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You imply spreading the Gospel makes the world a better place. It does not. Nor is this what Christ intended.
-- Brother Dave - CTS Forums
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Exclusive: Missional Christianity: Tell me the story of your future
Posted on Tuesday, October 24 @ 18:28:19 PDT by Virgil Vaduva |
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by Virgil Vaduva
Preterism seems to be largely becoming a movement of people who love being the underdogs, the minority; I could even say, hopefully without offending anyone, that Preterism is becoming a movement of people who love being the losers and much like the Democratic Party we love to paint the losses as wins in order to save face and look better in the public eye. The truth is that Preterists generally speaking have no grasp on the future…or even on the present, and if tomorrow all Christians would suddenly become converts to Preterism, Preterists would have little or nothing else of substance to offer to those new converts. If there is no end, apparently there is no message.
Everyone loves to talk about the end. We hear Dispensationalists excitedly telling the world that God will one day wipe us all out and send most of us to hell, and we hear Preterists being at the other extreme with another almost identical message about the same end and fate…except it happened in the past. So is this obsession with the end justified? Was the focus of Christ’s message the end and the punishment of the wicked, or was Jesus looking beyond just the end and deep into time and space, into a future we are to create, nurture and build?
This past week I finally received my very first issue of The Futurist magazine. It was only due to the insistence of Fred DeFalco that I subscribed to this magazine, but boy, am I glad I did! Published by The World Future Society (WFS), this magazine is mind blowing in substance and vision, and so are the goals and achievements of the WFS. This group of people is deeply concerned with the future of mankind and with problems humanity is facing now and will face in the future as well. Topics such as environmentalism, the intangible, security, economics, science, war and methods to shape the future are key categories in the future-thinking strategies of he WFS.
Christians and Preterists should try to learn a few things from the World Future Society, in that life should be lived in a manner different than what the Christian religion has been teaching us:
Dream big and look towards the future rather than the past
The future is ours to build and create and it does not hold for us fear, terror and destruction
Life is full of God and he can be found around every corner: all creation has been made sacred and holy
All people are sacred, holy and worthy of respect and love
The Kingdom is huge and greatly affects all things in the Universe
The Kingdom is small and affects the life of each and every human being
Death has been forever defeated and consumed in the Lake of Fire
I believe part of the problem with Preterists and Christians in general failing to even talk about the future is that Christianity and the faith has always been seen as a timeless tool, or a timeless means to get people to heaven when they die. Ironically there is no evidence anywhere in the Scriptures to suggest that a relationship with God leads to some afterlife heavenly insurance payment, rather we see the New Jerusalem of God coming down from heaven to earth; in essence, God’s very presence, symbolized by the New Jerusalem (since the old one was destroyed) has been restored to our world, and it is this everlasting presence that should lead us (Preterists or otherwise) to look towards the future rather than the past.
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Jesus encouraged his followers to first seek his kingdom, a kingdom that is everlasting. I would suggest that this aionic (from the Greek forever – aionion) quality of Christ’s kingdom is a qualitative indicator of the kingdom, rather than a quantitative indicator describing its length in space or time. The Kingdom is here, it is solid, it is real, and what we build in the name of the kingdom will be aionic, will last and will have aionic – eternal consequences.
Christianity is not and should not be a timeless, never-changing set of rules and regulations we present to the world as insurance for heavenly eternity; that is religion, and religions do not build futures. Christianity rather seems to be a dynamic story and a journey that leads each one of us Christians to discover God in a unique and meaningful way that is relevant to each one of our lives and circumstances. Christianity is my story of deliverance from Communist ideology and life of poverty in Romania. It is my grandfather’s story of deliverance from alcoholism. It is the story of the drug addict’s rescue from addiction or the husband’s or wife’s deliverance from adultery. Christianity is nothing short of a beautiful mosaic of our dynamic stories and challenges which Christ overcame on our behalf. This is relevant; this is what matters, and this is the essence of the kingdom Christ spoke of. If we want to reclaim the future of our faith, we have to reclaim the missional stories of each of our lives.
