Re: Is God a Monster?
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:33 pm
robbyyoung wrote:
As for the “great commission”, this was specifically given for Israel’s last days, which was in the 1st century, encompassing the known Roman Empire. This is very clear to me when reading the NT writers letters and understanding.
Good point, Homer.Homer wrote: Your belief that the great commission was limited to the lands of the Greco/Roman empire would seem to be falsified by the Apostle Thomas, unless he misunderstood Jesus first hand commandment. There is evidence from many sources that Thomas evangelized in India and planted churches there long before 70 AD.
Robby, it strikes me that the Full Preterist theory sees God as limited in time and space -- not global, but territorial, like the pagan gods. And like Augustine/Calvin/Sproul, Full Preterism presents a diminished and terribly unloving God (contrasted with Scripture's description of Him). Calvinism presents Him as incompetent to handle the complexities of human free will, and Full Preterism makes Him incapable of seeing beyond the first century or the Seven Seas. Contrary to what Jesus taught about Himself, as loving all and dying for their sin, both systems have Him loving only a few, and declaring, "to hell with the rest!"
I'm guessing your contention that the great Commission is null and void as of AD 70 conflicts with the testimony of your own Christian experience. I bet somewhere along the line of your life you heard or read the Gospel message, learned the importance of obeying Jesus, and became a follower ("Go and make disciples of all the nations...teach them to observe all things I have commanded you..."). I assume you were baptized ("baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit..."). So contrary to your contention that The Great Commission expired long ago, you apparently are a product of it. So am I, and so are all Christians since it was declared by Jesus. The Great Commission is very much alive, and will be until Jesus returns and re-creates heaven and earth.
Robby, I don't mean to offend you (instead to encourage you to re-think your position), but I must say that when I hear the Full Preterist arguments, I get the same kind of creepy feeling as when I hear Flat-Earthers and Hebrew-Rooters struggle to convince folks that their absurdity makes sense. Those schools of misinformation, as well as Full Preterism's, conflict severely with reality and Scripture.