This is a cliché that folks like Randal Rauser, Gary DeMar, and other anti-dispensationalists spout.
When examined it is simply shallow argumentation and a non sequitur.
Steve Hays recently responded to Rausner assertions on this matter. I want to append some comments here.
Jesus, in the context of what must happen before he returns, states explicitly that the world will morally get worse—not better:
“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many
will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
(Matt 24:12–13)
Only the person wearing anti-dispy blinders will not allow these plain words of our Lord speak for themselves.
I also believe the world at large is much more brutal—and amoral—today,
than it was centuries ago, including antiquity. We are living in the
dark moral ages today. At least in antiquity, people could not live any way they pleased. There were moral standards via the gods or cultural taboos.
Besides this empirical evidence, which my argument is not resting on,
Jesus' claim in Matthew 24:12–13 is sufficient to support the premill
notion that the world's depravity will reach a crescendo before the Lord
returns.
Not only will the world at large increase in lawlessness, but there
are good biblical reasons that the persecution of God's people will
increase. Scripture teaches on what will
happen before the consummation of all things: God's people will be
persecuted before Jesus returns, which at that time he will vindicate his people by destroying
his enemies:
“(9) When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls
of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness
they had borne. (10) They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign
Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood
on those who dwell on the earth?” (11) Then they were each given a
white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their
fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be
killed as they themselves had been.” (Rev 6:9–11)
The premill position ends on that hope as well as joining in full fellowship with the Lord:
“....and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thess 4:17–18).
Premillennialism is a promised-hope and thus optimistic eschatology.
So go ahead and refuse to recycle your condoms and dental floss!
I don't think either side of the discussion is really stating the case in its strongest form here.
ReplyDeleteI've been a Western missionary in Kenya. The form of Christianity in Kenya is very much on the surface. The country is not permeated by Christian values. And yet, to deny the blessings that the gospel has brought would be very perverse. Previously the "big man" just crushed his enemies, and didn't care. Now, he has to at least pretend to be interested in democratic values, peaceful elections, etc. Where did those ideas come from? They are a cultural fruit of Christianity, mediated through various other influences. Our forefathers as missionaries could simply expect to die fairly soon. Now we are welcomed, even if people only pretend to listen to us a lot of the time. But that really is enormous progress, which took a lot of spilt blood to bring. You could say similar things about many places. Alan, your post strikes me as a Western-centric Westerner sitting behind his keyboard and equating the backsliding of the West with the whole world going backwards. The West does not equal the world.
Concerning stating the case in its strongest form, we'd get into other territory. Pre-mil missionary friends generally believe that there can't be much significant fruit beyond individual sanctification amongst those they work with. They believe the end is soon, and that it's therefore not worth looking for more than personal holiness and godly life in the churches. This does truncate their teaching about discipleship. We can discuss that it shouldn't be that way, that it is a misunderstanding of pre-mil doctrine etc., but on the ground and in reality, that is the effect it has had on those I've met. They make a practical connection between the soon return of Christ, the supposed inevitable degradation of the world, and conclude that certain activities are practically worthless for Christians.
"The West does not equal the world."
DeleteAmen to that! :-)
(Although I don't read Alan's words as treating them the same. Still, it's a good point that many Americans forget.)
David,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I have two remarks. I am not sure that the bifurcation of west and east is relevant here. As if the west is morally deteriorating and the east is morally refining, or vice versa. In my post to Rauser I used Canada as an example because I was responding to his claim that Canada improved morally over the last two hundred years. I was not using Canada as a moral barometer to the world at large.
The other thing I want to say is that people equate premillennialism with pretribulationism. When people say that premills teach that they will be raptured out of here before the bad things happen, they should mention pretribulationism, not premillennialism, since many premills such as prewrath (myself) and posttribs do not believe that we will be raptured before all the bad things happen—such as avoiding persecution.
Thanks,
Alan