Sproul, R.C. Exerpts from The Last Days According to Jesus
(On the Significance of A.D. 70)
"We conclude that the day of visitation refers partly to the incarnation. This event brought a double-edged crisis. Jesus’ earthly ministry brought the gracious presence of God’s redemption to those who received him, but set the stage for a soon-to-occur visitation of wrath and judgment to Jerusalem and the impenitent children of Israel." (R.C. Sproul on Luke 19:43-44 , The Last Days According To Jesus, p.81)
"The most significant, redemptive, historical action that takes place outside the New Testament, is the judgment that falls on Jerusalem, and by which judgment the Christian Church now emerges as The Body of Christ." (R.C. Sproul, Dust to Glory video series, 1997)
(On Early Date of Revelation)
"If the book of Revelation was written after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, it seems strange that John would be silent about these cataclysmic events. Granted this is an argument from silence, but the silence is deafening. Not only does Revelation not mention the temple's destruction as a past event, it frequently refers to the temple as still standing. This is seen clearly in Revelation 11 ...Gentry gives impressive evidence to support this conclusion." (Last Days, pp.147-149)
(On Matthew 24:1-3)
"To first-century Jews it was unthinkable that such catastrophic events as the destruction of the Herodian temple, the devastation of the holy city of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jewish people to the four corners of the earth could take place in the foreseeable future. Such events were eminently not foreseeable, save to one who had information from the omniscient God himself." (Last Days, pp.13)
(On Matthew 24:34)
"The most critical portion of this text is Jesus' declaration that 'this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place." (The Last Days According to Jesus, p.16)
(On Creeds and Tradition)
"Personally, I cringe at the idea of going against such a unified and strong testimony to the historic faith, even though I grant the possibility that they [the historic creeds] are wrong at points. All who are inclined to differ with the creeds should observe a warning light and show great caution. Of course this warning light pales in comparison to the authority of Scripture itself .... To be completely candid, I must confess that I am still unsettled on some crucial matters." (Last Days, pp. 157-158)
"Obviously the full preterists have no desire to deviate from Scripture. They bear the burden in this controversy of showing that creedal orthodoxy has been wrong at crucial points of eschatological understanding."(The Last Days According to Jesus, RC Sproul, pp.156-157)
(On Second Coming and Deity of Christ)
"..the skeptism expressed by [Bertrand] Russell on these matters is by no means limited to him, but is the axe that is ground by a host of higher-criticism scholars of the Bible.. the chief ground for the radical criticism of modern biblical scholarship, which has resulted in a wholesale attack on the trustworthiness of Scripture and a far-reaching skepticism ..is the thesis that the Gospels' records of Jesus' predictions contain glaring errors and gross inaccuracies ..The problem, however, is that Russell's is not a lone voice in recent history. His criticisms are echoed by a multitude of highly learned specialists in the field of biblical studies... In seminary I was exposed daily to critical theories espoused by my professors regarding the Scriptures. What stands out in my memory of those days is the heavy emphasis on biblical texts regarding the return of Christ, which were constantly cited as examples of errors in the New Testament and proof that the text had been edited to accommodate the crisis in the early church caused by the so-called parousia-delay of Jesus." [The Last Days, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 14-15).]
"It is my fear that evangelicals today tend to underplay the significance of the problems inherent in Russell's assumptions." (ibid, p. 17)
"..skeptical criticism of the Bible has become almost universal in the world. And people have attacked the credibility of Jesus. Maybe some Church fathers made a mistake. Maybe our favorite theologians have made mistakes. I can abide with that. I can't abide with Jesus being a false prophet, because if I am to understand that Jesus is a false prophet, my faith is in vain." ("The Problem of Imminency" presentation, Covenant Eschatology Symposium, Mt. Dora, FL 1993)
[ Go Back ]
Planetpreterist.com Copyright © by Planet Preterist - (549 Reads) |
