Interplanner
Well-known member
The public defense of the Christian message is in a very odd situation because of Dispensationalism: while the weakest and most distant arguments are supposed to be believed, the most forceful and obvious demonstration of the truth of the Bible is held in suspicion by a clunking 'theology'.
Yesterday, the radio program Science, Scripture and Salvation tried to tackle the problem of why the modern person has difficulty trusting the Bible. Topics or instances such as the deluge, the exodus, the feedings, the long day of Joshua, the healings, etc, were all used as well as could be expected. Sometimes the sources called upon (DeYoung, Morris) made the mistake of saying 'the Bible is its own best authority' without unpacking that expression meaningfully. Sometimes they sounded like blind faith was good.
Not once do these people (I'm referring to having heard these speakers for decades) mention the Destruction of Jerusalem. This event is foreseen in Mk 13 etc, with quite a bit of additional material in Luke that is not in Mk, Mt or Jn. It was described in detail and connected to Daniel 9's 490 years by Christ and the apostles some 30 years before it took place, with astounding impact on the land of Israel, and with detail recorded by Roman and Jewish writers. It is one of the best documented events of the ancient world.
Why is it not in the usual Christian material that is supposed to be showing the reasons to believe Scripture? Because of a spastic belief system that started 2 centuries back which flits in and out of time frames and contexts and operates a system where God is doing two completely uncoordinated things/programs with 2 unconnected types of people. It is called Dispensationalism. Or, when you are dealing with material about the DofJ, it is called Futurism; the point being that destruction is future (to us).
It has had industrial strength support through an innovative publishing phenomenon in which one writer's views about texts were printed on the same page as the Biblical text and taking up more space than the text on some pages: the Bible with commentary or notes. Ie, Scofield.
Next it got popular strength when a real clutz of a theologian named Lindsay said that the 40 years between 1948 and 1988 were what such passages were about, and a rapture was coming and other circus acts.
The utterly awkward juxtapositioning of "2 peoples / 2 programs" has made a shambles of Biblical authority and strength. It is obvious that in any given discussion of the role of Israel, 2P2P is to be protected even if the clarity and authority of the Bible is miserable afterwards.
Yesterday, the radio program Science, Scripture and Salvation tried to tackle the problem of why the modern person has difficulty trusting the Bible. Topics or instances such as the deluge, the exodus, the feedings, the long day of Joshua, the healings, etc, were all used as well as could be expected. Sometimes the sources called upon (DeYoung, Morris) made the mistake of saying 'the Bible is its own best authority' without unpacking that expression meaningfully. Sometimes they sounded like blind faith was good.
Not once do these people (I'm referring to having heard these speakers for decades) mention the Destruction of Jerusalem. This event is foreseen in Mk 13 etc, with quite a bit of additional material in Luke that is not in Mk, Mt or Jn. It was described in detail and connected to Daniel 9's 490 years by Christ and the apostles some 30 years before it took place, with astounding impact on the land of Israel, and with detail recorded by Roman and Jewish writers. It is one of the best documented events of the ancient world.
Why is it not in the usual Christian material that is supposed to be showing the reasons to believe Scripture? Because of a spastic belief system that started 2 centuries back which flits in and out of time frames and contexts and operates a system where God is doing two completely uncoordinated things/programs with 2 unconnected types of people. It is called Dispensationalism. Or, when you are dealing with material about the DofJ, it is called Futurism; the point being that destruction is future (to us).
It has had industrial strength support through an innovative publishing phenomenon in which one writer's views about texts were printed on the same page as the Biblical text and taking up more space than the text on some pages: the Bible with commentary or notes. Ie, Scofield.
Next it got popular strength when a real clutz of a theologian named Lindsay said that the 40 years between 1948 and 1988 were what such passages were about, and a rapture was coming and other circus acts.
The utterly awkward juxtapositioning of "2 peoples / 2 programs" has made a shambles of Biblical authority and strength. It is obvious that in any given discussion of the role of Israel, 2P2P is to be protected even if the clarity and authority of the Bible is miserable afterwards.
