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An Answer to the Article By Dr. Larry Spargimino From: Ken Davies "Was All Bible Prophecy Fulfilled By A.D. 70?" | An Answer to the Article by Larry Spargimino Dear Friends in the Lord, Thought you might find this of interest. This email to Dr. Noah Hutchings is one I wrote in response to an article that was forwarded to me, alleging to be an "answer" to the Preterist view. It may be found on the website of the Southwest Radio Church (http://www.swrc.com/), of which Dr. Hutchings is the head. Dear Dr. Hutchings, I read the article, "Was All Bible Prophecy Fulfilled By A.D. 70?" by Dr. Larry Spargimino. I must say, it was a very disappointing "answer" to the Preterist view. Dr. Spargimino gives only one positive reason why he finds it lacking, and one easily refuted from Scripture. He says the Old Covenant passed away at the cross, and tries to use the book of Hebrews to "prove" it! Amazing! I wonder what he does with Heb. 8:13?By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. Dr. Spargimino says, "The temple and priesthood could have continued for another thousand years and it would not have delayed the new era one second," but what does the Word of God say? The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing [Heb. 9:8]. If Jesus has not yet returned, as He promised, within the time frame He set for this event, we do not even have salvation! Note: so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him [Heb. 9:28]. Dr. Spargimino says, "Christians need to be aware of those teachings that would turn ‘the blessed hope’ into ‘the blasted hope.’" The Bible, on the other hand, says, Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life [Prov. 13:12]. The "blessed hope" of the New Testament is that Christ would return within the lifetime of at least SOME of those to whom Jesus spoke (Matt. 16:27-28; 24:34, etc.). Dr. Spargimino should deal with the verses cited in the article, "An Air of Expectancy," (http://ourworld.cs.com/_ht_a/PreteristABCs/id41.htm) by Terry Siverd. If that hope was delayed or never occurred (as critics of Christianity, such as the atheist Bertrand Russell allege), then Jesus and His apostles either lied or were mistaken, and Christians truly do have a "blasted hope"! To say, as some do, "If Jesus has already returned, we have no hope!" is akin to the child who says, "I was hoping for a bicycle for Christmas, and now that I got one, I have no more hope!" I’m sure you can see how utterly ridiculous this statement is. I love Dr. Spargimino’s statement, "The following is a list of those Scriptures, with my comments indicating what they really say:" Then he proceeds to simply state what they DON’T say (in his opinion). This kind of "refutation" is typical. It depends more on logical fallacies (e.g., begging the question) and mockery than on exegesis. He assumes the futurist view is true, then makes fun of the Preterist view on that basis (e.g., "No microchip technology here!"). Of course, that never answers or proves anything!
Dr. Spargimino also says, "Preterism is tied in with a postmillennial view of last things." However, postmillennialism is a FUTURIST view, as is premillennialism. Kenneth Gentry is NOT a Preterist! The definition of a Preterist, according to Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, is "a theologian who believes that the prophecies of the Apocalypse have already been fulfilled." Both you and Dr. Gentry are, by definition, futurists! I would encourage Dr. Spargimino (and every futurist) to look into these things more carefully, using the rules of Biblical hermeneutics to come to his conclusions, rather than simply dismissing them out of hand on the basis of his futurist system of interpretation. Preterists did not come to the view lightly or easily. It is a view that seeks to take seriously the clear time statements of Scripture and to handle them honestly and accurately. In Christ, Ken Davies http://www.BeyondTheEndTimes.com According to Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, a Preterist is "a theologian who believes that the prophecies of the Apocalypse have already been fulfilled." Grace Ministries P. O. Box 481 Lemon Grove, CA 91946 Send an email with your comments to todd @ preteristarchive.com Be sure to include the article name. They will be posted shortly upon receipt |
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Email PreteristArchive.com's Sole Developer and Curator, Todd Dennis
(todd @ preteristarchive.com)
Opened in 1996 |
Warning: "Full
Preterist" material is being archived for balanced representation of all
Christian Preterist views, but its premise is deemed by the opinion of
the curator (a
former full preterist) to be "toxic theology." Due to its
brash and "letter-based" appeal to the flesh and "things seen," it very
subtly draws people away from the truth of the Spirit and His "unseen things"
(core components of the system being extra-biblical history and logic -- because there is
not one full preterist verse which looks back to
fulfillment in ad70,
it is based entirely upon deductive reasoning). If you have already
adopted this viewpoint, please seriously consider that according to full
preterism, AD70 was not only the end of Old Testament Judaism, but it was also
the end of the revelation of Christianity as seen in the New Testament.
This is done by teaching that AD70 was a "dispensational line"
regarding resurrection and the like which makes the Christianity of the New Testament
fundamentally different from that of today. Please also note that the earliest
known adherents of full preterism later abandoned it, as have many contemporary
former full preterists, including the curator of this archive (after a
decade of promotion). The article
which follows is deemed "hyper preterist" in nature
-- so please proceed with extreme caution. If this article is not "full
preterist," please notify me and I will have it reclassified.
