Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Take-out menu


If preterists date Revelation to the mid-60s (68 at the latest), then we have a complex, 22 chapter book of the Bible about an event which will happen just 2-6 years later. Talk about overkill! 

Chilton says you wouldn't send a futurist to get hot sandwiches, but is it necessary to wade through a 22 chapter menu to order hot sandwiches? Most fast food menus are a whole lot shorter!

3 comments:

  1. This is seriously a lame complaint. The destruction of the temple, on preterist terms, was the end of the entire economy of temple worship and the special role of national Israel, about which much of the First Testament was written. So, to spend much of a book explaining the cosmic significance of that series of events doesn't really look like overkill.

    Besides, the syllogism you're implying is this:

    No long and complex book would be written about events that are soon.
    Revelation was a long and complex book.
    Therefore, Revelation was not written about events that are soon.

    But the major premise is not at all obvious. Would you like to actually offer some support for it?

    How does the length or complexity of a book have any bearing on the timing of the events? Plato wrote long a complex works about single conversations. The book of Acts takes place over only a few years, as do the Gospels.

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    Replies
    1. Actually, the Book of Acts takes place over a span of about 30 years. Same with Matthew, Luke, and John.

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    2. If you're contending that much of Revelation is really about the destruction of the Temple, to elaborate on the cosmic significance of that event, viz., "the end of the entire economy of temple worship and the special role of national Israel," you've made a very ambitious claim. Since I have no reason to share your interpretation, your objection is stillborn.

      BTW, preterism denies the "cosmic" significance of the events in Revelation. Preterism could hardly be more mundane.

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