others are in violation of the hermeneutic.

Such appears to have been what took place, for example, within the Plymouth Brethren.

On the one hand there was Darby's consistent application of the Hermeneutic as he had known it at that time.

But coupled with his arrogance.

On the other hand, there was the Brethren's refusal to follow his lead, both in their refusal to examine the actual consistency of their application of the hermeneutic.

Coupled with their right refusal to allow his arrogance.

An arrogance that eventually leads to all the above errors.

This has been the case within various people as well as within various Dispensational groups ever since, and to this very day.

When the hermeneutic is off in some area, the rest begins to follow.

Newton was right in this once more "an object at rest, tends to stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force."

In this, even hot air can be turned into learning a thing from, even if all that learning is "stay away from their example, and its results!"

Here's to consistency then...in the Dispensational Hermeneutic...
 

Tambora

Get your armor ready!
LIFETIME MEMBER
Hall of Fame
one of the greatest Bible students history has ever recorded, E. W. Bullinger,
Gotta respect a man that spent most of his adult life going through every single line of scripture.



This recurrent pattern is obvious in that great book of his "How to Enjoy and Study the Bible."
Haven't read that one.
But I did a search and found it online.
http://christianovercomers.com/pdf_files/how_to_enjoy_the_bible_bullinger.pdf


I have the Bullinger Companion Bible, which is the KJV along with his references of everywhere some of the words are used elsewhere in scripture. It's a great resource to have.
And his "Witness of the Stars" was very intriguing.
 

Danoh

New member
Great book, Tam. One of the best to this day.

Though, believe it or not, I prefer Kay Arthur's book. All it is missing is one step on how to properly use Induction, and the Acts 9 distinction.

Other than that, it is one heck of a great, simple book on how to study Scripture - through my own preferred method; the study of a thing through its' recurrent patterns.

By the way, there is a great, nice and long audio testimony by O'Hair on YouTube: he relates his entire journey.
 

Tambora

Get your armor ready!
LIFETIME MEMBER
Hall of Fame
It's interesting to see how a book can motivate folks to study the bible.

I remember the days of The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey.
Say what you will about it's flaws, but it motivated a great number of folks to start digging into scripture. That one book started a revival in bible study.
 

Danoh

New member
It's interesting to see how a book can motivate folks to study the bible.

I remember the days of The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey.
Say what you will about it's flaws, but it motivated a great number of folks to start digging into scripture. That one book started a revival in bible study.

True. The "off-base" nevertheless prompting the more astute hearer to study a thing out on their own.

Here is that O'Hair link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuTZlMmGenA

And here is some of Arthur's book:

http://store.precept.org/user_uploaded/documents/9780736953436_exc.pdf

http://precept.org/data/sites/1/PDFs/PMI_IBStudyOverview_v2.pdf
 

Danoh

New member
Regarding Dispensational Consistency...

Some years ago, while in the company of one of J.C. O'Hair's/North Shore's original followers I was able to observe in action the great man's influence on his people.

We were talking about something when he noted his concern for "what's becoming of our God inspired country..."

As I had good rapport with him, I thought I'd challenge him to consider thinking through his reasoning and asked him 'God inspired: was that before, or after the massive genocide of the people that were here?'

"Well, they were heathen," he replied.

Like I said, we had a good rapport.

So I said to him, 'No, brother - "God was in Christ; not imputing their trespasses against them" long before all that...'

He paused, smiled, and said, "These old ideas; they sure are hard to let go of...you're right; what was I thinking... I wasn't; was I?"

At which point I thought of O'Hair...

How that here in this brother, though up in years, his great mentor's influence had continued, long after O'Hair had gone home to the Lord.

O'Hair had also been known for this same unique quality; this willingness to allow correction whenever someone came along and pointed out to him some inconsistency in his view...

J. C. O'Hair; the great man... ever conscious of the need to get back to the Book to there aright and or further refine his own, ever being further and further refined...Hermeneutic.

Such men leave this earth with their boots on; one more refinement ever on their minds; their hearts in "Nevertheless, what saith the Scripture, this side of that which is perfect: the full knowledge of the Mystery."

To Bible students like J.C. O'Hair...
 

Danoh

New member
The proper use of Induction is...

Induction [Information Gathering] towards its...

Contrastive Analysis, towards identifying the writer's...

General Rules of Thumb, towards identifying his...

Working Premise towards deducing a...

Conclusion, thus one's...

Assertion.
 

Danoh

New member
For example, in Romans 16:25, the Apostle Paul asserts "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,"

It is obvious he is assuming his readers, the Romans; would know what he meant by the phrase "the Mystery."

The passage is a piece of information.

Taking it in is induction.

While seeking out other information possibly related to Paul's assertion there, continues the process of contrastive analysis.

The questions that begins to inspire the asking of help one to work backwards from Paul's assertion to what general rules of thumb all that begins to imply he might have been relying on or been guided by as he wrote those words.

The result being a working premise one might then proceed further from, towards deducing a conclusion from it all.

Said conclusion then becomes one's assertion 'the Apostle Paul appears to have believed his readers would know what he had meant by the phrase "the Mystery."'

Of course, this begins to impact what one believes the Romans might or might not have already known, prior to Paul's writing Romans to them.

And this begins the process all over again.

Given all this, who really needs books about this and that, give the fact that time in Scripture alone and via this process, is by itself not only greatly time consuming, but rewarding all on its own.

As Daniel put it, in Daniel 9:

2. In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

He was, of course, referring to the scrolls the Scripture was then in.

Daniel 10:

18. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me,
19. And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.
20. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.
21. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
 

Danoh

New member
Things That Differ

Things That Differ

The following, from Martin Luther shows a practice in Induction the Scripture began to shape in Luther as he began to attempt to come to it on Scripture's own terms. Not that he often succeeded in sorting things out, but where he did, our own recurrent pattern is obvious...

“For a long time I went astray [in the monastery] and didn’t know what I was about. To be sure, I knew something, but I didn’t know what it was until I came to the text in Romans 1 [:17], ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’ That text helped me. There I saw what righteousness Paul was talking about. 82 Earlier in the text I read ‘righteousness.’ I related the abstract [‘righteousness’] with the concrete [‘the righteous One’] and became sure of my cause. I learned to distinguish between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of the gospel. I lacked nothing before this except that I made no distinction between the law and the gospel. I regarded both as the same thing and held that there was no difference between Christ and Moses except the times in which they lived and their degrees of perfection. But when I discovered the proper distinction—namely, that the law is one thing and the gospel is another—I made myself free.” (Luther's Works, Volume 54, P442).

http://christianity.stackexchange.c...n-luther-arrive-at-the-justification-by-faith
 
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