Re: Brian McLaren and preterism

Re: Brian McLaren and preterism

Only those who risk going too far will know how far they can go.” - T.S. Elliot

The key to resolving conflicts about preterism is to understand how to deal with the biblical prophecy.  If we can learn to see prophecy as the "warning" of a possible outcome instead of the divine prediction of an absolute outcome then all of this is becomes a non-issue.  I don’t understand why we still try to read the biblical prophecies with such naivety. The future cannot be predicted, however you can warn against reasonably possible outcomes using our analysis of history and our available wisdom.

I’ve said elsewhere on this site that I believe the objective of prophecy is to STOP an undesirable outcome or bring about a desired outcome.  It is NOT designed to predict it.  The more successful a prophet is at telling his tale the more likely it is that everyone will turn from their ways and change the outcome (which by the way would prove his prophecy to be wrong so good prophets are actually bad predictors of the future). 

The point of NT eschatology is that oppressive domination systems are wrong and will not work in the long term (i.e. God will bring judgment against them).  You could easily say that happened in 70AD.  You could say it has happened a dozen times since then and you would be right again.  You can also say that it will continue to happen every time people develop oppressive systems of domination and I think you will be right again.  So the partial-preterism view is right, the full-preterism view is right and the futurism (or endtimes goofballs) could be right too depending on what we do with the wisdom we have acquired from Jesus.

Brian McLaren and preterism By: Andrew (17 replies) 31 January, 2006 - 16:57