Premillenialism and churches of Christ
Hello all:
I was reading through the latest edition of The Firm Foundation and there was an article on Premillenialism. I’d recently been doing a little bit of reading about the “premils” and so I read the article.
The article was chock full of inaccuracies about what the Premillenialists in our fellowship believe. It claimed that Premillenialists believe that the church was a mistake, that Jesus was unsuccessful in establishing His Kingdom, and that none of us can be saved until the Jews are saved.
Furthermore, the article claimed that the doctrine of Premillenialism is so flawed that belief in such a doctrine would jeopardize ones salvation.
I have no problem with debates over doctrine. I have no issue with one person attempted to change the mind of another. I have no issue with someone claiming that a particular doctrine is wrong. However, if we are going to do so, we must make sure that we have a good understanding of the doctrine that we are refuting.
A good primer on premillenialist beliefs in the churches of Christ can be found in R.H. Boll Interviewed.
I’m still making up my mind on this issue. I’d like to hear the opinions of others on this subject.
-Clarke
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November 16th, 2005 at 12:15
I am not a premil, but I do not think this should be a question of fellowship. If salvation is dependent upon a clear and correct understanding of the Book of Revelation (and Isaiah, and Ezekiel, and…) then I am lost.
I look upon discussions on these matters as signs we are blessed. Were we hungry, under fire, displaced by war or hurricane we would have no time for these things. As we do have time for them — we must be blessed.
I think Romans 14 applies here: we must be careful how we treat each other when we enter disputable matters. You have a good point when you mention that your beliefs were not those stated (parodied?) by the FF author. I assume premils vary in beliefs as much as anyone else.
November 16th, 2005 at 15:49
Patrick:
Thanks for your comments. I noticed you are in Rochester Hills…do you teach at the college?
I myself am not a premillienialist. I am still studying the millenial doctrines and the scriptures.
I’m not sure if the premils vary in beliefs or not. It would make sense that there is some variation.
It has always seemed odd to me that we take everything literally except books of prophecy. Until I figure out which approach works with my conscience, I probably won’t be making a decision.
-Clarke
November 16th, 2005 at 17:05
I’m not sure where I found this link so I apologize in advance if it has already been posted here…
There is a formalized online debate
just under way at bereancouncil.org, on the topic of premillenialism vs amillenialism. So far it looks quite promising. The two teams seem to be approaching this with depth and thoughtfulness. It looks like this debate will go on for many weeks or months but it would take that long for me to study it as they go anyway.
There is another site loaded with information on the various points of view (but strongly advocating the “post tribulation rapture” view) found here.
November 17th, 2005 at 6:12
I’ve recently come to be a panmillenialist…
I believe it’s all going to pan out in the end, whether we have it all figured out or not!
November 17th, 2005 at 8:35
Alan:
That hadn’t been posted on here before, thanks for the links!
Greg:
My wife keeps telling me in regard to this subject that she thinks that there are some things that we just aren’t meant to know the answer to. Panmillenialist sounds like a good choice.
Glad to know you are still alive and kicking. Any idea when/if you’ll start blogging again?
-Clarke
November 18th, 2005 at 7:27
No, I don’t teach at the college. I am the preaching minister for the Rochester Church of Christ. We are on the same road as the college and many of the students attend here.
November 22nd, 2005 at 18:19
I see premillenialism as what you get when you try to interpret the Bible based on difficult passages rather than clear ones. The clear passages contradict parts of core premillenial doctrine (I’ve got a handout around here somewhere on some of the contradictions), and the usual interpretations of Revelation and the first half of Matthew 24 don’t fit plain facts in the context. It just ain’t true.
That being said, I can’t see anything in premillenialism that leads one to sin. (Well, except someone being divisive over pushing it, but that’s hardly limited to millenialism.) Thus I can’t see it being a fellowship issue.
So why is it in churches of Christ? Historical reasons, mostly. Big preacher fuss over it in the 1930s. Sort of like the “days of Genesis” fuss of more recent years in non-institutional churches.
August 28th, 2006 at 16:18
I would be more comfortable with anyone’s interpretation of how the LORD is going to wind up this place if they would only use words which are actually in the Bible or at least in the original texts. There are lots of references to what happens to the “overcomers”…I think maybe we should be more aware of overcoming the world, the flesh and the evil one…since this seems to be the crowd who will sit with HIM in his throne and rule and reign with HIM. A person of this stature probably doesn’t get into a discussion that cannot be proven until the event actually takes place and may even serve to divide the faithful.