Definitions

End Times
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_Allyn
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Definitions

Post by _Allyn » Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:18 pm

Hi Steve

Knowing you to be a amillennialists (I am also but not as well defined in the ism as you) I am hoping you may find the time to respond to this biased definition I found while surfing.

http://www.gotquestions.org/amillennialism.html
Question: "What is amillennialism?"



Answer: The name given to the belief that there will not be a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ is called amillennialism. The people who hold to this belief are called amillennialists. The prefix "a" in amillennialism means "no" or "not." Hence, amillennialism means no millennium. However, in fairness to those who are amillennialists, they do not believe that there is no millennium at all. They just don't believe in a LITERAL millennium; a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. They instead believe that Christ is now sitting on the throne of David and that this present Church age is the kingdom over which it was written that the Christ would reign. There is no doubt that Christ now is sitting on a throne, but just because He is sitting on a throne does not mean that it is the throne of David. There is no doubt that Christ now rules, for He is God. Yet, just because He is ruling does not mean He is ruling over the millennial kingdom.



In order for God to keep His promises to Israel and His covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:8-16; 23:5; Psalm 89:3-4), there must be a literal, physical kingdom on this earth. Clear biblical indications that the kingdom will be a literal earthly kingdom are: 1) Christ's feet actually touching the Mount of Olives prior to the kingdom (Zechariah 14:4, 9); 2) During the kingdom, the Messiah will execute justice and judgment On the earth (Jeremiah 23:5 thru 8); 3) The kingdom is described as being UNDER heaven (Daniel 7:13-14, 27); 4) The prophets foretold of dramatic earthly changes during the kingdom (Acts 3:21; Isaiah 35:1-2; 11:6-9; 29:18; 65:20-22; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Amos 9:11-15); and 5) The chronological order of events in Revelation indicate an earthly kingdom prior to the conclusion of world history (Revelation 20).



The amillennial view comes from interpreting unfulfilled prophecy differently than how non-prophetic Scripture and fulfilled prophecy are interpreted. Non-prophetic Scripture and fulfilled prophecy are interpreted literally or normally. But according to the amillennialist, unfulfilled prophecy is to be interpreted allegorically, or non-literally. This is called using a dual hermeneutic. Hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation. The amillennialist assumes that all unfulfilled prophecy is written in symbolic or figurative language. Therefore, the amillennialist will assign different meanings to those parts of Scripture than the normal, contextual meanings of those words.



The problem with interpreting unfulfilled prophecy allegorically is that this allows for a wide range of meanings. Unless you interpret Scripture in the normal sense of how written language is interpreted, there won't be One meaning. Yet God, the ultimate author of all of Scripture, did have One specific meaning when he gave Scripture to be written to the human authors. Though there may be many applications to life from a passage of Scripture, there is only one meaning, and that meaning is what God intended it to mean. Also, the fact that fulfilled prophecy was fulfilled literally is the best reason of all for assuming that unfulfilled prophecy will also be literally fulfilled. The prophecies concerning Christ's first coming were fulfilled literally. Therefore, prophecies concerning Christ's second coming should also be expected to be fulfilled literally. For these reasons, an allegorical interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy should be rejected and a literal or normal interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy should be adopted.
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_Steve
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Post by _Steve » Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:07 pm

I'll get to this as soon as possible. Some of it has been addressed elsewhere in this forum, but I'll take it point-by-point.
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In Jesus,
Steve

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