OK guys & gals, over here now please, and I think I managed to read the last few posts in the end. You have certainly been busy lately, haven't ya?
@ refreshed - To conclude re. Hosea & Gomer, my pastor is also a 'Finalist' (I know, pick y/self up off the floor, right?), and he has this to say on the subject:
Thank you for the question! I have struggled with this one, and people in church history have taken different views on it. On balance I think that he really was asked to marry her. There is no hint in the text that it is just a metaphor; it’s recounted as an event. The names given to the children are highly symbolic. It’s been suggested that they are part of what is an allegory. But many names in the OT are given to be symbolic, including in the prophets (e.g. Isaiah 7).
It is possible that Gomer was not unfaithful at the point of marriage, but that the statement “Go and take to yourself an adulterous wife" is spoken after she has committed adultery, and is taken to play to the whole marriage. BUT, I think the LORD does ask him to marry an untrustworthy woman. Hosea wasn’t just going to learn to think of Israel’s sin against God as adultery against him. He was going to feel what God felt like: the betrayal, the anger, the jealousy and the undying love. (It is similar to the emotional intensity of Ezekiel’s prophetic loss of his wife in Ez. 24).
So as you can see, my dear friends, it is simply not the case that Finalists 'spiritualize' everything out of existence on a mere whim. We also accept what the Bible says at face value, but if that's all we did, we would miss out on so much.
Case in point: For the record, I also believe that Jonah was historical. But don't forget it's deeper meaning - Mt 12:40. And without the benefit of Heb.7, who would have guessed the true significance of Gen. 14:17-20? Elijah was a real prophet, but he was also a prophecy (or perhaps slightly more accurately, a 'type') in his own right (Mal. 3:1; 4:5-6 and Mt 17:9-13). The list goes on, and these deeper meanings have filled entire volumes. E W Hengstenberg, arguably one of the greatest (if not the best) evangelical scholars of the 19thC, would not have been able to write his monumental 'Christology of the Old Testament' without these deeper meanings. If you ignore this aspect of revealed truth, you impoverish your own source of real spiritual food.
@ vektek - The thread was cross-posted on the Conspiracy forum coz, if you recall, the OP was about Prince Harry being identified as the antichrist. As this entails a certain level of 'conspiracy' to pull off, I though it only apropo to cross-post there as well. As it's now become almost exclusively a debate about interpretation, end-times, etc., I have now removed it from the Conspiracy Forum.
@ Vekky - Ha!, yeah, forgot that joke. I used to know what pan-m meant, but that was a long time ago. Memory ain't what it used to be, but I think I do ok considering. Can't say I blame him tho. Many pastors will avoid the subject coz it's so controversial and potentially divisive. It doesn't need to be really - we still generally agree on the fundamentals.
Not familiar with those WCC-type groups, so can't really comment. If they preach Christ and Him crucified, then I'm with Paul:
15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
But if they preach 'another gospel..............' Need I say more?
@ vekky - So I wasn't far off with my WCC comparison then. Yes, I'll do some background on them when I have a bit more time on my hands. A bit tied up @ the moment with tax returns, etc.
Well, we were warned about this, weren't we?:
.......so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Eph4:14
Without putting a date on it, I consider it one of the main 'signs of the times'. When the world is arraigned in united opposition to the faithful under the banner of a single religion, the great deception will be complete. It fits in perfectly with the scenario depicted in Ezek. 38-39, 2 Thess. 2:1-12, 2 Pet. 3:1-13 and, of course, Rev. 20:7-10. Therein lies one of the most powerful clues as to the correct interpretation of vv 1-6.
Are you paying attention refreshed? Good.
@ vekky - Exactly. Scripture consistently depicts the period immediately preceding the second advent as one of great peril to Christians who refuse to compromise their faith. That leaves no room for the postmillennial dream that things can only get better. It is much harder to conceive of an end-time rebellion if virtually the entire world has been evangelised, whereas it fits in perfectly with the way the world has been going for the last 100 years or so.
How about:
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
???
No, I don't think I've ever discussed postmil. in those terms. I seriously doubt that govt. dictat can ever have much impact on personal faith. I've always thought of postmils in terms of an optimistic belief in the success of the gospel - ie on a much grander scale than it presently enjoys.
Beyond the dubious grounds for such optimism:
...when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
Lk 18:8
...I've always thought their eschatology was otherwise fundamentally sound. That's why I'm more than happy to count them as fellow 'Finalists'.
As for any efforts by man to bring about a secular equivalent through social progress, etc.- they are ultimately doomed to fail, coz they have a flawed grasp of humanity's intrinsic nature. For example, almost every communist experiment or revolution starts out with the highest humanitarian ideals, but very quickly degenerates into a 'reign of terror' or even worst injustices than existed previously.
Reminds me of an old joke:
Q. What's the difference between capitalism and communism? Give up?
A. Well, in capitalism, one group of people exploits another group of people, whereas in communism, it's the other way round.
Despite what you think Rev. 20 teaches, the Bible makes no such promise of a utopia, either before or after Jesus' return. Rev. 20 does not follow Rev. 19, anymore than Rev. 12 follows Rev. 11. You would also need to look a little more closely at how it all ends before you recognise it for what it really is - a complete sham.
No, if anything, our lot is opposition & persecution right up to the point when that last trumpet sounds. I'll be addressing this subject at some length in a future post by way of reply to one of your earlier posts.
As for having military power but not using it, try telling that to all those innocents killed by your peace-loving, Nobel Peace Prize winning President Barak O Bummer.
Around 7:00 - 7:40 of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-_INi-TKoM&t=12s
Leaving the foul mouth aside, I expect you don't hear this kinda thing everyday from your corporate-owned lamestream media, but at least this guy tells it like it is.
As it happens, neither do I. For example, I don't trust them further than I can throw them about Syria, Georgia, Chechnya, the Crimea/Ukraine, the downing of MH17, the assassinations of Alexander Litvinienko, Boris Nemtsov & Anna Politkovskaya (among many others), systemic doping of their athletes........etc etc etc. I didn't come down with the last shower, so I know only too well how propaganda works.
But when it comes to the crimes commtted by western foreign policy (eg the sale of arms to obnoxious regimes like Saudi Arabia, who then use them to bomb the cr*p out of one of the poorest countries in the world), I know full well that I'm far more likely to get the truth from them than either the lamestream or (with a few notable exceptions) most 'alternative' media sources,
As for our gun control, I gotta say, it's a real drag living in a country that doesn't have a fraction of your murder rate.