Re: The 5 Points of FINALISM

You in Cyprus again?

Okay, I just did a quick re-read of Zens article and really there is just one point I want to address. He makes a lot of great points, but this is what I have some questions about:

"Nero fulfilling 666 also makes sense because when Revelation was written, the Temple was still standing (Revelation 11:1-2) — "measure the temple of God . . . it has been given to the nations and they will tread under foot the holy city for 42 months." "For forty-two months," Emery notes, "from spring of A.D. 67 until the end of the summer in the year A.D. 70, the Gentiles did trample Jerusalem underfoot" (p. 67)."

I've read this argument before and I get that Zens is not being dogmatic about it anyway. And perhaps it is true, but I'm certainly not sold on it. I asked you about the dating of Revelation a while back, and if I remember right, you didn't have much argument against the idea that Revelation could have been written after 70 A.D. I've read that there is a lot of evidence that it was written probably around 90-95 A.D. If that is the case, then that would have an impact on some of these theories such as the one Zens suggested there about Nero and other things.

Zens said, "because when Revelation was written, the Temple was still standing (Revelation 11:1-2) — measure the temple of God."

So Zens of course believes Revelation was written before 70 A.D and part of his reasoning for that is that John's vision still has the Temple standing. So he's taking the temple in John's vision to be literal. But see what you think of this article:

https://creationconcept.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/is-the-temple-in-revelation-11-an-earthly-literal-one/#more-176

Speaking of "Left Behind", I was in Walmart with my mom and daughter the other night and they both disappeared for waaaay too long, which has never happened before because I pretty much have all their Walmart habits down pat so I have never had trouble finding them. But this time it was different and at one point I began to get concerned and began to go speedily through the isles and then I joked to myself that maybe I had been "Left Behind" in Walmart of all places, and they had been raptured out of there. lol But thankfully there was an eventual happy reunion and we all had a good laugh about how we lost each other for so long. Really it was all their fault, my mom did something really out of character and my daughter just flat out rebelled when I told her to stay in a certain section, but anyway, I was just happy to see them both again and that I was not "Left Behind" after all. :)