I have been raised in the faith by the best Bible teacher in the world, John MacArthur,who has taught me to love truth, to love doctrine, to have the highest view of Scripture (which is all sufficient), to understand the biblical teachings of God's sovereign grace and many, many more things. One thing he has also taught me is what can be called a dispensational premillenial view of eschatology. As a new Christian I assumed all believers understood end times this way and was shocked when I heard another trusted and beloved Bible teacher, R.C. Sproul, criticize the rapture. After this I thought more about the rapture and became suspicious of it myself due to the vagueness of the verses used to defend it. For many years now my questions on eschatology have multiplied and I have wanted to study it more in depth. I decided last week now was the time to start that study.
I am trying to give all the eschatological views an equal hearing. This is hard on one hand because I am used to a form of premillenialism so this one sounds most familiar and normal to me. But then on the other hand I know excellent Bible teachers in each camp so if Sproul claims that the Bible teaches postmillenialism and Sinclair Ferguson teaches amillenialism and Francis Schaeffer holds to historic premillenialism and John MacArthur to dispensational premillenialism how can I fail to look into these things? And the scarier question is how do I expect to be able to figure this out if the greatest minds cannot agree? Well, I am looking into it anyway because I long to know and so I must try.
Here are some of the resources I have been using so far:
Finding Hope in the Millenial Maze Conference (14 audio messages)
Wayne Grudem's "Biblical Doctrine" textbook
John MacArthur Study Bible
R.C. Sproul Reformation Study Bible
Eschatology comparison chart
There is a good chance I may end up a "pan-millenialist" as they say (it will all pan out in the end!) at the end of this study but I must try and make sense of it biblically. I will let you know how it goes...
4 comments:
I heard a message today and yesterday on baptism debate with J Mac and Sproul, Didin't realize that they disagree that much, It was on baby baptism. For sure agree with J.M on that one,
but just a tip on searching,for dispensational premillenialism or premillenial,(What's the difference???) you don't need seminary,or a PHD in the Bible... Search it for yourself and ask God to open your mind, which I'm sure you have, Just don't get sidetracked by what everyone else says...
partial preterism is where it's at. I can recommend some books on the topic if interested.
Demar's "End Times Fiction" is a must read.
Dispie premillennialism is just plain ridiculous.
Ryan- You haven't commented on my blog in a while but I know you'd have something to say about this post!
if you want to check out the "the elephantroom" March 31st with host James Mcdonald and Mark Driscoll. spw
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