The Preterist Blog ~ 100% Hyperpreterist Free|we can haz rezurekshun?

A lot of readers do not read the “About” sections in blogs, so I am going to post our purpose here with a short preamble. Christians who hold to basic orthodoxy divide and devour each other over secondary issues. Debates are fine, but debates do not have to lead to division. I know preterists who do this, and I know futurists who do this. I distance myself from both. We are the Body of Christ, and the hand cannot say to the foot, “I have no need of thee.” And to cop a song phrase, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

Notice it is never claimed that they will know we are Christians by our preterism or they will know we are Christians by our premillennialism. They will know we are Christians by our desire to be one in the Spirit, one in the Lord, and to love each other as part of the Body. And what is the biggest obstacle to this? Pride. We MUST be right. We MUST have our say. The unholy trinity in each of us (me, myself, and I). None of us are 100% right and will not be until the day that we see Him face to face. There is one verse that comes to mind when division among the orthodox occurs.

Jesus wept.

When there are issues that arise, the question must be asked, “Is this being handled in the most constructive way possible?” For instance, there has been a lot of talk about Gary DeMar’s series taking Ray Comfort to task, but note what Gary says first:

Ray Comfort has put himself on the front lines defending the Christian faith by confronting the spirit of the age and those who promote it. So Ray, if you ever read this, don’t take it as an attack on you or your ministry. It’s just my attempt to get you to take a fresh look at prophecy. After reading your short article, it seems to me that you have repeated the arguments of others without actually studying the issue for yourself. If I’m wrong about this, I apologize in advance.

I have multiple criticisms of Gary DeMar, and Roderick and I did a two-part series on the issues, and I am working on a follow-up. However we made it clear that our purpose was constructive, and we never attacked the man, and I made it clear that I cannot know anyone’s motives. Gary DeMar is an outstanding spokesperson for a Christian worldview, but I believe he errs in some important issue. But if my criticism is done in a malicious or destructive manner, it is sin, for Gary is my brother in the Lord, despite my strong differences with him.

Hyperpreterists love this and use this to their advantage. Well this blog will never be used for that purpose. If there are any non-preterists out there who agree with this ideal and the goal of the blog, get in touch with me. You can and should hold us to this ideal. Disagreement yet remaining in unity to conquer foundational heresy.

That song is very dear to me as is the starfish story which I will post sometime. On TheologyWeb we deal with problem posters who are truly Christian but just have some issues, and my staff always hears me say, “What way can we handle this brother to guard his dignity and pride?” It takes humility and grace to care about the dignity and pride of others before our own (in this context, it does not mean sinful pride, but self-worth and confidence in the Lord).

There is an inherent destructive tendency straight from satan in all of us. But we as brethren must always think of others as better than ourselves to tame the beast.

Here is the mission statement:

This blog is set up by a preterist to partner with other preterists and persons of various other eschatological points of view to defend the Gospel basics of Christian eschatology: The future bodily Second Coming of Christ; the future bodily resurrection of the dead; and the future final consummation of all things.

Additionally, as it is “The Preterist Blog” there will be pieces promoting orthodox preterism as against other points of view. Obviously, considering the diversity of the positions of the authors, specifically preterist arguments should not be imputed to the other participants. Please take a look at the “About the Authors” page for information on the position of each contributor and links where you might find information and articles defending their particular eschatological position.

We have agreed to join together in fellowship to defend basic Christian orthodoxy, and the non-preterist participants have graciously agreed to participate despite the fact that there will be arguments in favour of a point of view that they do not agree with but is within the pale of orthodoxy.

Futurists, preterists and all those who hold to the basic orthodox Christian eschatology do not have to hopelessly divide. We may debate the questionable issues and yet show unity in the essentials. That is the purpose of our partnership. The non-preterist contributors or those who disagree with the predominantly postmill/amill preterist position defended by this blog and its sister sites are to be commended for their willingness to participate to defend orthodoxy.