Those missional goals I’ve outlined above and others I did not, are our stories; some have already unfolded and others have yet to unfold. I am now asking you to please add your own stories or comments to this article and add your goals for the future of your family, community, city and world. I want to hear from you and I believe we all need to hear those things from each other. What is your story? What is your vision of the future? What is the story you are writing with your faith, and what is your missional dream for the future of Christianity? How are you building a relevant future for yourself and for the rest of the world? Are you still looking in the past?
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Virgil Vaduva is a columnist for PlanetPreterist.com.
View Virgil Vaduva archives
Note: Opinions presented on PlanetPreterist.com or by PlanetPreterist.com columnists may not necessarily reflect the position of PlanetPreterist.com, or reflect the beliefs, doctrine or theological position of all other preterists. We encourage all readers to first and foremost carefully analyze all articles in the light of God's Word.
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Votes: 1
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Re: Missional Christianity: Tell me the story of your future (Score: 1)
 by Barry on Tuesday, October 24 @ 22:43:34 PDT
(User Info | Send a Message) | Love is about sharing. If you don't want to share, then you don't love.
If God loves then he wants to share. Sharing takes time.
The end of the age meant a new beginning. A beginning of sharing.
Futurists (not biblical futurists but ones as you have mentioned), think in some ways like believers should be thinking.
Thanks Virgil.
Barry
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- by Virgil on Wednesday, October 25 @ 06:25:56 PDT
- by Barry on Wednesday, October 25 @ 09:18:23 PDT
- by Virgil on Wednesday, October 25 @ 14:11:39 PDT
- by davo on Wednesday, October 25 @ 17:11:35 PDT
Re: Missional Christianity: Tell me the story of your future (Score: 1)
by kentonself on Wednesday, October 25 @ 11:58:32 PDT
(User Info | Send a Message) | Virgil-
I liked what you said...except for the 1st paragraph (although admittedly it "drew me in") and I'm not sure I see how it ties in with the rest of the article.
I think there may be something to wanting to assent to any theology to be part of an underdog, kind of like being a Red Sox fan up until 2004. But unlike that, there is the notion that our minds have been truly swayed, and the hope is that others will follow not so we can say "I was preterist, when preterist wasn't cool," nor to put the "Johnny-come-lately" label on new converts, but because we believe the paradigm shift will benefit everyone who embraces it.
Yes?
-Kenton |
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- by Virgil on Wednesday, October 25 @ 12:01:46 PDT
Re: Missional Christianity: Tell me the story of your future (Score: 1)
by rfwitt (hifive@att.net) on Wednesday, October 25 @ 12:52:44 PDT
(User Info | Send a Message) | The Prophets foretold the future. How will we get there. IMO when Christians get serious with Christ’ teaching (The Sermon on the Mount) we will see the future change. We had a little taste of this future when the Amish gave testimony to their Christ-like forgiveness of the person who killed their children. Most modern Christians are still looking to the warfare/welfare state to save them.
"Isa 2:2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
Isa 2:3 and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
Mic 4:1 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it,
Mic 4:2 and many nations shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Mic 4:3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore;
Mic 4:4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
Mic 4:5 For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever."
Richard Wittemann.........
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- by Virgil on Wednesday, October 25 @ 14:05:07 PDT
Re: Missional Christianity: Tell me the story of your future (Score: 1)
by Starlight on Thursday, October 26 @ 04:27:05 PDT
(User Info | Send a Message) | Virgil,
You have some stimulating and provoking thoughts, but I keep stumbling at my perception of this phrase.
“Ironically there is no evidence anywhere in the Scriptures to suggest that a relationship with God leads to some afterlife heavenly insurance payment”
I immediately think of 1 Cor 15:19”If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (NIV)”
This verse seems to be at polar opposites of your statement. I’m sure I’m not picking up on something properly so I thought instead I should ask you to expand somewhat if you don’t mind.
Blessings
Norm
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- by Virgil on Thursday, October 26 @ 06:03:01 PDT
- by Starlight on Thursday, October 26 @ 08:24:00 PDT
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